SrI: SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama: Dearest all, Let us continue to enjoy the acharya paramparai. LakshmI nAtha samArambhAm nATha yaamuna madhyamaam | asmadhAcharya paryanthAm vandhE GuruparamparAm || I worship the entire guruparamparaa that starts with Emperumaan, Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan; which has SrI NAthamuni (in between) upto my AchArya (Sri Ramanuja). This thaniyan is composed by Sri KooratthAzhwAn (Sri Ramanujacharya?s most ardent disciple); This Thaniyan describes the paramapara of our Acharyas which starts with Sriman Narayanan. Sri AzhwAn pays his obeisance to the paramapara upto his Acharya. He does not mention the name of his Acharya (calling upto my Acharya - asmadhAchArya paryanthAm .. It fits in so well for every one of us when we recite this upto my Acharyan, I pay my obeisance to the Gurupamarapara. KooratthAzhwAn is known for his intellect and scholarship. Thus the Guru paramparai upto Sri Ramanuja is: Sriman Narayanan Sri Mahalakshmi Sri Vishvaksenar Sri NammAzhwAr Sri NAthamuni Sri UyyakkoNdaar (Sri PundareekAkshar) Sri MaNakkaal nambhi (Sri Ramamisrar) Sri Alavandhar (Sri Yamunacharya) Sri Periya Nambhi (Sri MahapoorNar) Sri RAMANUJACHARYA yO nithya-machyutha-padaam-buja-yugma-rugma vyaamOhadas dadhi-tha-raaNi thru-Naaya mEnE asmath-gurOr bhagavathOsya dhayaika-sindhO: raamaanujasya saraNau saraNam prapadhyE. [After the entire parampara upto Sri Ramanuja, KooratthAzhwAn composes a special slOka for Sri Ramanujacharya alone.] I take refuge at the feet of our guru Bhagavaan Ramanuja, that ocean of mercy who, infatuated with the gold-like, lotus feet of the Lord, considered all else as mere blades of grass. ParamAthmani yOrakthO virakthO(S)paramAthmani- Due to His jnAna, Bhakthi, VairAgyam, Sri Ramanujacharya considered only the lotus feet of the Lord Sriman Narayanan as the means and the Goal- for that matter- everything. Nothing else mattered to him. He is not interested in others and considers others (material, sensual pursuits) as thruNam (blade of grass). asmadhguru paramagurUn yathivarapUrNau sayAmunam rAmam padmAksha nAtha saTajith sEnEcha ramA ramApathIn vandhE. After Sriman Nathamuni, Sri Pundareekakshar [also called as Uyyakkondaar], Sri Raamamisrar also called as maNakkaal nambhi], Yamunamuni or Sri Alavandhaar, comes Sri MahaapoorNar [Periya Nambhi] in our Acharya parampara. [from asmadhAcharyan Tamil commenetry on Yathiraaja Sapthathi ? translted into English by Sri CG Balaji Swamin:] Bhagavad Ramanuja, was born in the year of Pingala, month of chittirai, shukla panchami (Wednesday) Friday in the constellation of Thiruvaadirai in 13-04-1017 at Sriperumbudur in Harita kulam to Aasuri Keshava Somayaaji and Kantimati (Bhumi piraattiyaar), sister of Sri Periya Thirumalai Nambi. He was named as Lakshmana or Ilaya Perumal by his maternal uncle. Even before 16 years of age, he attained a profound mastery in all the vedas and the shastras. At the age of 17, he married a noble maid by name Thanjamaambaal (Rakshakaambaal). After this he moved to Kanchipuram wherein he studied the philosophy of Advaitha Vedanta under one named Yadava prakasha. Having seen Ramanuja?s keen intellect and the sharpness in his grasping power, Yadava prakasha was afraid that his matham might not live long in his presence and so planned to kill Ramanuja on the pretext of taking him on a pilgrimage to Kashi. Having learnt the designs of the guru, through his cousin and fellow classmate Govinda, Ramanuja discontinued his trip to Kashi and came back to Kanchipuram with the help of the divine couple (Perarulaala dampathigal). Alavandar, who had come over to Kanchipuram, blessed Ramanuja with his divine glances and made the prophetic statement saying, ?Let him be the champion of our sampradaayam? [aam mudhalvan ivan]. Through Thirukkachchi Nambigal he obtained the six finer truths of the sampradayam [as seen earlier] He then got performed the sacraments of pancha samskaaram from Periyanambigal at Madhurantakam and then pursued the study of Vedantam at Perumal koil at his (Periyanambigal) feet. Disassociating himself from samsaric afflictions, he got initiated into the ascetic order directly from Sri Varadaraja Perumal who proclaimed him as Yatiraja! Having moved to Srirangam along with disciples like Kuratthazhwan and others, he was adored by Periya perumal as num udaiyavar who also gave him the mantle of the entire temple administration. The administrative rules and guidelines set up by Udayavar can be seen being followed in the temple even to this day. Having approached Thirukkottiyurnambi with firm determination for almost 14 times, he became his disciple finally and learnt the esoteric meanings of the ashtakshara, dvaya and charama shlokam from him. He then promulgated these truths from the ashtanga vimanam of that temple to all bhaktas. After having known the esoteric truths, he displayed his great sense of compassion for mankind and wished for all the subjects of the Lord to excel in their spiritual pursuits. ?Through his merciful deeds even we have obtained the upadesham, is he my master? emperumaanaarO?- exclaimed Thirukkottiyurnambi. Praising his spirit of service to mankind, he named Srivaishnava siddhantam as Ramanuja darshanam. Since that day, he also came to be known as Emperumaanaar. He then toured the whole of north and obtained the rare manuscripts of Bodhayana vritti at Kashmir. He authored delectable works like Brahmasutra bhasyam, Vedanta saram, Vedanta deepam, Vedartha sangraham and other great works and fulfilled the dreams of Alavandar. After having listened to the Brahma sutra bhasyam of Ramanuja, Goddess Sarasvathi Devi out of great delight named it as Sri Bhashyam and embellished Udayavar with the sobriquet Sribhashyakaara and gifted him with a murthy of Sri Lakshmi Hayagrivar. He performed sharanagati at the divine feet of Periya perumal and Periya piraatti on a panguni uttiram day during the sErthi utsavam, by composing and reciting gadya trayam and showed to the world the ultimate means to salvation. He authored a work called Nityam elucidating the ways in which Bhagavad aradhanam has to be performed daily by all paramaikaantins. He made his disciple Pillan write a commentary on Thiruvaimozhi known as Aaraayirappadi and named him as Thirukkurugaippiraan Pillan and his work as Bhagavadvishayam. He appointed 74 simhaasanaadhipathigal or crown bearers of Srivaishnava sampradayam and ordained them with the duties of propagating the philosophical system of Vishishtaadvaitha. Emperumaanaar in this way became the praapyam, the fruit of attainment and ?praapakam? the means of attainment of that fruit, guru and kuladaivam of Sri Vaishnava lokam. Sri Ramanujasya charaNou SaraNam PrapadyE Regards Namo narayana dAsan ____________________________________________________________________________________ Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com. Try it now. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:SriRangaSri-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:SriRangaSri-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: SriRangaSri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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