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Re: Santhyavadanam and Gayathri mantra

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ram Gopalaswamy • December 9, 1998 


    SrI Mani Varadarajan writes:

    | > Sri Ram Gopalaswamy wrote:

    | > "Sathyanarayanan K"  writes:

    | >> I hope that I could get a good response to my above
    | >> queries from this elited forum, as all members are
    | >> following the foot prints of SRI RAMANUJA, who by
    | >> himself pronounced the(esoteric) mantra of SriMan
    | >> Narayanan from a high temple tower. As you may be
    | >> knowing, he did so mainly to benefit all people and to 
    | >> emphasize that the Lord is common to all, from a begger to
    | >> a king.

    | > Contrary to the popular belief, SrI rAmAnujAcArya only
    | > spoke about the glories of the mantra-s to inspire ardent
    | > devotees (mumukshu-s) to approach sadAcArya-s and to get
    | > samASrayaNam, kAlakshEpam and prapatti so SrIman-nArAyaNa
    | > would grant them mOksham.

    | > Dear Ram:
    | [...]
    | > Let me first quote from the oldest biography (13th
    | > century), Pinpazhagiya Perumal Jiyar's "aaraayirappadi"
    | > (6000) guru paramparaa prabhaavam.  This passage is so
    | > inspiring that it is worth quoting in full.
    | [...]
    | >    Ramanuja, having gotten what he desired, went the very
    | > next day to the temple [thiruvOlakkam?] of Terkaazhvaan,
    | > the PerumaaL of that town, and gave that very meaning of
    | > the highest of esoteric mantras to many Sri Vaishnavas.
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    | >    Having heard what Udaiyavar [Ramanuja] had done, Nambi
    | > summoned him and said, "Didn't I tell you to keep the
    | > inner meaning of the highest mantra to yourself, and not
    | > to tell a single soul? I heard that you forgot this
    | > instruction of mine and repeated the meaning to many Sri Vaishnavas."
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    | [...]
    | emberumaanaar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
    | thirukkacci nambi dhaasan
    | Mani
     

    Dear Mani:

    I thought SrI K. Sathyanarayanan ,in his original message, was saying
    that SrI rAmAnujAcArya just shouted the rahasya-mantras LITERALLY to
    arbitrary people.  My reply was based on that assumption.

    Your quote from SrI Pinpazhagiya Perumal Jiyar's work is interesting.
    I am not sure how to understand it.

    Is the jIyar implying that SrI rAmAnujAcArya revealed _only_ the
    inner meanings of the mantra-s, that too to SrI vaishNava-s _only_ ?
    (ie to devotees that were already instructed the rahasya-mantra-s by
     a sadAcArya through initiation? )

    In other words, is the jIyar implying that SrI rAmAnujAcArya 
    did not loudly shout the mantras (literally, in the exact word order)
    to non-SrI-vaishNavas ?   [ if there is there is a difference beween
    saying just the mantra-meaning and loudly saying the mantras literally. ]

    [btw, is it not also said that SrIman-nArAyaNa Himself instructs 
     the mantra-traya and their meanings, in the AvESa form of a sadAcArya ?
     That means if an ordinary person imitates what SrI rAmAnujAcArya did,
     they would be comitting a big offense ? ]


    Thanks for any clarification.

    - rAmAnuja dAsan,  Ram