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Re: Ramanuja

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Parthasarati Dileepan • October 10, 1996 


>Jaganath Bharadwaj said:
>> Ramanujacharya meditated on Yamunacharya and
>> not on the feet of Ranganatha or Ranganayaki at the time of His
>> departure from Bhuloka.

Mani Varadarajan  asked:
>
>Are you certain of this? In the SaraNAgati gadyam,
>Ranganatha tells Ramanuja:
>
>	dvayArtha anusandhAnena saha yAvat SarIra pAtakam
>	Srirange sukhamAsvA!
>
>	Until your body falls off, remain contented in Srirangam
>	meditating on the import of the Dvaya mantra.
>
>Would this not imply that Ramanuja contemplated on
>Perumal and Thaayaar as laid out in the Dvaya mantra?


According to Pi. Sri's book "Sri Ramanujar", wherein the various Guru
Parambara literature such as 6000 padi and 3000 padi are often cited,
Kooraththaazhvaar meditated upon the lotus feet of his acharya Sri Ramanuja
during his last moments here on earth with his head placed upon the thighs
(madi) of his disciple PiLLaip PiLLaiAzhvaan and his feet placed upon the
thighs (madi) of his wife ANdaaL.  From this one can conjecture that
meditating upon acharya's thiruvadi while dying is perfectly in line with
sampradaya.

Pi. Sri's book goes on to say that on the day Sri Ramanuja ascended to
mOksham, he gathered his disciples and gave them 82 codes by which to lead a
Sri Vaishnava life.  Finally, he gave three important directives to them:

[1] There is no upaya for mOksham except the good grace of Acharaya.
[2] There is no greater impediment for mOksham than bhaagavatha apachaaram.
[3] There is no higher purushaartham than kaingaryam.

Then, Sri Ramanuja asked the temple employees (paNiyaaLargaL) to forgive him
for any errors he may have committed knowingly or otherwise.  Then the great
soul left the earthly frame.

[These are narrated in "Prapannaamrutham," says Pi. Sri.]

As far Sri Ramanuja's last thoughts, it would be interesting to see any
sampradaya evidence one way or the other.  However, I am sure everyone will
agree that both versions are inspirational.

-- Dileepan