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irAmAnusa nORRu anthAthi - part 3 - prapanna sAvithri

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Sampath Rengarajan • June 25, 2000 


Srimadh Azhagiya singar thiru vadikaLE saraNam

irAmAnusa nORRu anthAthi - part 3 - prapanna sAvithri

Dear bAgawathAs,

A prapannA considers himself as  adiyAr's  adiyAr.  Sri  iramAnuja
noRRu  anthAthi  is  also  known  as  the  prapanna  sAvithri. Sri
sAvithri means pradhAna manthiram for  one'e  ujjevanam.  sAvithir
also means the word that gives us the life or tells us the purpose
of  the  life,  the word that encourages us in our kainkaryam, the
word that corrects our life as a prapanna (thirutthip paNi  koLLum
sol).  Untill  one  is initiated into Srivaishnavam, Sri sAvitthri
(also known as Sri gAyathri) is the pradhAna manthram for  one  in
their  nitya  anushtAnam and karmAs. Once the jivAtmA is initiated
into  Srivaishnavam  thiru  AshtAkshram   becomes   the   PradhAna
manthiram.  However once a Srivaishnava undertakes saranAgathi and
becomes a prapannA his or her  AchAryA  thanian  is  the  pradhAna
manthiram or sAvithri for them. The most important manthram is his
or  her  AchAryA  thaniyan for a prapannA. It is the protocol that
one chant their  AchAryA  thaniyan  and  think  of  their  AchAryA
thiruvadi   at  the  most  crucial  time  of  their  departure  to
Srivaikundam.  When  Sri  Ramanuja  ascended  to  Srivaikundam  he
meditated on the thiruvadikaL of  Sri  Periya  nambi.  When  Swami
Desikan ascended to Sri vaikundam he meditated on the thiruvadikaL
of  Sri AppuLAr. There are scores of other poorvAchAryAL from whom
this niyamanam can be learnt. It is even the thiru  uLLam  of  our
poorvAchAryALs  to  mediate  upon  the thiruvadi of their achAryAL
even though  Sri  Ramanuja  himself  is  the  thiru  avathAram  of
adiseshan  and Swami Desikan the thiru avathAram of or temple bell
(maNi) of thiru vEngada mudaiyAn.

Since  Sri  rAmAnujar   is   the   pradhAna   AchAryAL   for   all
SriviashnavaLs,  chanting  his  thiru  nAmam  and  thinking of his
thiruvadi itself is considered as pradhAna manthram and yAgam. Sri
thiru arangatthu amudhanAr delivered this anthAthi in such  a  way
that  each  and  every  pAsuram  has  the  "mantrhram"  or manthrA
embedded in it. Such manthram is none other than the  thiru  namAm
of  our pradhAna AchAryAn Sri irAmanusar. ie the name "irAmAnusan"
is placed in each and every pasuram and for a total of 108  times.
Many slOkams have the beeja manthrams embedded in it as similar to
being  hard  coded.  Some  examples are Sri Hayagreeva slOkam, Sri
Garuda panchAsat and so on. Since some of the beeja manthrams  are
not  advisable to be chanted by everyone these are embedded by our
poorvA chAryALs in slOkams that everyone can chant and derive  the
palans   of  chanting  these  beeja  manthrams.  In  the  sameway,
"SrimathE rAmAnujAya namaha" is embedded in each  pAsuram  and  so
for  108  times. Those who can recite this anthAthi gets the palan
of chanting the pradhAna AchAryA thaniyan 108 times.  Thus  it  is
also known or called as prapanna sAvithri.

In  Sri  visnu purAnam it is said that during kaliyugam mere doing
nAma japam will itself lead one to mOksham (*). It  is  understood
that  such  chanting  will lead one to doing saranAgathi through a
sadhAchAryAL. The reference to nAma japam in  Sri  Vishnu  purAnam
can  be  considered  as  a  direct reference to chanting irAmAnuja
nooRRu anthAthi. The  name  "rAmA"  and  "anujA"  has  the  "rAma"
saptham  in  it.  Every one knows the power our Sri rAma nAmam. In
addition to it this name also has anujA in it. anuja is  generally
meant  as  younger brother. Since an younger brother is a dAsan to
elder brother (here it is empurumAn Sri rAmA is the elder brother)
the combined word also means the one is a dAsan to Sri rAmA.  Thus
the  word  rAmAnuja  itself  becomes  a secret code or manthra for
everyone. It is all the more important for prapannAs as it is  the
thiru  nAmam  or the thaniyan of the AchAryAn. All our AchAryAs in
Srivaishnavam recited their AchAryA's thaniyan during  their  last
breath.  Thus,  reciting  AchAryA  thanian  is so important and is
sAvithri or the pradhAna manthram for a prapannA.

Sri Ramanujar thiru vadigaLE saraNam
adiyEn irAmAnusa dAsan
thiruk kudanthai Sampath Rengarajan

*  (Refer  to  some  details  of  nAma  japam  mentioned  in   Sri
V.SadagopAn's article
http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/aug97/./0040.html)
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