Bhagavad Ramanuja Vaibhavam- 1.23- Raamanujaa! You are unparalleled Acharya! nabhoothO nabhavishyathi

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama: 

 

Dearest all

 

Today Acharya saarvabhouman Emperumaanaar - Bhashyakaarar- Udayavar- Raamanujar

Thirunakshathram. He was an unparalleled Acharya (not because he is our

acharya..). His catholicity, compassion, leadership skills, organizational/

administration capavity, etc... are unimaginable. He had held tens of thousands

of disciples under him in one umbrella and that required tremendous skills. Let

us meditate on the lotus feet of Sri Ramanujacharya.

 

praNAmam lakshmaNa muni: pratigRhnatu mAmakam |

prasAdayati yat sUkti: svAdIna patikAm Srutim || (slokam 10)

 

May Sri Ramanuja-muni, accept my humble prostration - he whose works performed

the service as the woman- attendant for the Veda- lady (who has captivated the

Lord and is His consort), this Veda- lady holding the Lord under her spell, in a

dependent manner- so to say.

 

Swamy Desikan is ecstatic, when he meditates on the ThirumEni of yathirAja with

the shining sacred thread , Urdhva PuNDram and the TridaNdam in His hand, which

he salutes as the INTEGRATION of the PuNyams accumulated by all the three

worlds:

 

upavEthanam Urdhva PuNDravantham

thrijagath puNya phalam THRIDHANDA HASTHAM

SaraNAgatha sArTa vaaham IDE

sikhayA sEkhariNam PATHIM YATHEENAAM

--YathirAja Sapthathi : SlOkam 11

 

I praise Yathiraja, who shines with a Yajna Upaveetham, on His chest and with

the OordhavapuNram who is really the fruit of the Good deeds of all worlds, who

has a thridaNda, in His hand, and finally has a tuft of hair on the Head. He is

the saviour of the Vaishnavites, surrendered unto Him, guaranteeing for their

salvation

 

Lord RanganAthan , who received EmperumAnAr as a gift from Lord VaradarAjan

recognizes this ThridhaNDam and is at the behest of EmperumAnAr

to save us all from this SamsAram & its Bheethi (terrors):

 

Vasya: sadhA Bhavathi YathirAja TasmAth

Saktha: svakeeya janapaapa VimOchanE Thvam

--Yathiraaja Vimsathi : Slokam 17

 

Lord RanganAthan is always under the vasIkaraNam ( influence or even control) of

EmperumAnAr and ready to fulfill the wishes of EmperumAmAnAr

to destroy the accumulated sins and puNyams of the sishyAs of EmperumAnAr and

vouch them their places in Sri VaikuNTam.

 

Swami emperumAnAr was so divinely beautiful to even look at!

Embaar's description of Ramanujar's Divinely Beautiful ThirumEni is

excellent.

 

parppOm enatthigazh pai~nkazhal unRan pallavamE viralum/

paavanamAgiya painthuvaraadai pathintha marunkazhagum/

muppuri noolodu munkail yEndhiya mukkOlthan azhagum/

munnavar tandhidum mozhikaL niRaindhidu muruval nilAvazhahum/

kaRpagamE vizhi karunai pozhindhidum kamalkkaNN azhagum/

kaarisuthan kazhalsoodiya mudiyum kana naRRsihai mudiyum/

yeppozhudhum ethiraaJan vadivazhaghu yen idhayatthuL uLLathaal/

illai enakku edhir; illai enakku edhir; illai enakku edhirE! "

 

Embar's enjoyment of seeing Sri Ramanujacharya's lotus feet , tender

fingers reminding one of the creepers, sacred safforn robe, most auspicious

pooNool, thridandam , His enchanting smile laden with dayA , large dark eyes

reminiscent of wish yielding kaRpaka maram (tree), the kudumi (sikhA) formed by

abundant tresses is simply beautiful. EmbAr declares that there is no one

equal to him; since YathirAjan's Divine Beauty lingers in his heart.

 

Illai enakkedhir; illai enakkedhir - declares Embaar.

 

Illai namakkedhir, with such great AchAryAs like Raamaanuja in our sampradayam.

 

Swami Desikan celebrates the ancient nature of Sri Bhagavat RaamAnuja

SiddhAntham. He pointed out the special significance of

LakshmaNAryA's(Raamaanuja’s) upadesam as enshrined in his Sri Sookthis. Like

Thiruvarangatthu AmudaanAr, Swami Desikan also asserted that RAmAnuja’s holy

feet are more important than that of the Lord Himself. He explained his reason

for this strong Aacharya Bhakti for Yati Raaja. In the fifteenth verse of Yati

Raaja Sapthathi, he stated:

 

Amunaa tapanaathisaayee bhoomnaa

Yatiraajena nibhaddha naayaka sree : i

Mahati guru pankthi haara yashti:

Vibhudhaanaam hrudhyangamaa vibhadhi ii

 

Here, Swami Desikan compares Sri RAmAnujA to the beautiful center piece of a

necklace made up of brilliant gems. Each of the gem is a PoorvAcharya. The

splendor of the Center piece according to Swami outshines the radiance of the

Sun. That Naayaka Mani (Center piece) unlike the Sun removes the inner darkness

as opposed to the Sun, which removes only the external darkness. Swami Desikan

says that the entire Achaarya Parampara is uplifted by the Nayaka Mani, Sri

RaamAnuja. Such was the reverence of Swami Desikan for Sri RAmAnuja

 

The 38th slOka says: (as per Sri VN Vedantha Desikan's translation in Sri

Nrusimhapriya)

 

" Victory to Ramanuja- who saved the Para Brahman by giving a hand lift from

being caught in the slough of Saiva religion, without getting hooked, also from

the net of pure dreamy imagination that the Saankhyaas had cast, avoiding also

the entanglement in the contrivance laid by the scheming Chaarvaaka and finally

when Brahman was almost about to fall into the trap-mouth of Advaitins, the

deceitful misguides "

 

Elaboration: (as heard from the lovely sweet upanyaasaam from Srimad

Pundareekapuram Andavan Swami):

 

The Lord (Brahmam) had started to look for the most accurate religion of

philospophy and commenced His journey. On the way, He saw lots of muddy waters

(i.e. Saivism sect, with various " odd " formalities and worships) and sensed

danger of getting trapped. He avoided by going away from the track; but still,

He was pulled by the current of the muddy waters (sERu) and He somehow managed

to hold on to a nearby stick, saving Himself.

 

The Lord further proceeded and was caught in the deep, dense bushes with no

trace of way anywhere (Saankhyaas); He managed to get out of it somehow (getting

lost here and there). He could escape similarly from the clasps of Chaarvaakam

too!

 

Then, when He further proceeded, He saw an excellent philosophy that follows

Vedas! Brahmam was quite excited! YES! There's at least one religion that refers

and interprets Vedas! It shall be the right one! Let me get in!

 

Alas! He fell down into the deep well with absolutely now water inside, full of

bushes and thorns inside the well. The well was not at all visible from outside.

There was huge covering of the well with leaves and flowers (Vedic statements

and their (mis) interpretations). Brahmam was hooked like anyone else thinking

that it is following Vedas! And He is deep down! No way to escape!

 

Brahmam has now realised that at least other religions do not refer at all to

Vedas and thus He could sense the danger. Here he has been completely swept by

the outside sugar-coated logic covered by (wrong) arguments /logic.

 

Sri Ramanuja heard the Brahmam's lament and moans. He sensed something wrong. He

spotted the danger. He saw the covers and traps, and also comprehended what

could have taken place! He could understand that even Brahmam was trapped by the

misinterpretations of advaitam.

 

AchAryA, holding strongly and using his interpretations to Vedas, (with no

ambiguities/ contradictions, in full accordance with BhOdhAyana's commentary for

Brahma soothram,) as a support for himself, removed all the covers and bushes

that hide the well, saw clearly the pitfalls- lent a hand to Brahmam and lifted

Him out of danger. (Here, it should be noted that the one who lifts the other

from the deep well, shall be strong enough and even stronger than the one who is

in danger. He should know of his capacity that he will be able to get the other

One out of danger without himself falling into the well!

 

OUR SRI RAMANUJACHARYA, thus has emerged victorious and is stronger! Powerful!

He lifted the Brahmam out of danger! So great are His Sri sookthis! (which

AchAryA used as his support for himself)

(True! The Lord was claimed to be having no form, no guNam, no body; the world

is false, the jIvan is false were all the statements as per advaitham, referring

a portion of Vedic statements ignoring other Vedic statements completely, and

understanding wrongly! It was Sri Ramanuja's VisishtAdvaitha siddhaantham, that

gave the true picture of what is Truth of the Lord! Without ignoring any

statement, without contradicting any statement, encompassing all Vedic truths,

AchArya saarva bhoumar established the Brahman and His KalyANA guNAs, His

SarIram (i.e. the jIvan and Prakriti)). Thus, he established Brahman's identity

and saved His existence even!

Let us have a quick look at pAsuram no. 84 of Iraamaanusa nooRRanthAthi (all 108

is great! This one, is my favourite).

 

kaNdukoNdEn em raamaanusan thannai* kaaNdalumE

thoNdukoNdEn avan thoNdar poRRaaLil* en thollai vennOy

viNdukoNdEn avan seer veLLavaariyai vaaymaduththu inRu

uNdukoNdEn* innamuRRana Odhil ulappillaiyE.

 

Now I have seen my Ramanuja; what a great sight it is! That makes me

desire and seek to serve the golden feet of Bhagawathas - his devotees.

And here, today I take just a sip from this ocean of auspicious

qualities and all my past karmaas are destroyed. Alas! There is no end

if I start to say more. (similar to ( " aiyO! ivan azhagenna azhiyaa

azhagudaiyaan " )

 

It is told that once during a sapthaavaraNam procession in the streets

of Srirangam, Azhagiya maNavaaLan (namperumAL) Sri RanganAthar had asked the

vAdhya gOsham (the Nadaswaran and Davil) to stop playing and

listened with great enjoyment the 108 pAsuram recitation of Ramanusa

nooRRandhaadhi.

 

JagadhAcharyan ThoruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

namo narayana

dAsan