Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Alaghia Manavala Mamunighal - Part 7

From the Bhakti List Archives

B. Narasimhan • May 30, 1999 


Sri Mathe Ramanujaya Namah

Alaghia Manavala Mamunighal(Part 7)
(article by Sri V.V.Ramanujam, published in Sri Panchajanya
magazine)

Out of the vast concourse of his disciples, he appointed eight as
the Ashta Diggaja Acharya - the mighty elephants guarding the
eight directions - each to protect and propagate an aspect of Sri
Ramanujas teaching - one for Sri Bhasyam, another for Bhagavath
Vishayam and so on, He reformed and systematised the worship in
temples according to the original scheme of Ramanuja.
'Ramanujarya Divyagnya vardhatam abhivardhatam' is the formula he
gave and struck to. The rituals & worship had become highly
disorganised due to disturbed conditions following the Muslim
invasion and the massacre of the pious devotees and sacrilege
committed by the invaders.

Adimist all his greatness the Jeeyar was the very pesonification
of humility and modesty. He did not allow his disciples to deify
him. It was only by persistent effort that they got permission -
grudgingly given by the master - for casting his likeness in
metal and worship. He stipulated that two idols should be made
from some old copper vessals he had been using, so that the idols
would be quite small. The idols at Alwar Thirunagari - his birth
place and at SriRangam where he toiled are midgets. His great
humility find eloquent expressions in his Yathiraja Vimsathi and
Arthiprabandham.