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Ramanuja Jayanthi at Sri Ranganatha Temple , Pomona ,New York

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • May 12, 1997 


Dear Members of the Prapatthi group :

I am so glad to read about the descriptions of celebrations 
of Acharya Ramanuja Jayanthi at the Maha Lakshmi Temple
at Massachusetts and  Chicago Temple . We had  an excellent
celebration at the Ranganatha Temple . During and  After Thirumanjanam 
to Sri Ranganatha , Sri Ramachandra , Sri KrishNa , Sri Srinivasan
, Sri Sudarsana Narasimha Murhty , Acharya Ramanuja ,
Swami Desikan , we  recited ThirupallANdu, Amalanathipiran,
PeriyAzhwAr's Neeraatam and Pocchudal paasurams , Ramanusa 
Norrandhathi , SaraNAgathi Gadhyam , Taittiriya Upanishad ,
Maha NarayaNOpanishad and portions of Yathiraja sapthathi
and Yathiraja Vimsathi of MaNavALa MaamunigaL .. 

Professor Prasad and Myself did pravachana seva next . Professor 
Prasad spoke on the messages of Acharya Ramanuja and 
his invaluable contributions to Sri Vaishnava sampradhAyam .
I spoke on the influence of the preceptors of RamAnujA on him and 
the propagation of Bhagavath RamAnuja siddhantham by those that 
occupied the Acharya Peetam after Sri Ramanuja reached parama padam .

There was saatthumurai, Acharya SambhavanA afterwards and 
the functions came to a close with Prasadam distribution . 
Approximately 50K$ were raised during this occasion for the 
construction of the Ranganatha Temple at Pomona . There is 
150K$ plus this 50K$ in the bank and the committee needs 400K$
more to start construction this summer. Any Bhaktha of Sri Ranganatha 
is welcome to contribute to the fund raising efforts to realize this dream 
project . I will be happy to send you the address of the treasurer of
the Ranganatha temple for this purpose. The mula Vigrahams are 
90% completed in India and are ready for shipment soon . Inview of the limited
time window for construction ( July to October ) the remaining funds of 400K$ 
for completing the shell structure this year have to be raised  before July. 
Help by any amount will be gratefully  received by the officials of 
the Board of Sri Ranganatha temple. Please  pass the word on to your friends 
and relatives . many thanks . Another point I referred to in an earlier 
posting is the magnanimous help of the great sarod artist Ajmad Ali Khan 
to raise funds for the Ranganatha Temple. That event was scheduled 
for 3 PM yesterday . I could not attend and I assume that it went well
with Sri Ranganatha's blessings .    

Before I leave the subject , let me mention about the extraordinarily beautiful
Sudarsana -Narasimha Vigraham that is consecrated and worshipped at this 
temple. One is indeed fortunate to have the darsanam of this archa murthy 
of immense proportions and outstanding beauty. If your travels take you to
New York , please do not fail to have the darsanam of this Sudarsana-
Narasimhan and other uthsava murthys that are worshippped  according 
to the strictest paancharaathra agama tradition followed at Srirangam .

I thank Sri Murali Rangaswamy for his timely , informative and balanced
posting on the life of Sri Ramanuja . I will post a separate note on his query
on Vedantha Saara and Vedantha Deepam of Acharya Ramanuja . They 
are indeed shorter summaries of selected Brahma SutrAs . These were
written after the completion of his magnum opus , Sri Bhashyam , 
the detailed and authoritative commentary on Brahma SutrAs of BadarAyaNA .

The Sri Bhashyam of Our AchArya was terse , technical and " severely
argumentative ". By the very nature of the exalted discussion , Sri Bhashyam
could not be understood easily by lay men . The most merciful 
RamAnujA decided to bless us with simpler and shorter versions of
the subject matter of Sri Bhashyam so that  we will not be intimidated by
the lofty Sri Bhashyam. These two works of RamAnujA , Vedantha SaarA and 
Vedantha DeepA "eschew controversy and elaborate  arguments "
so that simple students of philosophy ,  can  handle the compendious
commentary of the SutrAs housed in Sri Bhashyam .

Vedantha Saara is the shorter version among the two 
simplified commentaries. It has just a line or two as commentary 
on the Sutras . Vedantha DeepA is slightly larger version of the commentary 
and is between Vedantha SaarA and Sri Bhashyam in complexity .  

As all the bhakthAs of Sri RamAnuja know , Sri Sarsvathi Devi presented 
her UpasanA murthy of Sri Lakshmi Hayagreevan to Sri Ramanuja for
completing such a magnificient task on writing the commentary on 
BadarayaNa sutrAs .
 
Sri Haya Vadhana Para BrahmaNE Nama: 

Sri RamanujAcharya divya Charanou SaraNam prapadhyE 

V.Sadagopan