Ramanuja Thirunakshathram today- let us enjoy his glories and medidate on his lotus feet...

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:

Dearest all,

 

On this most auspicious day of Sri Ramanuja

Thirunakshathram, let us meditate on the lotus feet of

Sri Bhashyakarar- Sri Ramanujacharya beginning with

the most brilliant verse [composed by one of his

ardent sishyas, Swamy KooratthAzhwAn- also called as

Kuresa]

 

LakshmI nAtha samArambhAm nAtha yAmuna madhyamAm |

asmadhAchArya paryanthAm vandhE guruparam parAm ||

 

I worship the entire guruparamparaa that starts with

Emperumaan, Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan; which has

SrI nAthamuni (in between) upto my AchArya (Sri

Ramanuja).

 

This Thaniyan describes the paramapara of our Acharyas

which starts with Sriman Narayanan. Sri AzhwAn pays

his obeisance to the paramapara upto his Acharya. He

does not mention the name of his Acharya (calling upto

my Acharya -asmadhAchArya paryanthAm. . It fits in so

well for every one of us when we recite this upto my

Acharyan, I pay my obeisance to the Gurupamarapara: -)

AzhwAn is known for his intellect and scholarship.

 

Acharya parampara: [lineage]

Sriman Narayanan

Sri Mahalakshmi

Sri Vishvaksenar

Sri NammAzhwAr

Sri NAthamuni

Sri UyyakkoNdaar (Sri PundareekAkshar)

Sri MaNakkaal nambhi (Sri Ramamisrar)

Sri Alavandhar (Sri Yamunacharya)

Sri Periya Nambhi (Sri MahapoorNar)

Sri RAMANUJACHARYA

 

yO nithya-machyutha-padaam-buja-yugma-rugma

vyaamOhadas dadhi-tha-raaNi thru-Naaya mEnE

asmath-gurOr bhagavathOsya dhayaika-sindhO:

raamaanujasya saraNau saraNam prapadhyE.

 

[After the entire parampara upto Sri Ramanuja,

KooratthAzhwAn composes a special slOka for his

peerless preceptor Acharya saarvabhouman Sri

Ramanujacharya]

 

I take refuge at the feet of our guru Bhagavaan

Ramanuja, that ocean of mercy who, infatuated with the

gold-like, lotus feet of the Lord, considered all else

as mere blades of grass.

 

ParamAthmani yOrakthO virakthO(S)paramAthmani- Due to

His jnAna, Bhakthi, VairAgyam, Sri Ramanujacharya

considered only the lotus feet of the Lord Sriman

Narayanan as the means and the Goal- for that matter-

everything. Nothing else mattered to him. He is not

interested in others and considers others (material,

sensual pursuits) as thruNam (blade of grass).

 

Swamy Desikan enjoys Sri Ramanuja’s dhivya mangaLa

vibhava roopam:

 

upaveedhinam oordhva pundravantham

trijagadh puNya palam thridhanda hastham I

saraNAgatha saartha vaaham eedE

sikhayA sekariNam pathim yatheenAm II [YatirAja

Sapthathi 11th verse]

 

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. [Translation by Dr V N Vedantha

Desikan from Tamil orginsal commentary written by

Paramapadhavaasi Sri U Ve Villivalam Narayanachariar

Swami]

 

There is a wonderful set of 108 sweet tamil verses

sung by Thiruvarangatthu amudhanAr [sishya of

KooratthAzhwAn- and also a contemporary of Sri

Ramanujacharya. ] They are Iraamaanusa nooRRanthAthi.

These 108 verses are considered as part of 4000 verses

– the wonderful divine verses of 12 AzhwArs.

how and why- what are these verses... Let us enjoy

morrow.

 

Let us conclude with a couple of soul stirring verses

of Sri Manavala maamunigaL's Arthi prabandham:

 

adhikaaram uNdEl arangar irangaarO?/

adhikaaram illaadhavarkkanRO - YathirAjA!/

nee iranga vENduvadhu; neeyum adhikaarigaLukkE

irangil en seyvOm yaam?

 

Lord Ranganathan, blesses and saves those, who adhere

to saasthras; who qualify themsselves, for the

recipients of His mercy, by following as

prescribed (like performing Karma, jnAna, Bhakti

Yogam).We are not capable of performing such paths.

akinchanan; ananya gathih; We are helpless; we have no

other refuge; Only for such " poor " helpless people

like us, RamanujA! YathirAjA! You are there to save!

(Hence, the only thing that we can do now is to

surrender at Your Feet.) But, if you also, YathirAjA,

start to look for qualified (adhikaaris) only, where

do we go, RamanujA, and what else we can do?

 

" ennaip pOl pizhai seyvaar iv ulagil uNdO?

unnaip pOl porukka vallaar uNdO?- anaitthu ulagum

vaazhap piRandha yathiraasa maamunivaa!

yEzhaikku irangaay ini.

 

Oh Yathiraajaa maa munivaa! Is there any one greater

sinner than I! Is there any one more patient (and more

merciful) than You!YathirAjA! the One, born to save

the whole world! Please have mercy one me

now.

 

Let us enjoy these 108 verses of Iraamanusa

nOORRanthAthi one by one as days go by. With the

Acharyan's anugraham, let us take up this palatable

task of enjoying his glories... sung by Amudhanaar.

Achaarya saarvabhouman SrI Bhaashyakaarar

ThiruvaDigaLE saraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dasan