[After a long Hiatus] Sri Ranga Sri Journal VOL.10 / ISSUE # 06 - 22nd May 2009

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SrI:

SrimatE Raamaanujaaya Namaha //

SrimatE Nigamaanta Mahaa Desikaaya Namaha //

SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya/

SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya//

KAvEri VardhathAm kAlE, kAlE varshathu vAsava: /

SrI RanganAthO jayathu Sri Ranga Sri cha VardhathAm//

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SRI RANGA SRI VOL.10 / ISSUE # 06 dated 22nd May 2009

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IN THIS ISSUE:

 

1. VAIKAASI MAASA PANCHANGAM

2. AZHWAARS and SWAMY DESIKAN (2.1- Poikai AzhwAr and Swamy Desikan

3. RAAMANUJA and SRIVAISHNAVAM by Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swami, USA

 

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ISSUES RELEASED

With this issue, about 293 Regular issues of SRS have been released

so far, apart from numerous " Special Issues " as indicated below:

27 Issues of Vol. 1

15 Issues of Vol. 2

42 Issues of Vol. 3

35 Issues of Vol. 4

28 Issues of Vol. 5

30 Issues of Vol. 6

50 Issues of Vol. 7

36 Issues of Vol. 8

27 Issues of Vol. 9 and

06 Issues of Vol. 10

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EDITORIAL

 

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we could not release the journal for some time.

After the hiatus (rather long), let us enjoy Sri Ranga Sri issues.

 

Sincere aplogies for the delay. I am wholly responsible for the delay.

 

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan madhavakkannan

 

1. Vaikaasi maasa Panchaangam

 

15- May 2009 – Vaikaasi Maasa begins

20- May 2009 – Ekadasi

24- May 2009 – Amavasya

03- June 2009 – Ekadasi

05- June 2009 – Vaikaasi Visaakam – Swami Nammazhwar Thirunakshathram

 

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2. AzhwArs and Swamy Desikan

It is adiyEn's daring attempt to translate wonderful series of articles that I

had read drawing parallel between AzhwArs and Swamy Desikan. Anything good is

due to the wonderful articles written by scholars. Faults and mistakes are

entirely due to my own lack of understanding and limited communication skills.

2.1 Poikaiazhwar and Swami Desikan

[original by Sri TE Ranganathachar Swamy- appeared in Sri Hayagriva Priya]

 

sarObhoothavEthALa SaarasvathAnAm

satadhvitkhalidwamsi mukhyOdhithAnAm |

avicchinna satsampradaayaartthavEdhI

guroorvEnkatESO gurukthishvathulya: ||

[sapthathi Rathnamaalikaa – 26]

 

Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan is the Prime and foremost acharya of Sri

VisishtAdvaita darsanam, Srivaishnava sampradayam. He took avathAramas on His

own accord as well as sent His divine messengers (Nithyasuris) as AzhwArs and

Acharyas to propagate this unparalleled darsanam. As per His command, AzhwArs

and Acharyas appeared and hence are called His amsAvathArams. Poikai AzhwAr to

num Kaliyan- Thirumangai mannan are 12 AzhwArs. Sri Madhurakavi and AndAL are

not included in AzhwAr padhinmar (ten AzhwArs) as these two AzhwArs considered

Nammazhwar and PeriyazhwAr respectively as their acharyas.

 

Nathamuni – Yamunauni- Ramanujamuni- Swami Desikan – Manavala maamuni- till

present day acharyas are all Sadacharyas sent (being sent) by the Lord for our

sake.

Here we are drawing parallel between the first AzhwAr Poikai AzhwAr and Swami

Desikan. If there is anything good- it is due to the wonderful article written

by Sri TE Ranganathachar Swami. Any mistakes, faults are only due to adiyEn's

lack of understanding. Please forgive me.

 

He sent the trio Poikai, Bhoo and Pey AzhwArs to be born on three consecutive

days, to propagate the Sri vaishnava visishtAdvaita darsanam. These trio are

called by Swami Desikan as " paattukuriya pazhaiyavar moovar " . Poikai AzhwAr is

the first of the three azhwars who are called as " mudhal azhwaars " .

 

The star of perumAL is ThiruvONam (SravaNam). srONA nakshathram vishNur dEvathA

says Vedas. Even the tamil Vedas (Divya prabandhams) mention the same.

PeriyAzhwAr in the role of Yasodha, says: nee piRandha thiruvONam inRu, nee

neeraada vENdum. (Today is your janma namskahthram- ThiruvONam; hence you need

to take oil bath… - calls Kutti Krishna). Same PeriyAzhwAr when referring to Sri

Nrusimhan, " ThiruvONatthiruvizhavil anthiyampOdhil ariuruvaagi.. "

 

Poikai AzhwAr himself was born in the same ThiruvONa star. In fact he was not

born of a human being. The first three azhwars were all ayonijars. – not born

of humans. They simply appeared as infants and were brought up.

 

Poikai AzhwAr was born in Aippasi ThiruvONam. Swami Desikan was born in

Purattaasi ThiruvONam. Both of them were born in the star that belongs to the

Lord. ThiruvONatthaan ulagaaLum enbaargaL.- says Periyaazhwaar. One who is born

in thiruvOnam would rule the world. Similarly, it is not surprising that Poikai

AzhwAr and Swami Desikan glories transcend across the globe.

 

It is the tradition of Srivaishnava sampradaya that it is better to be the

servant of devotees of the Lord than the servants of just the Lord. Bhaagwatha

sEshathvam is grander than bhagawath sEshathvam. Thirumaalukkuriya thoNdar

thoNdar thoNdan satakopan – Nammazhwar refers himself as- the servant of servant

of servant of Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayana. ThoNdaradippodi wakes up the Lord to

pray to Him for making him to perform service to His devotees. Swami Desikan has

also prayed for the same and was blessed to have the thiruvadi sambandham of all

AzhwArs and of unparalleled Sriman Natha, Yamuna and Ramanuja munis.

 

Poikai AzhwAr and Swami Desikan- both appeared in Kanchipuram. Poikai azhwaar

appeared in Thiruve:kaa. Desikan in ThirutthaNkaa. The blessed Nammazhwar

combines these two divya desams in one verse:

 

Paalai kadantha ponnE kaal nilam thOyndhu viNNOr thozhum kaNNan ve:kaavudhu

ampoonth thEniLanchOlai appaaladhu yeppaalaikkum sEmatthE. " . (Oh golden beauty

– the one who has cut across the drought hit deserts! No more worries and

scorching heat; Thiruve:kaa – endearing to KaNNan – is very near. The greatness

of Ve:kaa is: even the Nithyasuris (who are unaffected by Karma and are not

bound by them) stand on this ground in Thiruve:kaa to worship their Lord here

(Poikai azhwar is born here in this glorious place). Beyond thiruve:kaa, is

ThaNkaa. That would benefit us and do good to us at all times. (as Swami Desikan

is going to be born here). Poorvacharyas enjoy the verse as referred to Poikai

azhwar and Swami Desikan.

 

Empoikai piraan maRaiyin kurutthin poruLaiyum senthamizh thannaiyum kootti

onRatthiritthu anRu yerittha thiruviLakku.

 

Swami Desikan similarly combined the Vedanthic subjects in both Sanskrit texts

and in Tamil verses in more than 120 granthas. Thus the veda vedanthic subjects

were borught out in Tamil by both Poikai azhwar and Swami.

 

By the lamp lit by Poikai azhwaar – the external darkness was dispelled. The

lamp of knowledge lit by Swami thorugh his more than hundred works, dispelled

both external and internal darkness in us. We are able to comprehend the Lord's

Swaroopa, roopa, guNas etc in crystal clear manner through their works.

 

Poikai azhwaar composed 100 verses called " mudhal thiruvanthAthi " . Swami Desikan

refers these verses at various places in Srimad Rahasyathrayasaram to establish

his point and prove in unambiguous manner.

 

ubOdhgAdha adhikAram- verse no. 53- senRaal kudaiyaam

arthapanchaka adhikAram – verse no. 86 – neeyum thirumagaLum

uttharakrithya adhikAram – verse no. 11 – vaayaRai alladhu

uttharakrithya adhikAram – verse no. 44 – thamarugandhadhu

uttharakrithya adhikAram – verse no. 63 – thOLanai allaal

uttharakrithya adhikAram – verse no. 64- nayavEn piRar poruLai

siddhOpAya sOdhanAdhikAram – verse no. 67 – peyarum karunkadalE

moolamanthrAdhikAram – verse no. 57 – ayalninRa

moolamanthAdhikAram – verse no. 95- naavaayiluNdE

Also, referred in ChillaRai Rahasyams

virOdha parihaaram – peyarum karunkadalE

munivaahana bhOgam – baalanthanadhuruvaay

paramapadha sopAnam – nirvEda parvam – pazhudhE palapakalum

paramapadhasOpAnam – nirvEda parvam – nayavEn pirar poruLai

paramapadha sOpAnam – Divya desa praapthi parvam – senRaam kudaiyaam

 

ThirukkOvallor Lord is called dhEhaLeesam or idai kazhi maayavan. This name was

given to Him due to mudhal azhwaars only. Kaliyan in his Periya Thirudal refers

this to kOvaloor ennum idaikazhi yem maayavani.

 

Kaliyan urai kudi koNda karutthudaiyOn – num Swami Desikan. Swami in all

respects brings out the essence of what Kaliyan had in his mind always. Hence

Swami composed a brilliant sthora called dhEhaleesa sthuthi. After composing

numerous hymns in Tamil, Sanskrit, and Prakrit, on the Lord of

Thiruvaheendrapuram, Swami desika had to return to his place Kanchi. While on

his way, he developed a craze, a dotage for Ayanaaar or Trivikrama, at the divya

desam of Thirukkoviloor.

 

Who are these AzhwArs? Why and how did they meet?

 

Next issue please

 

Narayana dAsan madhavakkannan

(To be continued)

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3. RAMANUJA AND SRIVAISHNAVAM – Part 1

by Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swami, USA

 

Bhagavad Ramanuja's Millennium Celebrations

We will be celebrating 1000th Tirunakshatram (Birthday) of Emperumaanaar in less

than a decade from now in 2017 as Bhagavad Ramanuja was born in 1017 A.D.

 

Way back in the early 1980s whenever anyone mentioned the word " Hinduism " , the

first response of the Westerner (and even our own people who had lost their

moorings to our traditions having settled here for long, not to speak of kids

born and brought up here without even an iota of exposure to our Sat

Sampradayam) was " Oh! I know. You are talking about Buddha!? " These people did

not know that Hinduism and Buddhism were poles apart. In fact, Buddhism and

Jainism repudiated the Vedas and were anti-Vedic.

 

The next best bet was " Oh! I know! You are talking about Adhi Sankara " . This

second category seems to have had some familiarity with " Hinduism " , thanks to

aggressive marketing of vested interests, equating Hindu philosophy with just

the Advaita philosophy.

 

Our Sri M.K.Sudarshan observes

 

" The Western world still regards Vedanta as being largely synonymous with the

Advaita system propounded by Adi Sankara. It is Advaitic thought that is still

seen as India's greatest contribution to the philosophies of the world. In spite

of its many flaws and leaks and inconsistencies, there is no gainsaying that the

Advaidic tradition has become the flagship of the Vedantic armada "

 

" Dr. S. Radhakrishnan in " Hindu view of Life " has this to say-

" One or two later followers of Sankara lend countenance to this hypothesis but

it cannot be regarded as representing the main tendency of Hindu

thought......the different theistic systems adopted by the large majority of the

Hindus do not advocate the doctrines of 'mAya'. etc - The theory is held by

Sankara, who is regarded often as representing the standard type of Hindu

thought "

 

In Hegelian terms, if " Dvaita " represented the " thesis " and " Advaita " the

" Anti-thesis " , then Visihtadvaita verily constitutes the " synthesis " of many

streams of Vedantic thought "

Hon'ble Justice K.S.Krishnaswami Iyengar of the High Court of Judicature, Madras

in his foreword to Desika Prabahandam (P.31) published by Lifco Associates,

Madras- 3rd Edition, 1982] observes as follows:

 

" Ramanuja " was the greatest synoptic thinker which the world ever produced to

systematize Visishtadvaitic philosophy, faithfully interpreting the ancient

knowledge in tune with the letter and spirit of the text in the light of

revelation and experience tested by stern logic "

 

OTHER QUOTABLE QUOTES BY WESTERN AUTHORS

LOUIS RENOU (Page 37 of " Great Religions of Man " published by George Brazillier

Inc. NY, 1961)

 

" The worship of Vishnu reveals the agreeable and happy aspects of Hinduism.

 

In fact, as a religion, in the strict sense of the term, HINDUISM can be

summarized as VISHNUISM "

---GEORGE

THIBAUT:

(Page cxxv of " The Vedanta Suitras- with Sankara Bashyam and Ramanuja's Sri

Bashyam, Vol.34 of " Sacred Books of the East, Published by Oxford, 1879-1896)

 

" In some important points, Ramanuja's commentary more accurately interprets the

Vedanta Sutras than does Sankara's "

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In the last few years, however, world populations have come to know about our

great Achaaryas like Bhagavad Ramanuja, Swami Desika and MaNavaaLa MaamunigaL as

formidable forces to be reckoned with, recognized and revered.

 

A very heartening news is that people who never ever heard of these names

before now come together to celebrate the Tirunakshatrams of these Azhwars and

Achaaryas by organizing mammoth conferences in different cities (and temples,

in particular) especially in USA, Bahrain, Kuwait, England, Indonesia, Singapore

and other places on the Tiru Nakashatram days of these Azhwars and Achaaryas.

Participating in the study of Vedas, Saastras, StOtras and Azhwars' Divya

Prabandams etc. organized by different SrivaishNava groups have become a routine

these days.

 

This is in no small measure due to the efforts of the various SrivaishNava

groups that have been straining every nerve to disabuse false impressions and

familiarize them with the life histories and works of these great Savants, the

lineage of Acharyas in general and the Parama Vaideeka Matham of Srivaishnavam

also known as " Ramanuja Darsanam " The pioneer of this movement in U.S.A. is

" Swami Desika Darsana Satsangam " (SDDS) which held the FIRST EVER SrivaishNava

Conference in U.S.A. in 1996 and its Electronic Journal " Sri Ranga Sri " (SRS)

started in 2000.

 

WHO IS THIS RAMANUJA? –

 

THE THREE STREAMS OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY

 

To understand Sri Ramanuja's role, we have to look at the three streams of Vedic

philosophy. Abheda Srutis hold that only the Nirguna Brahmam (called Paramatma)

is real and all else (called Jeevatmas) is just illusion and are merged

indistinguishably into Paramatama. The Bheda Srutis hold that both are real and

they remain eternally separate and distinct and never merge. Apart from these

two, there are a number of what is called Ghataka Srutis that seek to

reconcile, synthesize, synchronize and integrate the apparent contradictions as

between the above two views. They hold that though the Universal soul and the

Individual souls do exist apart eternally, they exist in a peculiarly

inseparable relationship with each other (Apritak Siddha) in a sort of Body -

Soul relationship (Sareera- Sareeri Bhava) and this is " VisihTaadvaita "

 

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF VISISTADVAITA

 

This Visishtadvaita has been in existence from time immemorial from the days of

the Vedas, which were in Sanskrit. These were transcribed into " Dravida Basha "

(Tamil) by the AzhwArs especially NammAzhwAr) through their 4000 holy collects,

also called " Divya Prabandams " (4000 holy collects). Due to the influence of

Buddhism, Jainism etc outside the pale of Vedas and other causes there was a

period of eclipse, as it were, for the VisishTAdvaita philosophy. It was given

to Sri Natha muni, to rediscover by receiving UpadEsa through yogic powers from

the great Sri NammAzhwAr himself. It was elaborated by Sri Yamuna muni,

expounded by Sri RamAnuja muni. The three together constitute what is known as

" Muni Trayam " . Later on other Achaaryas like Ramanuja and Swami Vedanta Desika

lucidly explained and propagated the philosophy through their works.

 

RAMANUJA'S BIRTH

 

Ramanuja was born to Kesava Perumal Somayaji Dikhsitar and Kanthimathi Ammal at

Sriperumpudur in the year 1017 A.D. Just as Sage VasishTa on seeing the

brilliance in the face of the child named him as Lakshmana saying " Lakshmano

Lakshmi Sampannaha " , Periya Thiru malai Nambi struck by the Tejas of the child,

named him after Lakshmana as " Ilaya Perumal " . aka " Ilayalwar " who later came to

be known as Ramanuja.

 

There is a slOka in Yadhavaachala Mahatmyam which says:

 

Ananthah Prathamam Roopam Lakshmanascha Tathah Parah |

Balabadram Thritheeyasthu Kalou Kaschit Bhavishyathi ||

(Meaning) It is the same who was AdhisEsha first, LakshmaNa in the second and

Balarama in the third Yugas is born as Sri Ramanuja in the Kali Yuga. The word

" Kaschit " is taken by our Poorva Achaaryas as referring to Sri Ramanuja.

 

Vriddha Padma Purana presages his incarnation thus: - " Long, long afterwards,

the Lord himself will come down on earth as a Tridanda Sannyasin, to restore the

good law. At that time heretics and men of perverted intellects will confuse the

minds of the people. Aasuric Saastraas, based upon fallacious arguments and

various schools of thought, very attractive and almost indistinguishable from

the Vedanta, will turn away men's' hearts from Vishnu and cause them to forget

His glory. That glorious incarnation will, through the good fortune of the

Lord's devotees, come down upon earth, to explain and amplify the teachings of

the great Sage Baadaraayana and the divine singer of the Gita. The holy one

would compose a Bhaashya on the Vyaasa Sutras, to save men from the confusion

and despair caused by spurious doctrines and would lead them to the True faith "

 

RAMANUJA'S EDUCATION

 

Ilaya Perumal was placed under the Advaitic Sannyasi called Yadava Prakasa at

Tirupput kuzhi for training in Advaita Purva Paksha Sastra of Vedanta. Very many

occasions arose when the Guru clashed with Ilaya Perumal when the Guru

misinterpreted Vedantic statements. Ilaya Perumal fearlessly pointed out the

errors in the Guru's interpretations and corrected him. This enraged the Guru.

Fearing that one day, Ilaya Perumal would demolish his Advaita philosophy he

plotted to kill Ilaya Perumal by drowning him in Ganga while on a pilgrimage

tour of the country with his disciples. Learning of the design through one

Govinda, another disciple who was also related to him, Ilaya Perumal slipped out

into the forest at dead of night. Miraculously, an aged hunter couple appeared

and guided him. As Ilaya Perumal who was in a trance, opened his eyes, he found

himself at the outskirts of Kanchipuram and the couple had disappeared. He

realized that it was Lord Varadaraja and Perundevi Thaayaar who had come in the

guise of the hunter couple. (Later on, Yadava prakasa, his old Guru when he

returned to Kanchi, became Ramanuja's disciple assuming the name of 'Govinda

Yogi')

 

More in next issue.

 

Emperumanaar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

dAsoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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