Jai Sriman Narayana !!
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Sri Ramanujacharya/Udaiyavar/Ilayaperumal/Bashyakara/
Ilayazhvan/Emperumanar/Thiruppavai Jeeyar/ Ethirajan was born to Asuri Sri
Kesava Somayaji and Kanthimathi Ammal , a pious couple in the tamil month
Chaithra with the birth star Arudra in the year 1017 A.D, in the village of Perambadur,
Chennai/Madras. Asuri Sri Kesava Somayaji and his chaste wife
Kanthimathi was ardent follower of Thirukacchi Nambi. At the divine instruction of Thirukacchi
Nambi a fire sacrifice was performed to please Lord Parthasarathy of
Thiruvallikkeni. In due course of time,
Kanthimathi Ammal gave birth to a stunning male child named Ramanuja. Periya Thirumalai Nambi, maternal uncle of
the child instantly realized the auspicious signs of the new born.
Ramanuja mastered in Vedas at the
age of 16 and then proceeded to Kanchipuram to pursue the study of Veda and
Advaita philosophies under the guidance of Sri Yadavaprakasha. The interpretations of Veda/Vedantha by
Yadavaprakash often made studious Ramanuja unsatisfied, thus it raised
differences of opinion between the two. Ramanuja expressed his justifications with
poise about the sacred texts were highly appreciated and accepted by the pupil gathered;
it created immense hatred in Sri Yadavaprakasha towards Ramanuja. Eventually, the enmity towards Ramanuja
forced Yadavaprakasha to ploy against him; he deputed Ramanuja and his cousin
Govinda Bhatt, fellow student and favorite of Yadavaprakasha to Varanasi. Govinda Bhatt was already known Yadavaprakasha’s
treacherous plan against Ramanuja, eventually he was saved by the divine grace
of Lord Varadaraja. Ramanuja was
married to Thanjammal, it was lasted only for few years. Ramanuja accepted Sanyasashrama and served
Lord Varadaraja, Mudaliandan and Kurathalwar were the initial disciples of him;
shortly Yadhava Prakasha regretted at his folly and returned to Ramanuja,
realized his greatness and became his disciple. Thirukacchinambi honored
Ramanuja with the title ‘Ethiraja’ at the command of Lord Varadaraja. Periayanambi sang ‘Divya Prabandham’ praising
the glories of Lord Varadaraja and attained a boon; he obtained the permission
from Lord Varadaraja to take Ramanuja to Srirangam. Kanchipuram was in grief at the departure of
Ramanuja and Srirangam was in ecstasy to receive the great seer, Lord
Ranganatha honored him with the title ‘ Udaiyavar’.
Ramanujacharya relentlessly
served Lord Varadaraja of Kanchipuram.
In the meantime, Yamunacharya was pleased at the teachings &
principles of Ramanujacharya and desired to appoint him as his successor,
consequently Mahapurna, one of the disciples of Yamunacharya was assigned to
bring Ramanujacharya to Sri Rangam, but Yamanucharya attained the lotus feet of
Lord before the arrival of Ramanujacharya to Sri Rangam. Yamunacharya’s mortal coil was observed and
found that three fingers on the right hand were firmly folded to palm. Ramanujacharya realized that his Master had
three unfulfilled desires and those were the command to teach the doctrines of
Vaishnavism for enriching humanity and the ways to surrender to supreme Lord, conservation
of Vedas and the composition of commentaries on Vedanta/Sutra for the welfare
of the humanity, lastly enlighten the souls about the knowledge of supreme Lord
and the relation to the souls and the path of liberation. Instantly, the three fingers of
Yamunacharya’s mortal coil remained wide open.
Shortly, Ramanujacharya was initiated to Vaishnavism by Mahapurna
according to the Pancha Sansakara rite.
Goshti Purna, one of the disciples of Sri Yamanucharya was introduced
the most sacred Ashtakshari hymn ‘Om Namo Narayana’ to Ramanuja, a most
powerful hymn which provides Salvation that was instantly announced to the
public against the will of Goshtipurna/Thirukottiyur Nambi by standing on the
temple tower of Thirukkotiyur, this incident added admiration to Ramanujacharya
and honored with a title ‘Emperumanar’.
Ramanujacharya had many followers
and travelled extensively to the sacred places of Varanasi, Kashmir, Badrinath,
Puri, Thirupathi etc.. and returned to Sri Rangam. Later, Ramanuja was returned to the Kingdom
of Hoysalas, King Bhatti Deva was an
ardent follower of Ramanujacharya. At
the divine instruction of Ramanuja, a magnificent temple was built at
Melkote. Before leaving Melkote to Sri
Rangam, Ramanujacharya sanctified an
image of him for the worship due to the pleadings of his disciples at Melkote. During his stay at Sri Rangam,
Ramanjuacharya wrote commentaries on Vedanta/Sutra and various compositions like
Gadhya/prose based on Vedantha, Vedantha Sangraham, Sri Bashyam, Vedantha
Deepa, Vedantha Sara, Saranagathi
Gadhya, Sriranga Gadhya, Vaikunta
Gadhya, Gita Bashyam and Nithyagrantham.
At the age of 120 years Sri Ramanujacharya attained salvation at the lotus
feet of Lord Narayana. Sri
Ramanujacharya’s sanctified image can be seen as ‘Than Ukandha Thirumeni’
at Sri Perambadur, ‘Thamar Ukandha
Thirumeni’ at Thirunarayanapuram/Melkote and ‘Thaman Thirumeni’ at Sri Rangam
respectively.
Abhimana Kshethram !! Sri
Perambadur Sri Adikesava Perumal Temple:
108 Divya Deasam !! Thiruvarangam/Srirangam
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple:
Jai Sriman Narayana !!
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