SrIvaikuNta gadhyam – thaniyan

SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

alavandharALavandhAr (yAmunAchAryar)kAttu mannAr kOyil

yAmunArya sudhAmbhOdhim avagAhya yathAmathi
AdhAya bhakthiyOgAkhyam rathnam sandharSayAmyaham II

Explanatory Notes:

yAmunAryayAmunAcharya (ALavandhAr, one of the principal preceptors in our SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam, who was the grandson of nAthamunigaL and the AchAryar for all 5 AchAryas of rAmAnujar)

sudhA – nectar
ambhOdhim – in the ocean
avagAhya – take a deep dive
yathAmathi – to the extent that there is knowledge (or intelligence)
AdhAya – to bring
bhakthi – devotion
yOgAkhyam – called (or named) as bhakthi yOgam
rathnam – ruby
sandharSayAmyaham – aham – I; sandharSayAmi – show. I show to you.

Since it says in the end that “I show it to you”, it is possible that bhagavadh SrI rAmAnujar himself would have compiled this thaniyan. Or it is possible that one of his disciples would have written this, in the way that SrI rAmAnujar himself would have compiled it.

From where did he get this ruby? It was obtained from the ocean which is the nectar like bhakthi of yAmunAcharyar (SrI ALavandhAr). He (SrI rAmAnuja) had taken a deep dive into the ocean of bhakthi of SrI yAmunAchAryar and brought out this ruby which is called as bhakthi yOgam (devotional attachment). And, he goes to explain this to us to the extent that he has knowledge about it. This would sound strange coming from such a great and knowledgeable person like SrI rAmAnuja. Here “yathAmathi” (to the extent that there is knowledge) would apply to us who have limited knowledge to absorb what he says.

We are discussing about gadhyathrayam, in which the principal path shown is SaraNAgathi (surrendering). bhakthiyOgam is meant for capable people (such as rishis and sages like vAlmiki, vaSishta, suka et al) and not for us. Why is bhakthi yOgam now being shown to us? SrI vEdhAnthachAryar says in his comment on gadhya thrayam that here bhakthi yOgam refers to thinking about bhagavAn and not as a path to reach bhagavAn. The path defined for us is only SaraNAgathi.

Translation by krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan.

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