Bhagavad Ramanuja Vaibhavam- 1.48- emperumAnArO (is He verily our Lord Himself?)

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika manahadesikaya nama:

Dearest all

 

Swami emperumAnAr's brief life history:

 

Bhagavad Ramanuja, was born in the year of Pingala, month of chittirai, shukla

panchami (Wednesday) Friday in the constellation of Thiruvaadirai in 13-04-1017

at Sriperumbudur in Harita kulam to Aasuri Keshava Somayaaji and Kantimati

(Bhumi piraattiyaar), sister of Sri Periya Thirumalai Nambi. He was named as

Lakshmana or Ilaya Perumal by his maternal uncle.

 

Even before 16 years of age, he attained a profound mastery in all the vedas and

the shastras. At the age of 17, he married a noble maid by name Thanjamaambaal

(Rakshakaambaal). After this he moved to Kanchipuram wherein

he studied the philosophy of Advaitha Vedanta under one named Yadava prakasha.

 

Having seen Ramanuja’s keen intellect and the sharpness in his grasping power,

Yadava prakasha was afraid that his matham might not live long in his presence

and so planned to kill Ramanuja on the pretext of taking him on a pilgrimage to

Kashi. Having learnt the designs of the guru, through his cousin and fellow

classmate Govinda, Ramanuja discontinued his trip to

Kashi and came back to Kanchipuram with the help of the divine

couple (Perarulaala dampathigal).

 

Alavandar, who had come over to Kanchipuram, blessed Ramanuja with his divine

glances and made the prophetic statement saying, “Let him be the champion of

our sampradaayamâ€. Through Thirukkachchi Nambigal he obtained

the six finer truths of the sampradayam directly from Devadhirajan, which were:

(andha aaNdavan kattaLai aaRu)

 

Sriman Narayanan alone is Parathvam (Supreme Lord- Unparalleled and Peerless)

Our Darsanam is bhEdam (pirikkil bEdhamum, koottil abEdhamum)

Prapatti (Saranagati) alone is the means to attain Paraman.

Antima smriti (remembrance of God at the final moment) is not essential.

At the end of this sareera (life), moksham is assured..

Swami Periya Nambi (Sri Mahapoornar) is the Acharya (for you- Ramanuja)

 

He then got performed the sacraments of pancha samskaaram from Periyanambigal at

Madhurantakam and then pursued the study of Vedantam at Perumal koil at his

(Periyanambigal) feet. Disassociating himself from samsaaric afflictions, he got

initiated into the ascetic order directly from Sri Varadaraja Perumal who

proclaimed him as Yatiraja!

Having moved to Srirangam along with disciples like Kuratthazhwan and others, he

performed saranagati at the divine feet of divya dampathigal and was adored by

Periya perumal as “num udayavar†who also gave him the mantle of the entire

temple administration. The administrative rules and guidelines set up by

Udayavar can be seen being followed in the

temple even to this day.

 

Having approached Thirukkottiyur nambi with firm determination for almost 14

times, he became his disciple finally and learnt the esoteric meanings of the

ashtakshara, dvaya and charama shlokam from him. He then promulgated these

truths from the ashtanga vimanam of that temple to all bhaktas. After having

known the esoteric truths, he displayed his great sense of compassion for

mankind and wished for all the subjects of the Lord to excel in their spiritual

pursuits.

 

“Through his merciful deeds even we have obtained the upadesham, is he my

master? (Em perumAnArO?)â€, exclaimed Thirukkottiyurnambi. Praising his spirit

of service to mankind, he named Srivaishnava siddhantam as Ramanuja darshanam.

 

Since that day, he also came to be known as Emperumaanaar.

 

He then toured the whole of north and obtained the rare manuscripts of Bodhayana

vritti at Kashmir. He authored delectable works like Brahmasutra bhasyam,

Vedanta saram, Vedanta deepam, Vedartha sangraham and other great works and

fulfilled the dreams of Alavandar. After having listened to the sutra bhasyam of

Ramanuja, Goddess Sarasvathi Devi out of great delight named it as Sri Bhashyam

and embellished Udayavar with the sobriquet Sribhashyakaara and gifted him with

a murthy of Sri Lakshmi Hayagrivar.

 

He performed sharanagati at the divine feet of Periya perumal and Periya

piraatti on a panguni uttiram day during the sherthi utsavam, by composing and

reciting gadya trayam and showed to the world the ultimate means to salvation.

He authored a work called Nityam elucidating the ways in which Bhagavad

aradhanam has to be performed daily by all paramaikaantins. He made his disciple

Pillan write a commentary on Thiruvaimozhi known as Aaraayirappadi and named him

as Thirukkurugaippiraan Pillan and his work as Bhagavadvishayam.

 

He appointed 74 simhaasanaadhipathigal or crown bearers of Srivaishnava

sampradayam and ordained them with the duties of propagating the philosophical

system of Vishishtaadvaitha.

 

Emperumaanaar in this way became the praapyam, the fruit of attainment and

‘praapakam’ the means of attainment of that fruit, guru and kuladaivam of

Sri Vaishnava lokam. As per the rules of the Vedas, since all of Yatiraja’s

works have the Supreme soul Sriman Narayanan as its proposition and since in the

paramparai of acharyas, Sriman Narayana is the first

preceptor, Swamy Desikan who begins to praise Emperumaanaar with 70 slokams,

begins with a shlokam dedicated to Sriman Narayana.

 

praNAmam lakshmaNa muni: pratigRhnatu mAmakam |

prasAdayati yat sUkti: svAdIna patikAm Srutim ||

 

[thanks to Sri CG Balaji swamin for permission to share this translation from

his Yatiraja saptathi English translation of wonderful Tamil commentary written

by asmadhacharya His Holiness Srimad Paravakkottai Andavan Swami.

 

Let us enjoy this verse in next post

Acharyan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

namo narayana

dAsan