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[ramanuja] Ramanuja - Uniqueness. - Sri U.Ve. Velukkudi

Krishnan Swami's message.

Wed, 11 May 2005 14:37:16 -0500

Pattangi <danp

ramanuja

ramanuja

 

 

 

sri:

 

Dear Devotee: Please accept our Humble Pranam.

 

Sri Ramanuja's thirunakshatram is being celebrated on May 12th,

in some places on 13th, and in some other places during the weekend (

14th/ 15th) all across the Globe. Some have 10 day utsavams, some in

the usa have 3 days utsavams, and some have 1 day utsavam.

 

As Ramanuja Sampradaya devotees, we have to take some time

and celebrate the only Acharya who is the central pendant in

our Acharya GuruParanara. This should be natural to us.

 

Adiyen had asked the great Scholar of our time, the question

what makes Swami Ramanuja the " only " unique acharya,

why not Kurattazhvan, PillaiLockachar, VendantaDesikar, Mamunigal.

 

==============================================================

Here was the answer given by Sri U.Ve Velukkudi Krishnan Swami

in the year 2001, Sept 15th, Saturday.

==============================================================

Respected Bhagavatottamas

 

We all take pride calling ourselves as Sri vaishnavas and more as

Ramanuja Dasan

/ Dasi. When there were so many acharyas before and after Swamy

Ramanuja, what

is the uniqueness about Ramanuja. Let me share some of them with you.

 

a.. All acharyas before Ramanuja were called anuvritti prasanna acharya i.e.

one who imparts knowledge to sishyas who have passed all the criteria in

terms

of basic knowledge, anushtana, perseverence etc. But Ramanuja broke this

chain

(oraNvazhi) and introduced a simple criterion - " Desire to know " . (This

was a

boon to people like us) Hence he was the first one to be hailed as Kripa

mAtra

prasanna acharya. Manavala Mamunigal in Upadesa Rattina malai - " Asai

udayorkkellam AriyarkAl kUrumenru pEsi varambaruttAr pin "

 

a.. Ramanuja was the only one to whom Sri Ranganatha submitted both his

vibhUtis , nitya and leela and gave the authority of granting moksha. Quote

" Vishnu lOka maNi mandapa mArga dAyi " Kanchi Devaraja has reinforced this

authority by advising Tirukkachi nambigal that moksham for nambigal is

due to

his connection with Ramanuja.

 

a.. Ramanuja was the only one whom Nammalwar acknowledged. He has given the

divine statue of Ramanuja to nAthamunigal. And this divine vigraham is

the deity

at Ramanuja sannidhi at Alwartirunagari even today. Quote "

bhavishyadAcharya

varaswarUpam sandarsayamAsa - tam kAri sUnum Saranam prapadye " . This

vigraham

was held by all our pUrva acharyas in their tiruvaradhanam.

 

a.. Ramanuja is the only one to whom the revered title " Swamy " is apt. We do

call many other acharyas also with this title. But see this - All

temples are

koils but just the word " koil " will stand for Sri Rangam only. All

birthdays of

perumal are jayantis but " jayanti " would stand only for Sri Krishna

Jayanti. All

jeers are jeers but just " jeer " or " Peria jeer " is only for Manavala

Mamungal.

(At the beginning and end of every santhai session, we all chant " Alwar

emperumanar " jeer " tiruvadigale saranam " ). Similarly, just " Swamy "

stands for

Ramunja alone. For others we must add their name also to identify them.

 

a.. Ramanuja was the first to document in as many terms the VisishtAdvaita

sampradAya. The works of all other acharyas followed his footsteps. Thus our

darsanam is till today called as " Emperumanar darsanam " or " Ramanuja

Darsanam " .

The concept of Sarangati as developed by alwars, nathamunigal and

Alavandar was

also documented by Ramanuja both in text and practice.

 

a.. Ramanuja is the only acharya who was referred with respect / followed by

other schools in vaishnavism like chaitanya, vallabhacharya, Swamy narayan .

 

a.. All the acharyas after Ramanuja have pointed their fingers and sung in

praise of Ramanuja only. Even though acharyas like Swamy Pillai lokacharya,

Swamy Desikan and Swamy Manavala Mamunigal 1. are much later in time to

Ramanuja, and 2. have their own acharya, still they refer to Swamy

Ramanuja only

as the ultimate acharya. Pls note this point " Our moksham is not guaranteed

only with the sambandham of any other acharya - but Ramanuja " . Our daily

chant

is " RamanujArya divyAgya vardhatAm abhi vardhatAm. " It is only he who can

command and all our acharyas and we follow his command.

 

a.. Whoever has samasrayanam he is first taught to chant (by his own

acharya)

" Adiyen Ramanuja dasan " when he prostrates before elders.

 

a.. Ramanuja was the only one adept in all fields like vedanta, rahasyas,

vaishnavism, politics, upliftment of downtrodden, arts, culture and

others. He

was a perfect cobination of gnana and bhakti after alwars.

 

a.. Finally, let me cite a happening from Koorathalwans life. Once there

was a

debate near kaveri as to who would be the greatest acharya on earth.

there were

arguments and counter arguments. Koorathzhwan could not bear this any

more. He

walked in to kaveri water and vowed with raised hands " satyam satyam puna:

satyam yatirAjo jagatguru: - sa eva sarva lokAnam uddharta na samsaya: "

Yatiraja

is the only Acharya to this world. He is the only one who can bring us

out of

the sufferings of this materialistic world.

 

So let us take pride that we are Ramanuja dasa, let us be without any

confusion

as we are Ramanuja sishyas, let us be assured of a birth in Sri

vaikuntha as we

are Ramanuja sambandhis. I pray to divya dampatis for Ramanuja groups to

reach

greater heights in the service to humanity.

 

Srimate Ramanujaya Namaha.

======================================================

End of Sri U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swami's message.

======================================================

 

Adiyen requests other devotees to please post their local Enberumanar

Thirunakshatram

celebrations on this list, with pictures if possible.

 

 

 

azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam

 

 

 

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