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The Foreword for Sri VenakatEsA Home Pages: Part 2

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • January 13, 2000 


AchAryAL's Tributes & connectios to Sri VenkatEsA
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AchArya RaamAnuja :
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This great AchAryA  followed the foot steps of 
his predecessors like Nathamuni, Aalavandhar and
climbed these holy hills and delivered at the sannidhi
of Lord SrinivAsan a discourse on VedAs and Upanishads 
to establish the essence of VisishtAdvaitham . Lord VenkatEsA
was very pleased with this exposition of Raamanuja
and said " This indeed is the meaning of the Vedas ,
My words". This divine discourse approved by the Lord
of the Seven Hills came to be known as the first 
of the nine Sri Sookthis (Blessed compositions ) of
Acharya Ramanauja and is revered today as 
VedArtha Sangraham .

The gigantic tree of Sri BhAshyam ,the magnum opus 
of RaamAnujA grew out of this seedling blessed by 
Lord SrinivAan Himself . The foundational
principle of VisishtAdvaitham , the Sarira-Sariri 
relation , was thus established  by Bhagavath RaamAnujA 
here at Thirumalai in front of the Lord , who
was given the name of "SrinivAsan " by AchArya 
Ramanujan himself. Earlier , AchArya RaamAnujA 
established the true identity of the Lord of 
seven hills as that of Sriman NaarAyaNan 
through the Lord's own acceptance of Sankha-Chakrams 
as His divine weapons . 

Thirumalai Nambi aka Srisaila PoorNar (973-1073 A.D)
was very pleased with his nephew RaamAnujA's 
intercession with the Lord of Thirumalai to reveal 
His true form . RaamAnujA stayed at his uncle's 
house for  a few months and  learnt about 
the inticate meanings of important passages 
in RaamAyaNA and PurANAs from him .

A host of other AchAryas followed the foot steps 
of Bhagaavth RaamAnujA like Swamy Desikan , Swamy
MaNavALa Maamunigal down to present day AchAryAs .
One of the principal disciples of Swamy MaNavALa 
MaamunigaL blessed us with the Sri VenkatEsa 
SuprabhAdham , SthOthram , Prapatthi and MangaLam,
which is recited every day in front of the Lord 
at Thirumalai.

NadAthUr AmmAL 's links to Thirumalai
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NadathUr ammaaL was the nephew of AchArya 
RaamAnujA . He is the one , who blessed 
the five year old VenkatanAthan (Swami Desikan)
to succeed in  paramatha kaNDanam , the strengthening
of the fortress of  VisishtAdvaitha VedAntham 
and growing  Bhagavath RaamAnuja SiddhAntham further.

At one time , NadAthUr ammAl went on a 
pilgrimage to Thirumalai. He was near ThirucchAnUr 
and the hot rays of the noon sun was bearing down on
him. AmmAL rested on the pial of a house 
and was hungry . At that time , a Sri VaishNavar 
appeared and presented dhadhyannam in a golden vessel
and mentioned that it was SrinivAsa's Niyamanam .
Once AmmAL and his sishyAls partook the prasAdham ,
the Sri VaishNavar and the golden vessel disappeared .
Sri NadathUr ammaaL recognized it was the Lord 
of the seven hills that gave him and his sishyALs 
His PrasAdham .Meanwhile , the sannadhi servants 
noticed the missing golden vessel and were wondering 
as to what had happened. The Lord explained to them 
that He personally took it to serve AmmAL and had showed 
where that vessel was.The Lord also commanded
His sannadhi parichArakAs to bring AmmAL with
all honors (maryAdhais) from ThriucchAnUr to
His presence .NadaathUr ammAl arrived in front 
of the Lord and performed MangaLAsAsanam to
his heart's content and returned thereafter 
to his native Kaanchi .Such is the relationship
of Lord SrinivAsan to His AchAryALs.

Swamy NigamAntha MahA Desikan
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Swamy Desikan was an incarnation of the divine bell 
of ThiruvenkatamudayAn . His magnum opus
among sthOthrams is dayA sathakam , where he
eulogizes the most important KalyANa guNam of 
Lord VenkatEsA , DayA , as one of His Five Devis .

Swami Desikan's contribution for the growth
of VisishtAdvaitham as the amsam of the Lord of
seven hills is legendary . His genius in intrepreting
Bhagavath RaamAnuja darsanam led to the creation of 
many Sri Sookthis . He saved for us the master work 
of Sudarsana Suri , Srutha prakAsikai ,the commentary on 
Sri Bhaashyam of AchArya RaamAnujA by NadAthUr ammAl .

The master mind of Swamy Desikan summarized 
for us the gist of the teachings of 
the 16 paadhAs of the four AdhyAyAs of Brahma 
Soothram as intrepreted by AchArya RaamAnuja 
in verse number 19 in the SaasthrAvathArA, 
AdhikaraNasArAvaLi this way (translation of
the original sanskrit SlOkam by Sri K. Bhaashyam) :

Here the Lord (Srinivasa NaarAyaNan) is seen 
in the following 16 ways : 

(1) He is the Creator 
(2) He is the possessor of the World as His Body
(3) He is self-supporter ( does not seek other support )
(4) He is shining splendid with measureless glories
(5) He can not be denied
(6) He is the reliable friend for those , who
    resort to Him (Achyuthan)
(7) He is the author of the birth of AkAsA et al
    and the Jeevans
(8) He is the author of the senses and PrANA
(9) He is the controller of the movement of SamsArA
(10)He is the most beautiful, blemishless and
    is full of anantha KalyANa GuNams 
(11)He is the object of various devotions
(12)He is pleased by the performance of one's
    appointed duty
(13)He is the destroyer of all sins (Venkatam)
(14)He leads the Muktha Jeevans through Brahma Naadi
(15)He leads the muktha jeevan through the ArchirAdi 
    maargam thereafter with His AadhivAhAs
(16)He is the one who grants the boon of Saayujyam
    for the Muktha Jeevan .
Such is the synthetic and analytical genius 
of this AchAryan , who is an important amsam
of Lord SrinivAsan of Thirumalai .

Adhi VaNN SatakOpa Jeeyar , the Founder of AhObila Matam
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Another great AchArya , Adhi VaNN SatakOpa Jeeyar
was the founding Jeeyar of Ahobila Matam . He had
received sanyAsam directly from the hands of 
BhagavAn NarasimhA at AhObilam . When this Jeeyar 
visited Thiruppathi , Lord SrinivAsA appeared in
his dream and commanded the Jeeyar to build steps 
for pilgrims to climb Thiruppathi hills to reach
His sannidhi without difficulty . Adhi VaNN 
SatakOpa Jeeyar obeyed the Lord's command and built
the steps for easy climbing and also mantapams
in between for the pilgrims to rest during their
climb up the hill .These steps are present even today
and devotees of Lord SrinivAsan climb them to
reach the Lord's sannidhi.

The ties between Lord SrinivAsan and the AchArya
paramparais are deep and profound . 

To Be continued