Iraamaanusa nooRRanthAthi- 1st verse

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SrI:

SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:

 

Iraamanusa nooRRanthaathi:

 

Let us begin to enjoy the majestic divine glories of

ACHAARYA SAARVABHOUMAR Sri Ramanujacharya..

May He bless this attempt [though adiyEn is completely

disqualified for the same].

 

Just due to the sadAchaarya sambandham, adiyEn gains

strength and commences this task. adiyEn closely

follows Sri UttamUr Swami's wonderful vyAkhyAnam.

 

Swami Ramanuja’s unparalleled glories have been sung

by Amudhanaar in very many ways and in different notes

in this most wonderful and vine verses. While he did

praise Ramanuja’s glories, he [amudhanaar] sings

lowly of himself with naichyaanusanthAnam

concurrently. The involvement of Ramanuja’s on the

sweet AzhwAr’s sreesookthis; Srimad Ramayana, Sri

Bhagavad Gita is enlisted here in these verses. Also

the scholarship, the logical arguments and saasthric

proof with which he [sri Ramanuja] conquered the

“other†non-vedic and avaidika religions and

philosophies; the intense and deep devotion of

Emperumaanaar Sri Ramanuja on archA murthys of Sriman

Narayana are all glorified herein. The difference and

uniqueness of Ramanuja as against the Lord Himself,

the achaarya aikaanthyam are also nicely touched upon

by Amudhanaar movingly.

 

One may here, read about the glories of acharya and

sing; here Amudhanaar saw with his own naked eyes and

enjoyed the glories of Emperumaanaar and thus bursts

out with tremendous acharya bhakti with all these

divinely beautiful verses. Hence this is grander.

 

First seven verses are ubOdhgAtham.. Then,

Ramanuja’s bhakti for all AzhwArs is mentioned. In

the beginning of this work, with two verses,

Ramanuja’s special affinity and reverence for the

two AzhwArs namely Paraankusa, Parakaala dhivua suris.

Both these AzhwArs [Parankusa- Nammaazhwaar; Parakala-

Thirumangai Azhwaar] have sung more than 1200 verses

each and have immensely helped us with great upakaaram

of these wonderful srisukthis which are none other

than the four Vedas and six Veda angaas. The rendering

of Nammaazhwaar srisookthis and the Uthsavam for him

were varied out by Thirumangai Azhwaar himself durning

his period in Srirangam.

 

Nammaazhwaar has enshrined in his Thiruvaaymozhi the

Upanishad meemaamsa saareeraka saasthrA- the essence

of Brahma suthra and has sung thousand verses. Also he

is the prapanna jana santhAna kooTashthar.

Emperumanaar Sri Ramanuja had arranged to have these

thousand verses of Nammaazhwaar as well as the

thousand verses of Thirumangai AzhwAr [who had begun

this uthsvam] sung during the month of maargazhi. Also

these two AzhwArs had taken the roles of Naayaki as

Paraankusa, Parakala naayaki and have sung verses in

those roles languishing for His love and saving

“herâ€. In view of the foregoing, these two AzhwArs

have been sung herein specifically and exclusively.

 

poomannu maathu porunthiya maar_pan pukazmalintha

paamannu maaRan adipaNin^ thuynthavan palkalaiyOr

thaammanna vantha iraama Nnuchan_chara Naaravindham

nNaammanni vaazan^eNY chE!chollu vOmavan naamangaLE.

1

 

1. SarvEshwaran is the One who has Periya PiraaTTi

MahAlakshmi, (seated on Lotus Flower) permanently

residing in His Chest. NammAzhwAr blessed us with the

Divine Thiruvaaymozhi which is an excellent

description of most auspicious kalyANA guNAs of

SarvEshwaran Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan. Sri

Ramanuja took refuge and immersed himself at the Lotus

feet of Sri SadagOpar- NammAzhwAr. The great scholars

who have studied and mastered various saashthrAs, have

realised the greatness of Sri Ramanuja (and his

philosophy/doctrine) and have surrendered to His feet

as the only means for them. Oh mind! In order to

enables ourselves and let us also be saved by taking

refuge at the Lotus Feet of Sri Ramanujacharya, come

and let us utter the divine names of Sri

Ramanujacharya!

 

Comments by SrI UttamUr Swami:

 

AzhwArs were called so due to their immersing

themselves in the glories of Thirumaal Sriya: Pathi

Sriman Narayana. NammaazhwAr calls Him as “num

thiruvudai adigaL†; ahagillEn iRaium enRu alarmEl

mangai uRai maarbhan; numakkum poovin misai nangaikkum

naathan; Thiru naaraNan thaaL; ninnANai ThiruvaaNai

– thus declaring everywhere Sriman Narayana as

LaksmI Pathi and paying his obeisance to them as

Dhivya Dampathi; enjoying as one Divine pair. vEri

maaRaadha poomEliruppAL vinai theerkka- in order to

dissolve all our sins, She resides eternally in His

divine chest. Nammazhwar’s verses exhibit His and

Her kalyANa guNas; parathva sowlabhyas and thus sang

thousand verses on Them reaching the final crescendo

attaining His Lotus Feet gloriously. Thus he is above

all sages and other AzhwArs as well. He is in our

Acharya parampara and thus we are blessed with such

great Guru parampara from NammazhwAr as Prapanna jana

santhAna kooTasthar- contemplated Sri Ramanuja and

enjoyed reciting these verses of his again and again

and also arranged for the Araiyar Uthsavam for the

same. Thus he has become the idhatthaay for

Thiruvaaymozhi. That is the greatness of Ourâ€

Ramanuja.

 

Not only that. He had transnformed the kuDhrushTis to

suDhrushTis.... He had the ability to change them by

quoting the appropriate vedic hymns and Vedanta

saathrAs. The different streams and rivers of all

fields of learning take birth in him like the

waterfalls from the Thirumala mountain. This in order

to establish the divine words of SatakOpa [Parankusa]

and grant to the world, he took birth as Ramanuja and

if one takes refuge at his feet, [he] would be blessed

with clarity in understanding ubhaya vEdanatha namely

the Vedas, Vedanthas and the Tamil Veda- Dhivya

prabandhams and be blessed with the adherence to the

saathrAs in anushtAnam as well and the best of life

here and there.. Contemplating his such wonderful

glories in our minds, let us utter his divine names

[understanding their meanings] Ramanuja, YathirAja,

Emperumanaar, Udayavar, Sri Bhashyakarar, etc..

 

Since his birth, he was given the name of Ramanujan.

This name is also addressed to Lakshmana and Lord

Krishnan [Rama + anujan = Rama’s younger brother].

Our Ramanuja is blessed with great anubhavams and with

kaimkarya ruchi and hence he was LakshmaNo Lakshmi

Sampanna; Sri Sampannar.

 

In Yathiraja sapthathi,

SamithOdhayaSankarAdhigarvai: svabalaadhuGrutha

yaadhava prakaaSa: |

aCharOpithavAn sruthErapArThAn nanu rAmAvaraja: sthra

yEva bhUya: ||

 

Swamy Desikan equates Ramanuja as KaNNan [Krishna].

bharathAra param namOsthu thasmai praThamOdharaNAya

bhakti bhAjAm.. wherein he is equated to Bharata;

Since he also has tremendous acharya, azhwaAr bhakti,

he is Sathrugnan; [serving and His devotees /

BhAgawathas]

After Rama, he is the one who performed the way of

life in accordance with saasthrAs; established dharma;

and varNAsrama dharma; saraNAgatha rakshaNam [saving

those who surrendered to him].. Thus he is Rama’s

anujanm in all respects.

He appeared after AndAL [who is also called Raamaa-

RamyathE ithi Raamaa:]

He followed the foot steps of Periya PiraaTTi

Mahalakshmi [the most compassionate One who does not

at all know punishment; who knows only daya, and

forgiveness for all our trespasses] and accepts all

those who take refuge in him with infinite mercy and

daya on them.. like SrI.. Hence Rama’s

anujan..[Rama- Mahalakhmi]

Whenever we enjoy reading this name Ramanuja, all the

above glories of his name should be contemplated.

palkalaiyOr- it means those who have learnt different

saasthrAs; vedanthas; Vedas etc… It can also be

interpreted as those speaking other languages, namely

Kannada, Telugu, Hindi etc.. and they also took refuge

at Ramanuja’s feet.

nenjE [mind]- amudhanaar addresses his mind- implying

that he is composing these verses with his mind on it

fully and with full commitment and involvement; and

focused in glorifying and praising Ramanuja. Also it

means: I am not writing this for getting name or fame.

It is only for you and me; and for our benefit. -

nenjE [mind]. We both only need to remind ourselves of

this.

EmeprumAnAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

RaamAnujArya dhivyAj~nA vardhathAm abhivardhathAm..

yO nithyam Achyutha PadhAmbhujayugmarugma

vyAmOhatha: tadhitharANi thruNAya mEnE

asmath GurO:BhagavadhOsya dayaikasindhO:

Raamaanujasya CharaNou SaraNam prapdhyE

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan