Śrīḥ
Śrīmate Rāmānujāya Namaḥ
Śrīmad Varavaramunaye Namaḥ
Śrī Rāmānuja - Life & Philosophy by Prof. M.A.Lakshmi Thathachar & Dr.M.A.Alwar
yo nityam acyuta padāmbuja yugma rukma
vyāmohataḥ taditarāṇi tṛṇāya mene
asmad guroḥ bhagavato’sya dayaika sindhoḥ
rāmānujasya caraṇau śaraṇaṁ prapadye
On the auspicious occasion of Svāmī Rāmānuja's tirunakṣatram (cittiraiyil tiruvādirai of manmatha vaṛṣam), Vedics Foundation presents "Śrī Rāmānuja" , a series of snippets on Bhagavad Rāmānuja's life and works. Bhāgavatas are requested to read the articles and be blessed with true wisdom by the ocean of mercy - dayaika sindhuḥ – Svāmī Rāmānuja. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Prof. M. A. Lakshmi Thathachar and Dr. M. A. Alwar for the valuable knowledge imparted and the time and energy spent in the making of the book.
In our Śrī Vaiṣṇava Guru Paraṁparā Hāram (chain of preceptors), Svāmī Rāmānuja is the central jewel, the madhya maṇi, the nadu nāyakam. Let us all join together and echo Svāmī Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ’s maṅgaḻāśāsanam to the lotus feet of Svāmī Yatirājar.
vāļi etirācaň vāļi etirācaň
vāļi etirācaň eňa vāļttuvār – vāļi eňa
vāļttuvār vāļi eňa vāļttuvār tāḻiṇaiyil
tāļttuvār viṇṇor talai
– Ārttip Prabandham
Introduction
Śrī Rāmānuja
Many philosophers have come and gone in this world, but the advent of a mystic philosopher is the rarest of rare events indeed. Mysticism is purely emotional and philosophy is purely logical. Yet Śrī Rāmānuja was able to bridge the gulf between the head and the heart and arrive at a universal philosophy. His compositions show a happy blending of a scholarly mind and a poetic heart.
The social reforms that he attempted to bring about show his great concern for the downtrodden. Knowing that all that is and all that is to come is only the manifestation of the Lord Himself, he lived without fear. For him, liberation and happiness were a single continuum which encompassed the physical, social, cultural, mental and spiritual spheres of human life. He made others see the Divine in man and the man in the Divine.
Svāmī Rāmānuja's incarnation
Background to the incarnation of Śrī Rāmānuja
“anantaḥ prathamaṁ rūpaṁ lakṣmaṇastu tataḥ param |
balabhadraḥ tṛtīyastu kalau kaścid bhaviṣyati ||”
Ādiśeṣa, the primordial serpent is engaged eternally in the service of the Almighty, Lord Nārāyaṇa, in his eternal and exalted abode, the Vaikuṇṭha. In the Tretā Yuga (the period in history known as the Silver Age), when the Lord incarnated as Śrī Rāma, Ādiśeṣa accompanied Him, by being born as Lakṣmaṇa, just to serve Him. Similarly, in the Dwāpara Yuga, (the Bronze Age) when the Lord incarnated as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Ādiśeṣa again accompanied Him, being born as Balarāma. The main purpose of the incarnation of the Lord is to destroy the forces of Adharma and to re-establish the reign of Dharma. In this Kali Yuga (Iron Age), Ādiśeṣa took incarnation, unaccompanied by Lord Nārāyaṇa, as Rāmānuja.
The reason for this is said to be that the previous incarnations of the Lord were not as successful as the Lord Himself had envisaged or would have wanted them to be. Even though Kṛṣṇa proclaims himself (quite rightly) as almighty in the Bhagavad Gītā:
“… madyāji, mām namskuru; māmeva eṣyasi”
(“Worship Me alone. Prostrate to Me alone; Surrender unto Me, You will reach Me alone”).
He also makes it clear that in this world, if a person proclaims that He Himself is the Almighty, people do not generally value such statements, even if they are true.
“avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam”
(“Even though I am verily the Almighty, generally people are indifferent towards me thinking that I am an ordinary person, since I have taken a human form”).
Knowing that the incarnations he had taken had not been as successful as envisaged, the Lord persuaded His own divine servants to take birth in the world, and continue the tasks He had initiated in this world. Their words were more valued than the Lord’s, because they never said anything like, “I am the Almighty Lord; Worship Me for fulfillment.” Instead, the servants of the Lord who appeared on this earth always said: “He is verily the Almighty Lord; Please worship Him in order to attain liberation.” This seemed to be more appealing to the people. Thus, the incarnations of the Lord’s divine servants have been more successful in terms of achieving the objectives of their incarnations. The life of Ādiśesa, the most beloved of the servants of the Lord Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, as Rāmānuja, was one such incarnation.
Rāmānuja appears in this world
At the time when Ādiśeṣa (the primordial serpent) took incarnation as Śrī Rāmānuja, due to the influence of Kali Yuga (the Iron Age), the authenticity of the Vedas had been questioned. Due to the advent of Buddhism, the Vedas could not command any respect and the subsidiary supportive texts of Vedic thought known as the Smṛtis and other allied works like the Itihāsas and the Purāṇas were not in a position to influence the people at large, or help them lead virtuous lives. To rescue people from this hopeless situation, and to guide them towards the path of fulfillment, Śrī Rāmānuja appeared in this world in the Pingaḻa samvatsara (circa 1017), in the month of Caitra, in the moonlit fortnight (Śukla Pakṣa), on the fifth day of the fortnight, Thursday, in the constellation of Ārdrā.
Śrī Perumbūdūr – Śrī Rāmānuja’s birthplace
ŚrīPerumbūdūr is a quiet temple town near Chennai in South India. A pious Brahmin named Śrī Āsūri Keśava Perumāl dwelt here and was engaged in performing the Vedic rites.
At the time of Śrī Rāmānuja’s birth, Śrī Yāmunācārya was the leader of the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition. One of Yāmunācārya’s premier disciples was Śrīśailapūrṇa. Śrīśailapūrṇa had dedicated his heart and soul to the service of Lord Veṅkaṭeśvara at Tirumalai. He had two sisters, ŚrīDevī (Kāntimatī) and BhūmāDevī (Dyutimatī). The elder of Śrīśailapūrṇa’s sisters, ŚrīDevī, was given away in marriage to Āsūri Keśava Perumāl. Since Āsūri Keśava Perumāl was engaged in the conducting of different Vedic yajñas (sacrifices), he was adorned with the honourific title ‘Somayāji’. In due course, he came to be known as Keśava Somayāji.
