SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
<< periya nambi
Glories of emperumAnAr
SrI rAmAnujar is an an avathAram of AdhiSEshan. He is also known as jagadhAchArya (AchArya of the whole universe). He stands as a central figure in SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam. He made the SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam grow like a banyan tree. bhagavath rAmAnujar expanded to a great extent, the sampradhAyam that was fostered by nammAzhwar, who is hailed as ‘prapanna jana kUtasthar’ – i.e., the chief among the community of those who are surrendered to bhagavAn. emperumAnAr has a special position in our sampradhAyam. nammAzhwAr glorifies the appearance of emperumAnAr and presents bhavishyadhAchAryan thirumEni (divine deity) of emperumAnAr even before his appearance. bhagavath rAmAnujar also established 74 simhAsanAdhipathis to propagate our SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam everywhere.
maNavALa mAmunigaL mentions in his upadhEsa raththina mAlai, rAmAnujar has instructed all the AchAryas – “Asai udaiyOrkku ellAm AriyargAL kURum enRu pEsi varambu aRuththAr pin” (Oh AchAryas, teach all those whosoever is desirous of attaining emperumAn in this earth and remove the boundary for teaching). bhagavath rAmAnujar felt that every AthmA has a right to attain emperumAn and wanted to give the knowledge to everyone who had the desire for it without any distinction and spread the SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam. His mercy is aptly described as “kArEy karuNai irAmAnusa” (meaning – his mercy is like a cloud that pours the rain with kindness). He reformed all the dhivyadhESams and ensured correct temple administration and kainkaryams (thiruvArAdhanam, thaLigai, reciting pAsurams, uthsavams etc.,) are performed without any deficiency. To this day, the sampradhAyam fostered by emperumAnAr is spread, expanded, and grown all over the bhAratha dhESam.
He was born in SrIperumbUdhUr during the month of chiththirai and in birth star – thiruvAdhirai. He has mercifully given us nine granthams which are considered as nava rathnams. They are SrI bhAshyam, gIthA bhAshyam, vEdhArtha sangraham, vEdhAntha dhIpam, vEdhAntha sAram, SaraNAgathi gadhyam, SrIranga gadhyam, SrIvaikuNta gadhyam and nithya grantham (thiruvArAdhana kramam). All of these are sanskrit granthams; he did not compose any texts in thamizh. He has explained the essence of vEdhantha in SrI bhAshyam, vEdhArtha sangraham, vEdhAntha dhIpam and vEdhAntha sAram. In gIthA bhAshyam, he has mercifully given a special vyAkhyAnam for the SrI bhagavath gIthA. Through his gadhya thrayam, emperumAnAr established the most important concept of our sampradhAyam – SaraNAgathi. Through nithya grantham, he has shown the method of performing thiruvArAdhanam. He also formulated the methodology/approach for writing vyAkhyAnam for thiruvAimozhi. Like this, emperumAnAr’s glories are many.
emperumAnAr’s vAzhi thirunAmam
aththigiri aruLALar adipaNindhOn vAzhiyE
arutkachchi nambiyurai ARupeRROn vAzhiyE
paththiyudan pAdiyaththaip pagarndhittAn vAzhiyE
pathinmarkalai utporuLaip parindhukaRRAn vAzhiyE
suththamagizh mARanadi thozhudhuyndhOn vAzhiyE
thol periya Nambi saraN thOnRinAn vAzhiyE
chiththirayil AdhiraiNAL siRakkavandhOn vAzhiyE
sIr perumbUthUr munivan thiruvadigaL vAzhiyE
emperumAnAr’s vAzhi thirunAmam – Explanation
aththigiri aruLALar adipaNindhOn vAzhiyE — Even while rAmAnujar was iLaiyAzhwAr, he performed kainkaryam to dhEvap perumAL under the guidance of thirukkachchi nambi. bhagavath rAmAnujar accepted sanyAsa ASramam from dhEvap perumAL. It was pEraruLALap perumAL who bestowed him the name ” yathirAja” (King of yathis – sanyAsis). May emperumAnAr, who worshipped the divine feet of aththigiri (hasthigiri known as kAnchIpuram) pEraruLALa emperumAn, live long (pallANdu)!
arutkachchi nambiyurai ARupeRROn vAzhiyE – When SrI rAmAnujar had some lingering doubts in his mind, he went to thirukkachchi nambi and requested him to find the answers for his doubts from dhEvap perumAL. thirukkachchi nambi even without asking about his doubts, goes to dhEvap perumAL and states to dhEvap perumAL that iLaiyAzhwAr has some doubts. dhEvap perumAL also without asking what the doubts were, gives out what is famously known as 6 vArththaigaL (6 commandments) through thirukkachchi nambi to iLaiyAzhwAr. The words of emperumAn are:
- “ahamEva param thathvam” – “I am the supreme. There is no god above or equal to me”.
- “dharSanam bhEdham Eva” – “jIvAthmAs and achEthanams are different from me”.
- “upAyam prapaththi (SaraNAgathi)” – “accepting me as the only refuge is the only means to attain me”.
- “dhEhavasAnE mukthi” – “prapannas will attain liberation at the end of his present body”
- “anthima smrthi varjanam” – “For the surrendered one, there is no need for them to think about me while leaving their body, there will be no shortcoming because of that. Since I am always thinking of him, I will take care of him during the last moment and take him”.
- “pUrNAchArya padhASrItha:” – “Accept mahA pUrNar (periya nambi) as AchAryan”. (This was a direct upadhESam to emperumAnAr).
May SrI rAmAnujar who received the 6 vArththaigaL from dhEvap perumAL through thirukkachchi nambi, live long (pallANdu)!
paththiyudan pAdiyaththaip pagarndhittAn vAzhiyE — “pAdiyam” is the thamizh word of SrI bhAshyam. bhagavath rAmAnujar composed it with great devotion.
To write this grantham, emperumAnAr visited SrI SAradhA pItam in kashmIr along with kUrathAzhwAn to bring the bOdhAyana vruththi grantham. Although they got the grantham, it was snatched away from emperumAnAr on the way back. But since kUraththAzhwAn had memorized everything, on reaching SrIrangam, emperumAnAr wrote SrIbhAshyam with the help of AzhwAn. He centered it on bhakthi yOga, the primary upAyam to reach emperumAn as mentioned in the vEdhAntham. Later, in SaraNAgathi gadhyam, he showed that SaraNAgathi at emperumAn’s lotus feet is the best path to attain emperumAn in SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam. He said that for a vEdhAnthi, bhakthi yOgam is the means to attain emperumAn. May emperumAnAr with such greatness live long (pallANdu)!
pathinmarkalai utporuLaip parindhukaRRAn vAzhiyE — As instructed by periya nambi and thirukkOshtiyUr nambi, he learned the prabandhams of the ten AzhwArs from thirumAlai AndAn in SrIrangam. May emperumAnAr, who mastered the inner meanings of the AzhwArs’ prabandhams with deep involvement, live long (pallANdu)!
suththamagizhmARanadi thozhudhuyndhOn vAzhiyE — “magizh mARan” refers to nammAzhwar. May emperumAnAr, who took refuge and immersed himself at the lotus feet of SrI SatakOpar – nammAzhwAr (who always believed that emperumAn is both upAyam and upEyam) and attained mOksha, live long (pallANdu)!
May emperumAn who lived by worshipping nammAzhwArs divine feet, that is shown in the rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi pAsuram, “pUmannu mAdhu porundhiya mArban pugazh malindha pA mannu mARan adi paNindhu uynthavan” live long (pallANdu)! (Meaning – Oh heart! periya pirAtti who has lotus as her dwelling place, left that after experiencing the sweetness of emperumAn’s divine chest and started to reside on that divine chest. nammAzhwAr is fully engaged in thiruvAimozhi that is full of the auspicious qualities of that emperumAn who has pirAtti on his divine chest. rAmAnujar uplifted himself by attaining the divine feet of that nammAzhwAr)
Once emperumAnAr went to AzhwArthirunagari to perform mangaLAsAsanam to nammAzhwAr. AzhwAr who was greatly delighted by emperumAnAr‘s devotion, gave a divine order – “Hereafter my thiruvadi/pAdhukAs (lotus feet, divine sandals) will be known as ‘SrI rAmAnujam’. Hence, to this today, in AzhwArthirunagari alone, nammAzhwAr’s thiruvadi is called as “SrI rAmAnujam” following nammAzhwAr‘s own orders, however, in other places his thiruvadi is called “madhurakavigaL”.
thol periyanambicharaN thOnRinAn vAzhiyE — May bhagavath rAmAnujar who is very affectionate to the lotus feet of the ancient periya nambi, live long (pallANdu)!
chiththirayil AdhiraiNAL siRakkavanthOn vAzhiyE — (Adhirai star is called as thiruvAdhirai because bhagavath rAmAnujar was born on that star). May emperumAnAr who gave greatness to that day – chiththirai month, thiruvAdhirai star, due to his birth, live long (pallANdu)!
sIr perumbUthUr munivan thiruvadigaL vAzhiyE — May the divine feet of bhagavath rAmAnujar, born in the famous SrIperumbudhUr, live long (pallANdu)!
Thus concludes the vAzhi thirunAmam of SrI rAmAnujar.
AzhwAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
adiyEn govindarAja rAmAnuja dhAsan
archived in https://divyaprabandham.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – https://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org