RAMANUJA

 

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                                         (By Shree koorattAzhvAn)

यॊ नित्यमच्युत पदाम्बुजयुग्मरुक्म व्यामोहतस्तदितराणि तृणायमेने ।

अस्मद्गुरॊर् भगवतॊस्य दयैक सिन्धॊ: रामानुजस्य चरणौ शरणम् प्रपद्यॆ ॥

yO nityamachyuta padAmbujayugmarukma vyAmohatastaditarANi tRuNAyamene |

asmadgurOr bhagavatOsya dayaika sindhO: rAmAnujasya charaNau sharaNam prapadyE ||   

I take refuge under the feet of swAmi rAmAnuja who is always obsessed with golden, twin lotus feet of Lord achyuta and shuns everything else as a blade of grass; who is our Guru complete in all auspicious qualities, and who is the ocean of mercy.

SWAMI RAMANUJA'S SIGNAURE IN GRANTHA LIPI

THE NAME RAMANUJA

1.RAmAnuja was the incarnation of the serpent AdisEshan. 

   He is also considered as the incarnation of LakshmaNa since Lakshmana was an incarnation of AdisEshan. ( rAma + anuja  = rAmAnuja, “anuja” means younger brother).

2. Lord krishNa was called “rAmAnuja” meaning younger brother of balarAma. Hence rAmAnuja is also considered to be the incarnation of KrishNa. Even amudanAr says in verse 33 of rAmAnuja nooRRandAdi that rAmAnuja is the incarnation of krishNa with all His five weapons.

3. NammAzhvAr was considered as Lord rAma. Hence yatirAja who was devoted to nammAzhvAr is like his younger brother (anuja), so he is named rAmAnuja.

4. In his work ‘Ramanujarya Divya Charitai’,  PiLLai LokAchArya narrates that Sri Asuri kEshava sOmayAji and kAntimati from Sriperumbudoor worshipped Sri ParthasArathy temple in Chennai and performed putrakAmESTii yAgam on the advice of tirukachchi nambi. Lord Paarthasarathy appeared in their dream and blessed them that He would Himself be born as their son in order to explain the import of the teachings of the Bhagavat GeetA.  Hence rAmAnuja is considered krishnA incarnate.

RAMANUJA'S NAMES

SwAmi rAmAnuja was conferred with many special titles that include:

1.iLaiyAzhvAr / iLaya perumAL/lakshmaNa - The name was given on birth by Tirumalai Nambi (rAmAnuja’s uncle).  

2.rAmAnuja – Periya Nambi gave the name during rAmAnuja’s pancha-samskAram at MadhurAntakam.

3.EmperumAnAr: The name was conferred by His AchAryan tirukOShTiyoor nambi.  RAmAnuja approached AchArya tirukOShTiyoor nambi for ashTAkshara mantrOpadEsam. After making rAmAnuja come to TirukOShTiyoor from shreerangam 18 times, He finally taught him the tirumantram. But Raamanuja climbed the third tyre of the temple Gopuram, called out all the devotees, and bellowed the mantra so everyone could hear. When an angered nambi taunted him saying that he will reach hell for letting the Rahasya mantra out, Raamaanuja sought his pardon and said: “If crores of people can benefit after hearing the ashtAkshara mantra, “Om namO nArAyaNa”, I am prepared to go to hell”. Moved by rAmAnuja’s unconditional compassion for humanity, Nambi embraced him and exclaimed, “ivar emperumAnArO?”. Is he my master? ThirukOTTiyoor Nambi also declared the shreevaiShNava tradition would become known as "rAmAnuja darshaNam". 

3.yatirAjA -  yatirAjA means king of yatis or sanyAsis – The name was given by kAnchi varadarAja perumAL when rAmAnuja took sannyAsa.

4.uDaiyavar:  This name was given by namperumAL on Raamaanuja’s arrival at Srirangam.  After swAmi had darshan of ranganAtha, namperumAL conferred the name "uDaiyavar" to rAmAnuja and declared that swAmi rAmAnuja will be the owner of the "ubhaya vibhootis" - He will possess leadership of both vibhootis – Nitya vibhooti and LeelA Vibhooti.

5.bhAshyakAra – The name was given by Goddess Saraswati to accredit rAmAnuja’s work on “shree bhAshyam”, a commentary based on the Brahmasootras of Sage bOdhAyana (bOdhAyana vRutti) which his disciple koorattAzhvAn byhearted in Kashmir Saraswati Bhandar Library, Sharadha PeeTham.

6.kOvil aNNan / gOdAgraja – nam kOvil aNNan means ‘my brother in the temple’, gOdA-agraja means – elder brother of gOdA/ANDAL.  SwAmi rAmAnuja offered 100 vessels of sweet pongal and 100 vessels of ghee to Azhagar perumAL of tirumAlirunchOlai to fulfil ANDAL’S wish that she expressed in nAchchiyAr tirumozhi 9.6 (NOORU TADA VENNAI).  When he came back to Shreevilliputtoor to thank ANDAL,  she acknowledged his kainkaryam saying “nam kOvil aNNanO!” – my brother in the temple. 

7.appanukku sangaazhi ALitta PerumAL – When there was a dispute as to whether the deity in Tirumala was Shiva or VishNu, Raamaanuja came and told the pandits to place two sets of  weapons "trishoola and Damaruka" and  "shankh and chakra" in front of the Lord before closing the door of the sanctum sanctorum at night. Next morning VenkaTEsa Perumal had the shankh and chakra on his shoulders signaling that He intended to give darshan as Vishnu. By doing this act, rAmanuja almost performed samAshrayanam to the Lord, and hence is known as 'appanukku sangaazhi aLitta perumAL".

8.tiruppAvai jeeyar – Once, swAmi rAmAnuja was seeking alms and singing tiruppAvai in shreerangam. When he reached swAmi mahApoorNa’s (periya nambi) house, he was singing 18th pAsuram 'undumadagaliRRan'. in which ANDAL awakens Nappinnai PirATTi.   As he was uttering the words “seerAr vaLai olippa vandu tiravAy”, the door opened, periyanambi's little daughter "attuzhAy" came out. Thinking that nappinnai pirATTi herself had opened the door, uDaiyavar fainted.  Due to his deep engrossment in tiruppAvai divya prabandham, He was named 'tiruppAvai jeeyar'.

9.lakshmaNa muni- Name given by Tirumalai ANDAN and Tiruvaranga PerumAL Arayar to signify that rAmAnuja served bhagavAn just like LakshmaNa.

10. panchAchArya seeDar - ‘Disciple of Five AchAryas’ - RAmAnuja had five AchAryas: tirukkacchi nambi, tirumalai nambi, tirukOShTiyoor nambi, periya Nambi and tirumalai ANDAN.

11.dEsikEndra – The king of AchAryAs. This name was given by TiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn.

12.shaThakOpan ponnaDi – This name was given by tirumalai ANDAN after He taught rAmAnuja the essence of tiruvAymozhi.

13.Bhootapureesha – The leader of Bhootapuri alias ShriperumpUdUr, the birth place of rAmAnuja – This title was given by Shree Adi kEsava PerumAL of ShriperumpUdUr.

14.Am mudalvan ivan – He is the future leader – These words of blessing were given by saint yAmunAchArya (ALavandAr) when He saw a spark in young rAmAnuja while he was learning from his advaita Guru yAdavaprakAsha.

 

SAALAI KINARU

SAALAI KINARU

As a young student, rAmAnuja used to attend Guru yAdavaprakAsha's advaita school.  As lessons advanced, rAmAnuja was unable to accept his Guru's interpretations on some of the Vedic verses. When he pointed out the wrong interpretations, Guru yAdavaprakAsha became annoyed. Many such occasions cropped up and created an unfriendly atmosphere between them.

YAdavaprakAsha once took his students to vAranAsi and decided to get rid of rAmAnuja there. His plan was to leave rAmAnuja on the way and tell the people that his student had drowned in the Ganges.  While the group was amid the thick forests of Central India, vindhyA range,  gOvindan, rAmAnuja's cousin, sensed the conspiracy and told rAmAnuja to run away immediately. RAmAnuja soon disappeared from the group. His Guru and disciples thought that he might have lost his way somewhere and must have been devoured by wild animals.

Caught inside the dense forests, rAmAnuja had no way to escape. Just then a hunter couple passed by. They asked him where he was heading towards. When rAmanuja said 'KAnchi', they replied that they were also going there and asked him to follow them.

After some time, the hunter's wife wanted water. The couple showed rAmAnuja the way to a well and asked him to bring water from the well. When Ramanuja returned with the water, the couple had disappeared. He turned back and was shocked to see the gOpuram of KAnchee temple at a short distance. He realised that it was the divyadampatis of KAnchee VaradarAja temple who had indeed helped him reach kAncheepuram in such a short time.  He also realised that the hunter’s wife was none other than PerundEvi tAyAr,  the consort of Sri VaradarAja SwAmi,  and felt miserable that he could not bring water in time to quench the divine mother's thirst*. As a mark of gratitude and kainkaryam,  rAmAnuja decided to carry water in a pitcher daily from that street well for Lord VaradarAja's ablutions . This well can be seen even today at SevilimEDu which is around 5 kms from Kaancheepuram. A shrine for rAmAnuja has also been built near the well. The well is called Saalaikkinaru, and the shrine is called "RAmAnuja Sannidhi".There is also a pond near by which is called AnushThAna kuLam.

SwAmi Desikan recounts this incident in 'YatirAja Saptati' - 62 explaining how swAmi Raamaanuja's teertha kainkaryam to Lord VaradarAja done many years ago is being reciprocated to us by that merciful, cloud like dark Lord in the form of extra-ordinary rains/blessings at the proper time.

वन्दॆ तं यमिनां धुरन्धरमहं मानान्धकारद्रुहा 

पन्थानं परिपन्थिनां निज दृशा रुन्धानमिन्ध्यानया ।

दत्तं यॆन दया सुधाम्बुनिधिना पीत्वा विशुद्धं पय:

कालॆ न: करिशैलकृष्णजलद: काङ्क्षाधिकं वर्षति ॥

vandE taM yaminAM dhurandharamahaM mAnAndhakAradruhA 

panthAnaM paripanthinAm nija dRushA rundhAnamindhyAnayA |

dattaM yEna dayA sudhAmbunidhinA peetvA vishuddhaM paya:

kAlE na: karishailakRushNa jalada:  kAnkshAdhikaM varShati ||

* Another version of this story says that Goddess PerundEvi drank the water and then the divine couple vanished from the spot.

 

PLACES TRAVELLED BY SWAMI RAMANUJA

SwAmi RAmAnuja's vijaya yAtra includes the following places of India.

1. tiruvarangam 

2.  kumbakONam (tirukuDandai)

3. tiruvAli tirunagari

4. tirumAlirunchOlai

5. shreevilliputtoor

6. tirupullAni

7. sEtu 

8. tiruppuLLinguDi

9. tirukkurugoor (AzhvAr tirunagari)

10. tirukOLoor

11. tirukkRunguDi

12. tiruppatisAram (tiruvaNparisAram)

13. tiruvaTTAru

14. tiruvanantapuram

15. a few more malayALa divyadEsams (kerala)

16. mathurA

17. gOkulam (AypADi_

18. gOvardhanagiri

19. brindAvanam

20. tirusAlagrAmam

21. tiru ayOddhi

22. prayAg

23. kurukshEtram

24. haridwAr

25. kAsi

26. gayA

27. tirukanDankaDinagar

28. naimishAraNyam

29. tirubadarikAshramam

30. shreenagar (kashmir)

31. pUri JagannAth

32. shreekoormam (Andhra)

33. shreekAkuLam (Andhra)

34. vArAngal (Andhra now telangana)

35. ahObilam (Andhra)

36. tirumala (Andhra)

37. tiruvallikENi 

38. tiruneermalai 

39. madurAntakam

40. kAncheepuram

41. tiruvaheendrapuram

42. veeranArAyaNapuram (kATTumannArkOyil)

43. tiruvarangam

A poem on rAmAnuja's beauty by swAmi embAr.

பற்பமெனத் திகழ் பைங்கழல் உந்தன் பல்லவமே விரலும்
பாவனமாகிய பைந்துவராடை பதிந்த மருங்கழகும்
முப்புரி நூலொடு முன்கையில் ஏந்திய முக்கோல் தன்னழகும்
முன்னவர் தந்திடு மொழிகள் நிறைந்திடு முறுவல் நிலாவழகும்
கற்பகமே விழி கருணை பொழிந்திடு கமலக் கண்ணழகும்
காரி சுதன் கழல் சூடிய முடியும் கன நற்சிகை முடியும்
எப்பொழுதும் எதிராசர் வடிவழகு என் இதயத்துளதால்
இல்லை எனக்கெதிர் இல்லை எனக்கெதிர் இல்லை எனக்கெதிரே. 

paRpamenat tigazh paingkazhal undan pallavamE viralum

pAvanamAgiya paintuvarADai padinda marungazhagum

muppuri nUloDu munkaiyil Endiya mukkOl tannazhagum

munnavar tantiDu mozhigaL niRaintiDu muRuval nilAvazhagum

kaRpakamE vizhi karuNai pozhintiDu kamalak kaNNazhagum

kAri sutan kazhal chUDiya muDiyum kana naRshikai muDiyum

eppozhudum etirAsar vaDivazhagu en idayattuLadAl

illai enakkedir illai enakkedir illai enakkedirE. 

*RAMANUAJA NOORRANDADI TANIYAN BY TIRUKKURGAI PIRAN PILLAN*

சொல்லின் தொகை கொண்டு உனதடிப் போதுக்குத் தொண்டு செய்யும் * 

நல்லன்பர் ஏத்தும் உன் நாமம் எல்லாம் எந்தன் நாவின் உள்ளே * 

அல்லும் பகலும் அமரும்படி நல்கு அறு ஸமயம் 

வெல்லும் பரம! * இராமானுச! இது என் விண்ணப்பமே.

sollin togai koNDu unadaDip pOdukkut toNDu seyyum * 

nallanbar Ettum un nAmam ellAm endan nAvin uLLE * 

allum pagalum amarumpaDi nalgu aRu samayam 

vellum parama! * irAmAnusa! idu en viNNappamE.

Oh, the great rAmAnujA who won over the six philosophies!  I have just one request. Please bless me that my mouth ever sings your glorious names uttered by your supreme devotee tiruvarangattu amudanAr who offered his vAchA kainkaryam at your lotus feet by composing the rAmAnuja nooRRandAdi in the apt count of 108 verses.