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Acharya Raamanuja Vandhanam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • April 18, 1999 


Dear BhakthAs :

During the occasion of this year's 
celebration of AchArya RaamAnujA's 
Thirunakshathram , I was asked to 
write an one pager on the Vaibhavam 
of this great AchAryA . That brief article 
is attached . I have also included a brief 
write up on a CD ROM on AchArya RaamAnujA
that will be released with the blessings 
of Sri Vann SatakOpa Sri NaarAyaNa YathIndhra
MahA Desikan , the current , Revered Jeeyar 
of Sri Matam and the support of the Ahobila 
Matam of North America .Both Professor Alwar
of Mysore and AdiyEn are grateful
to the Sri matam for their blesings and 
most welcome support .

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradachAri SadagOpan 
  
Sri Yathiraaja Vandhanam
*************************
Some 982 years ago , Sriman's Naaraayanaa's
pancha aayudhams formed an integrated essence
and incarnated at Sri Perumbhudhur on  a Chitthirai-
Thiruvaadhirai day and took on the name of Raamaanujaa .
That divine incarnation considered  by some as 
Visvaksena avathaaram and by others as Adhiseshaavathaaram  
grew up to become a great Sri Vaishnavite Achaaryan 
and blessed the people of this world by his presence
amongst them for 120 years prior to rejoining his parents 
at Parama Padham.His divine Sri Sookthis live on forever.

We will celebrate and salute here this Achaaryan's 
Sri Sookthis that adorn the Upanishads and highlight
his cardinal contributions to the glorious 
Sri Visishtaadvaitha Siddhaantham during the occasion
of this year's Raamaanuja Jayanthi celebrations .

The greatness of His Sri Sookthis
***********************************
Swami Desikan in his Yathiraaja Sapthathi 
summed up the uniqueness  and significance 
of the Yathi Saarvabhoumaa's Sri Sooktis 
as the river of life-sustaining nectar flowing 
in our ears( srothra kuhare sudhaa-saaram 
nishinjanthi ).He elaborated further about
the ultimate effect of that nectar this way :
the Sri Sookthis of Yathiraajar serve as a
cloud pouring down the copious rain of eternal moksham 
(Yathi Purandarasya ukthaya: aksharam amrutham ksharanthi).
These Sri Sookthis  serve us further as the means of tastimg 
the delectable nectar of Bhagavdh anubhavam that chases away 
any potential narakaanubhavam ( Lakshmana ukthi: naraka-
mathana sevaa aasvaadha naadimdhamaa na: ).

Our Yathiraajaa's Sri Sookthis are rooted in
the four Vedaas and in Upanishads that serve 
as the crown of the Vedaas ( Sruthi Sirasi vidheeptha
kireetam ).In one of his Yathiraaja Sapthathi 
slokams , Swami Sri Desikan explains the roles
played by our Paramaachaaryan's Sri Sookthis :
they act as the essence of the ancient Rg vedam ;
they serve as the meanings of the Saama vedam ;
they serve as a brilliant commentary for the 
Yajur vedam ; they stand as the saaraarthams 
of the Atharva veda manthrams and finally they
serve as the radiant lamp that illuminates 
the tattva thrayams ( Isvaran, Chethanam and 
Achethanam )and their integral relationship .

Our Achaaryan's Sri Sookthis celebrate 
the Supreme reality revealed in the Upanishads
( Aupanishada Parama Purushan ) through
Sri Bhaashyam , Vedaantha Dheepam , Vedaantha
Saaraa and Vedaartha Sangraham and establish that 
the Upanishads proclaim a coherent doctrine of Brahman .
In these four Sri Sookthis , Acharya Raamaanuja lists 
the different source texts from Upanishads and 
Brahma Soothraas constituting the essence of Upanishads ,
comments clearly on their meanings ,gives due significane 
to them and demonstrates the underlying unity of doctrine 
among these upanishads ;through such a rigorous analysis , 
our Acharyan established unambiguosly that the Brahman of 
the Upanishads is the Para Tattvam ,Para Hitham and 
Parama Purushaartham (the supreme reality ,the supreme way 
to salvation and the supreme goal and fruit) for all of us . 
He established further that this Brahman holds all things 
in itself and abides in all things as sarva Vyaapi .
Acharya Raamanujaa's  greatest conclusion based on 
the reconciliation of the different texts of the Upanishads 
through Sri Bhaashyam is that these Upanishads stand summed up 
in the grandest concept known as Sriman NaarAyanaa .

In his other five Sri Sookthis--Bhagavadh Gitaa Bhaashyam ,
three moving Gadhyams-Saranaagathi , Sriranga and Sri Vaikunta
gadhyams -- and the Nithya grantham , Achaarya Raamaanujaa
elaborated for us Bhakthi and Prapatthi yogams ,wherein
Sriman Naaraayanaa is both the means (upaayam ) and 
the supreme object of attainment ( upeyam ) and the fruit
(phalan ) of our efforts . In the three gadhyams , he
performed Saranaagathi at he lotus feet of the divya 
dampathis of Srirangam and gave us also a divine view of 
Parama Padham , the eternal ,celestial abode of 
the Saranya Dampahtis and prayed for the boon of 
nithya kaimkaryam there .In the Nithya grantham , 
our most merciful Achaaryan showed us the way of
performing Aaraadhanam here on their Leelaa Vibhuthi 
to the Divya Dampahtis , prior to reaching their Nithya 
Vibhuthi, Sri Vaikuntam from where one never returns.
Magnificient indeed are the blessings of Sri Raamaanujaa  
and his Sri Sookthis !

Achaarya Raamaanujaa's stay at Thirunaarayanpuram
***************************************************
Exactly 900 years ago , at the age of 82 , our Achaarya
arrived at Thirunaarayanapuram to be close to the mangala moorthy 
in archaa form carrying the name of Sriman Naaraayanan
( Thiru Naaraayanan ).He stayed there for 12 long years , 
the longest period that he has resided outside Srirangam and 
Kaanchipuram .He had already completed his magnum opus ,
Sri Bhaashyam and related works on the elucidation of
Brahama soothraas to establish that the Brahman of 
the Upanishads is the supreme reality , who is by nature ,
free of all inauspiciousness and is possessed of innumerable(anantha)
kalyaana gunaas . Through his austere tapas , Achaarya Raamaanuja
prayed to Thirunaaraayanan to bless the land with another 
great Achaarya , Adhivann Satakopa Yatheendhra Mahaa Desikan ,
who would receive sanyaasam directly from the holy hands of 
Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan Himself at Ahobila Kshethram .That Achaarya 
paramparai flourishes even today magnificiently under 
the divine guidance of H.H. Sri Naaraayana Yatheendhra
Mahaa Desikan of Ahobila peetam.

Our Tribute to Achaarya Raamaanuja in the new media
****************************************************

With the blessings of H.H. Sri Vann Satakopa 
Sri Naarayana Yathindhra Mahaa Desikan , a pionering 
project on the glorious life and magnificient 
Sri Sookthis of Achaarya Raamaanuja has been completed.

This project plans to release the first ever CD ROM 
dealing at length with the vaibhavam of Achaarya Raamaanuja .
This CD ROM is being sponsored by the Sri Matam and 
is awaiting release on April 21 , Achaarya Raamaanuja's
birthday . Some of the topics covered in this CD ROM 
are :Bhagavadh Aaraadhana prayogam  , the nine Sri Sookthis 
of the Achaarya , his Thirumanjanam at Thirunaaraayanapuram (video) ,
images of number of archaa moorthys worshipped by 
our Achaaryaa and his digh vijayam across the length and breadth 
of India to spread the uplifting message of Sri Vaishnavam 
as the most ancient Vedic religion deriving its authority from 
Upanishads , Aagamaas , the two epics , Puraanaas and the 
divya prabhnadhams of the twelve Azhwaars .

The first four copies of the pioneering CD ROM 
on the Vaibhavam and Sri Sookthis of AchArya 
RaamAnujA will be arriving here during the week 
of April 19 for ceremonial release . Professor
Alwar of Mysore Sanskrit College and AdiyEn have been
working on this project for the past few months and 
number of BhakthAs from USA, Singapore  and Bahrain 
have provided seed funds to design , develop and release 
the first of these series of CD ROMs on Sri VaishNavite 
AchAryAs .Sri Ahobila Matam will be blessing this 
project through their sponsorship of this pioneering 
CD ROM .We are particularly grateful for the encouragement 
and support of the Executives of Ahobila matam of 
North America during the evolution of this project . 
It is our hope that this CD ROM on AchArya RaamAnujA 
with inputs from distinguished Scholars such as 
Dr.V.N.Vedantha Desikan and scholars from 
ThirunArAyaNapuram would help the overseas Sri VaishNavite 
Families at every level to grow their ruchi 
for the tAraka-pOshaka Sri Sookthis of 
one of the greatest AchaaryAs of Sri VaishNavam .

Please contact myself for additional details
on this CD ROM .
  
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan