Sri Ramanuja's thirunakshatram is being celebrated on May 12th,
in some places on 13th, and in some other places during the weekend
(
14th/ 15th) all across the Globe. Some have 10 day utsavams, some in
the usa have 3 days utsavams, and some have 1 day utsavam.
As Ramanuja Sampradaya devotees, we have to take some time
and celebrate the only Acharya who is the central pendant in
our Acharya GuruParanara. This should be natural to us.
Adiyen had asked the great Scholar of our time, the question
what makes Swami Ramanuja the "only" unique acharya,
why not Kurattazhvan, PillaiLockachar, VendantaDesikar,
Mamunigal.
==============================================================
Here was the answer given by Sri U.Ve Velukkudi Krishnan Swami
in the year 2001, Sept 15th, Saturday.
==============================================================
Respected Bhagavatottamas
We all take pride calling ourselves as Sri vaishnavas and more as
Ramanuja Dasan
/ Dasi. When there were so many acharyas before and after Swamy Ramanuja,
what
is the uniqueness about Ramanuja. Let me share some of them with
you.
a.. All acharyas before Ramanuja were called anuvritti prasanna acharya
i.e.
one who imparts knowledge to sishyas who have passed all the criteria in
terms
of basic knowledge, anushtana, perseverence etc. But Ramanuja broke this
chain
(oraNvazhi) and introduced a simple criterion - " Desire to
know". (This was a
boon to people like us) Hence he was the first one to be hailed as Kripa
mAtra
prasanna acharya. Manavala Mamunigal in Upadesa Rattina malai -
"Asai
udayorkkellam AriyarkAl kUrumenru pEsi varambaruttAr pin"
a.. Ramanuja was the only one to whom Sri Ranganatha submitted both
his
vibhUtis , nitya and leela and gave the authority of granting moksha.
Quote
"Vishnu lOka maNi mandapa mArga dAyi" Kanchi Devaraja has
reinforced this
authority by advising Tirukkachi nambigal that moksham for nambigal is
due to
his connection with Ramanuja.
a.. Ramanuja was the only one whom Nammalwar acknowledged. He has given
the
divine statue of Ramanuja to nAthamunigal. And this divine vigraham is
the deity
at Ramanuja sannidhi at Alwartirunagari even today. Quote "
bhavishyadAcharya
varaswarUpam sandarsayamAsa - tam kAri sUnum Saranam prapadye". This
vigraham
was held by all our pUrva acharyas in their tiruvaradhanam.
a.. Ramanuja is the only one to whom the revered title "Swamy"
is apt. We do
call many other acharyas also with this title. But see this - All temples
are
koils but just the word "koil" will stand for Sri Rangam only.
All birthdays of
perumal are jayantis but "jayanti" would stand only for Sri
Krishna Jayanti. All
jeers are jeers but just "jeer" or "Peria jeer" is
only for Manavala Mamungal.
(At the beginning and end of every santhai session, we all chant
"Alwar
emperumanar "jeer" tiruvadigale saranam"). Similarly, just
"Swamy" stands for
Ramunja alone. For others we must add their name also to identify
them.
a.. Ramanuja was the first to document in as many terms the
VisishtAdvaita
sampradAya. The works of all other acharyas followed his footsteps. Thus
our
darsanam is till today called as "Emperumanar darsanam" or
"Ramanuja Darsanam".
The concept of Sarangati as developed by alwars, nathamunigal and
Alavandar was
also documented by Ramanuja both in text and practice.
a.. Ramanuja is the only acharya who was referred with respect / followed
by
other schools in vaishnavism like chaitanya, vallabhacharya, Swamy
narayan .
a.. All the acharyas after Ramanuja have pointed their fingers and sung
in
praise of Ramanuja only. Even though acharyas like Swamy Pillai
lokacharya,
Swamy Desikan and Swamy Manavala Mamunigal 1. are much later in time
to
Ramanuja, and 2. have their own acharya, still they refer to Swamy
Ramanuja only
as the ultimate acharya. Pls note this point " Our moksham is not
guaranteed
only with the sambandham of any other acharya - but Ramanuja". Our
daily chant
is " RamanujArya divyAgya vardhatAm abhi vardhatAm. " It is
only he who can
command and all our acharyas and we follow his command.
a.. Whoever has samasrayanam he is first taught to chant (by his own
acharya)
"Adiyen Ramanuja dasan" when he prostrates before
elders.
a.. Ramanuja was the only one adept in all fields like vedanta,
rahasyas,
vaishnavism, politics, upliftment of downtrodden, arts, culture and
others. He
was a perfect cobination of gnana and bhakti after alwars.
a.. Finally, let me cite a happening from Koorathalwans life. Once there
was a
debate near kaveri as to who would be the greatest acharya on earth.
there were
arguments and counter arguments. Koorathzhwan could not bear this any
more. He
walked in to kaveri water and vowed with raised hands " satyam
satyam puna:
satyam yatirAjo jagatguru: - sa eva sarva lokAnam uddharta na
samsaya:" Yatiraja
is the only Acharya to this world. He is the only one who can bring us
out of
the sufferings of this materialistic world.
So let us take pride that we are Ramanuja dasa, let us be without any
confusion
as we are Ramanuja sishyas, let us be assured of a birth in Sri vaikuntha
as we
are Ramanuja sambandhis. I pray to divya dampatis for Ramanuja groups to
reach
greater heights in the service to humanity.
Srimate Ramanujaya Namaha.
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End of Sri U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan Swami's message.
======================================================
Adiyen requests other devotees to please post their local Enberumanar
Thirunakshatram
celebrations on this list, with pictures if possible.