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Ramanuja and tirumantra

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • October 10, 1996 


The very interesting discussion on the tirumantra
brought one aspect of Ramanuja's introduction to this
mantra to mind.  Ramanuja first had samASrayaNam from
Periya Nambi, at which time he received the three
sacred mantras (tirumantra, dvaya mantra, carama Sloka)
as part of the ceremony.  

However, the more significant introduction to the tirumantra 
appears to be the upadeSa he received from TirukkOttiyUr
Nambi, whom he approached 18 times before the latter 
agreed to give him the supreme teaching.  This divine
teaching according to most sources was the inner meaning
of the tirumantra.  [According to Sri Manavala Mamunigal
in the mumukshuppadi, it was the inner meaning of the
carama sloka. In any case, the deeper meaning of
the rahasya mantras was what was given.] 

These two events appear to indicate that while the
mantra upadeSa during samASrayaNam was certainly important,
the actual ``saving knowledge'', if I may phrase it
that way, was the inner meaning of the rahasyas as
learnt from the acharya.


emberumaanaar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Mani