Saint Ramanuja The connecting Link between orissa and Tamilnadu during 1060 to 1110.
Need more information on Ramanujar S.Balasubramani B+
In the year 1017 A.D., Ramanuja was born in the village of Perumbudur, about twenty-five miles west of Madras. His father was Kesava Somayaji and his mother was Kantimathi, a very pious and virtuous lady. Ramanuja's Tamil name was Ilaya Perumal. Quite early in life, Ramanuja lost his father. Then he came to Kancheepuram to prosecute his study of the Vedas under one Yadavaprakasha, a teacher of Advaita philosophy.
Ramanuja was a very brilliant student. Yadavaprakasha's interpretations of Vedic texts were not quite up to his satisfaction. Ramanuja pointed out many mistakes in the exposition of his master. Sometimes he gave his own interpretations which were much liked by all the co-students. This made Yadavaprakasha very jealous of Ramanuja.
Yadavaprakasha made a plan to take away the life of Ramanuja. He arranged for Ramanuja and his cousin Govinda Bhatta--a fellow student- -a pilgrimage to Varanasi. Govinda Bhatta, being a favourite student of Yadavaprakasha, came to know of the latter's plan while they were travelling. He at once apprised Ramanuja of the danger and helped him to escape. By the grace of God, Ramanuja escaped with the help of a hunter and his wife whom he accidentally met on the way. About the end of the tenth century, the Visishtadvaita system of philosophy was well established in Southern India and the followers of this creed were in charge of important Vaishnavite temples at Kancheepuram, Srirangam, Tirupathi and other important places. The head of the important Vaishnavite institution was Yamunacharya, a great sage and profound scholar; and he was also the head of the Mutt at Srirangam. One of his disciples, by name Kanchipurna, was serving in the temple at Kancheepuram. Although a Sudra, Kanchipurna was so very pious and good that the people of the place had great respect and reverence for him. At present, there is a temple at Kancheepuram where Kanchipurna's image has been installed and where he is worshipped as a saint.
Young Ramanuja came under Kanchipurna's influence and had such reverence for him that he invited him to dinner in his house. Ramanuja's intention was to attend on Kanchipurna and personally serve him at dinner and himself take meals afterwards. Unfortunately, Kanchipurna came to dinner when Ramanuja was not at home, and took his meals being served by Ramanuja's wife. When Ramanuja returned home, he found the house washed and his wife bathing for having served meals to a Sudra. This irritated Ramanuja very much and turned him against his wife who was an orthodox lady of a different social ideal. After a few incidents of this nature, Ramanuja abandoned the life of a householder and became a Sannyasin.
About this time, Yamunacharya being very old was on the look-out for a young person of good ability and character to take his place as head of the Mutt at Srirangam. He had already heard of Ramanuja through his disciples and made up his mind to instal Ramanuja in his place. He now sent for Ramanuja. By the time Ramanuja reached Srirangam, Yamunacharya was dead; and Ramanuja saw his body being taken by his followers to the cremation ground outside the village. Ramanuja followed them to the cremation ground. There he was informed that Yamunacharya, before his death, had left instructions that he had three wishes which Ramanuja was to be requested to fulfil, viz., that a Visishtadvaita Bhashya should be written for the Brahma Sutras of Vyasa which hitherto had been taught orally to the disciples of the Visishtadvaita philosophy and that the names of Parasara, the author of Vishnu Purana, and saint Sadagopa should be perpetuated. Ramanuja was deeply touched, and in the cremation ground itself, before the dead body of Yamunacharya, he made a solemn promise that, God willing, he would fulfil all the three wishes of Yamunacharya. Ramanuja lived for 120 years, and in the course of his long life, fully redeemed his promise by fulfilling all the three wishes of Yamunacharya.
After the death of Yamuna, his disciples at Srirangam and other places wanted Ramanuja to take Yamuna's place as the head of the Mutt at Srirangam. This was also the expressed wish of Yamuna. Accordingly, Ramanuja took his place and was duly installed with all the attendant ceremonies and celebrations as the head of the Visishtadvaita Mutt at Srirangam.
Ramanuja then proceeded to Thirukottiyur to take initiation from Nambi for Japa of the sacred Mantra of eight letters Om Namo Narayanaya. Somehow, Nambi was not willing to initiate Ramanuja easily. He made Ramanuja travel all the way from Srirangam to Madurai nearly eighteen times before he made up his mind to initiate him, and that too, only after exacting solemn promises of secrecy. Then Nambi duly initiated Ramanuja and said: "Ramanuja! Keep this Mantra a secret. This Mantra is a powerful one. Those who repeat this Mantra will attain salvation. Give it only to a worthy disciple previously tried". But Ramanuja had a very large heart. He was extremely compassionate and his love for humanity was unbounded. He wanted that every man should enjoy the eternal bliss of Lord Narayana. He realised that the Mantra was very powerful. He immediately called all people, irrespective of caste and creed, to assemble before the temple. He stood on top of the tower above the front gate of the temple, and shouted out the sacred Mantra to all of them at the top of his voice. Nambi, his Guru, came to know of this. He became furious. Ramanuja said: "O my beloved Guru! Please prescribe a suitable punishment for my wrong action". Ramanuja said: "I will gladly suffer the tortures of hell myself if millions of people could get salvation by hearing the Mantra through me". Nambi was very much pleased with Ramanuja and found out that he had a very large heart full of compassion. He embraced Ramanuja and blessed him. Having thus equipped himself with the necessary qualifications, Ramanuja succeeded Yamuna.
By this time, Ramanuja's fame had spread far and wide. He became a good controversialist. Then he wrote his commentary on the Brahma Sutras known as the Sri Bhashya. The Visishtadvaita system is an ancient one. It was expounded b
Lot of finer points are missing - few things incorrect - but overall it is a nice article
****************************************************** > Young Ramanuja came under Kanchipurna's influence and had such > reverence for him that he invited him to dinner in his house. > Ramanuja's intention was to attend on Kanchipurna and personally > serve him at dinner and himself take meals afterwards. Unfortunately, > Kanchipurna came to dinner when Ramanuja was not at home, and took > his meals being served by Ramanuja's wife. When Ramanuja returned > home, he found the house washed and his wife bathing for having > served meals to a Sudra. ******************************************************
I forgot the tamil name of this saint kanchipurna. In vaishnavism there is a concept called "sesham". Sesham means left over. Sesham of guru is considered sacred. Ramanuja actually intended to eat the left overs of his guru and his wife could not bear this. That is why she cleansed the house. This irritated ramanuja most and he gave 2 more chances for her. When both chances were exhaused, Ramanuja renounced family life and became a sannyasin
> The Chola king about this time was Kulothunga I and he was a staunch > Saivite. He ordered Ramanuja to subscribe to his faith in Siva and > acknowledge Siva as the Supreme Lord. > The monarch refused to hear them and had their eyes put out. > The two unfortunate people started for Srirangam--their native place. > ====================== > DEAR BALU AND GOKUL, > > LOOKING FOR PRIMARY SOURCE FOR THIS EPISODE. PLS ENLIGHTEN.
> REGARDS/ SPS
Kambar belongs to Kulothunga period, right? If Kulothunga was so unsecular, how come the master piece like 'Ramayanam' was possible by Kambar? Correct me if I am wrong.
allah enbaar siila pergal aranari enbaar sila pergal vallaan para mandalathey vaazhum thandhai enbaar sollaal viLangaa nirvaanam ennum sila per solvaargal ellaam ippadi pala pesum edho oru porul irukkirathey...
idhey dhaan satish...
nee annamaacharya padam paathirundhaa theriyum.... annamacharya before becoming vaishanavite was saivite....
venkatachalapathy aanda poi kumtukinu irukka sollo venkatachalapathy nagarjun oda moonu pattai viboodhiya alekkaa thiruppi naamamaa pottuduvaaru....
padathula paakka sollo, summa music oda superaa irukkum....
Being a reformist, he could have tried to uproot some of the social evils at that time.. I am really not accepting the case, that just because kulothunga I was a shaivite that he went around discriminating against ramanujar..
The contradiction is really showing if he was such a staunch saivite, he would not allowed Ramayanam to be written by the asthana pular..
Reformists were never tolerated and hence could be the only reason why Kulothunga I could have been forced to act against Ramanujar.
Likewise there is another story that chettiars were prosecuted by the cholas and they vowed to act and live in kings for all generations. This is one reason, why you find huge palatial houses in chettinad areas. Again, Cholas were heavily dependent on commerce for their empire building activities and have even gone against Cadaram and sri vijaya just to protect their maritime and trading activities. This is also contradicting..
Can learned people help us identify the root of this story also.
Dear Bala that was a very informative read...but as SPS has pointed out are there any documentary evidence that Kulothunga chased Ramanuja away My understanding is Kulothunga brought him back to Srirangam....
Diwakar will be better person to enlighten us as this is the background of his Thirumalai Thirudan...(divya soori saritham)
It then means Adhirajendra(son of Virarajendra) deported Ramanujar and died of Laryngeal cancer his dynasty came to an end and it was the Chola Vengi Prince kulothunga who succeeds him and brings Udaiyavar back to Chola kingdom with all the mariyathai
Any discussions
Diwa please throw some light...
For those who havent read Thirumalai Thirudan its a must read.....a historical novel in the calibres of kalki,akilan,sandilyan etc...
SPS unga must read list perisayitte poguthu Vengaiyin Mainthan Akilan Kanchikathiravan now Thirumalai Thirudan
1. Sriperumbudur, Melkote and Srirangam are the three important places related to Ramanuja, the images of Ramanuja in the first two places were installed when Ramanuja was alive. The Sri Ramanuja image at Tirumalai is unique, here one can see Sri Ramanuja with 'gnyana mudra'(the sign of a teacher); usually, Sri Ramanuja's image always present him in the 'anjali mudra' (offering worship, both hands together in obeisance). It is said that Sri Ramanuja there is considered an Acharya to Lord Srinivasa.
2. Ramanuja recovered the utsava murthi of Melkote (Sampath kumar) which was taken away sometime back by Delhi sultan king. There is a story of how he recovered the idol, the sultan accepted the wish of Ramanujar to return back the idol but asked Ramanujar to chose the correct idol from a large collection of idols which were looted. Ramanuja found the correct idol by calling it by the name "Selva pillai" and the idol he was looking for moved to Ramanuja. When he was chased by the Sultan's soldiers for getting back the idol for the Sultan's daughter, Sri Ramanujar had to take refuge in a Harijan's house and then he got back to Melkote (Thiru Narayanapuram). For that reason, Harijan's are allowed to the temple. Sri Ramanuja was a great reformist, he called them as 'Thirukulathor' and he initiated many to the Sri Vaishnava fold.
3. Sri Ramanujar's plan to re-organise the Puri temple regulations based on Pancaratra Agamam was not accepted and he had to return back to Srirangam.
4. Similiarly his attempts to re-organise the Divya desams in Kerala also failed and he was resued by Namperumal. The Divya desams in Kerala are not following the Sri sampradayam of Sri Ramanujar. All the temples of Kerala are sung by Swami Nammalwar and one temple by Sri Kulasekara Alwar. Its said that the idol of Swami Nammalwar from Azhwar Thirunagari was taken to Kerala for safety during Muslim invasions.
5. As per the Sri Vaishnava belief, the first image of Sri Ramanujar was given to Sri Madurakavi alwar by Swami Nammalwar as the future archarya who will spread the Sri Vaishnavam, centuries before Sri Ramanujar's birth, the idol is still in the Azhwar Thirunagari(Thirukkurugoor)(birth place of Swami Nammalwar).
6. Sri Ramanuja's maternal uncle Tirumalai Nambi lived in Tirumala serving Lord Srinivasa. Tirumalai Nambi was a disciple of Yamunarcharya (Alavandar), he gave disclosures on Ramayanam to Sri Ramanuja at Thirupathi. Sri Ramanuja firmly asserted the temple at Tirumalai as that of Vishnu. As per Sri Ramanuja's wish his disciple Anathaalwan with his wife came to Tirumalai and prepared and maintained Nandavanam for devoting garlands to God.
7. Sri Ramanuja was initiated to Sri Vaishnavam by Sri Periya Nambi at the Ramar temple, Madurandagam.
8. Sri Ramanuja coverted more people from different faiths to Sri Vaishnavam, he even had to convert his cousin Govinda Bhatta from Saivism. Latter Govinda Bhatta was called Embar.
9. Sri Ramanuja gave equal importance to both tamil hymns sung by alwars and to the vedas and made tamil hymns a mandatory in all Vishnu temples.
> > 7. Sri Ramanuja was initiated to Sri Vaishnavam by Sri Periya Nambi at the Ramar temple, Madurandagam. > in eri kaathta raamar temple the branding iron of changu and chakram used on ramanuja is still there
> His body is embomed and worshipped in Srirangam temple .. Udayavar > Sannidhi.. >
> > > His body is embomed and worshipped in Srirangam temple .. Udayavar > > Sannidhi.. > is that true?I thought it was a rumour > venketesh
Yes it is..There is a seperate sannidhi in Sriranga where the body is preserved. Not sure whether public can see it, because its kept in some kind of nilavarai..once a year they take it out, redo the preservings and do poojai and replace the body back in place. Thats what I have heard.
In Hinduism, dead body, sudukadu are not auspicious. visiting such place is theetu...how come this is an exception? Is there any other temple where such things happen? Can anyone throw light on this?
As Satish said, yes it is true. The Samathi is kept outside the limits of temple some nine hundred years ago. Even now the vaishnavites makes it sure that this visit to Ramanuja sannadhi is last before leaving. Dhivakar
Strangely, we dont follow the actual teachings and reformings of Ramanujar, but only worship him as a god..looks like as a society we are giving more to tokenism than to actually follow the footsteps.. no wonder we have been under alien rule for the last 700 years.
sure we cant follow all the teachings of somebody however great who lived 7 centuries or more before us. times have chnged.
socially speaking I feel the equality among sects of society that ramanuja visualised is better off now than before.
that was a time when a bigger chunk of one's time and energy was devoted to religion. that percentage has come down drastically. but we do have other benefits of materialism.
I can visit kailash or trincomalee that the thevaram trio could not.
ramanuja would have been treated better if he was living now. so would have been appar. they would not have been persecuted for their beleifs.
so you give some and take some. you cant blame your times for everything
>>Strangely, we dont follow the actual teachings and reformings of >>Ramanujar
Nanda,
Just yesterday, Suganya, Venkatesh and myself met at Venkats house and were discussing many a things. St.Thomas thread was discussed and in the light of it, we all agreed on one point. Christianity came it India much earlier than any other country in the world (as per the belief/proof that st.Thomas visited India). Like wise Islam also came to India during Prophet mohammeds lifetime itself - Cheraman Perumal III. Still compared to other countries, these two religions are minorities in India and cant shake even a bit of Hinduism. You know why - India has produced more spirutual leaders than the whole world compared. Sri Chandrasekharendrar has said, the greatness of Hinduism is, for every century a mahan is being born - or rather avatharam..Common people are not fascinated by teachings, but fascinated by the leader himself. The charisma is what keeps Hinduism intact. How many of us knows the teachings of Ramana or Aurobindo or the Mother...but offlate I see the mothers photo atleast with one of ten people. No one know what she taught. Hope this answeres your point.
SPS, you are always class apart. no one can match you in proving or disproving things with evidence. Let it be RRC's painting or Ramanujar....simply great.
>>ramanuja would have been treated better if he was living now. so >>would >>have been appar. they would not have been persecuted for their >>beleifs
Venkatesh, koncham overa illa. GOod that they are not in this era. Otherwise they would have been branded saffron brigade or Pro BJP and would be been sidelined by the so called secularists.. :)
>>It is STRONGLY Believed that Sri Ramanujar is in Yoga Samadhi ... not >>considered dead
SPS, Very good point. Never knew this. Remember Aurobindo's writing in Synthesis of Yoga - Samadhi is the epitome of meditation when the body looses its conscious. Sometimes it happens that the conscious will never return to the body which is Yoga Samadhi and the body will still be alive, but coma like. nothing can be done. So the custom came to break the kapalam, the top portion of the head with coconut so that the spirit can leave the body. For normal people the spirit leaves the body through chest(?) but for yogis it will leave only through the kapalam. This is called kapala motcham.
Ramanujar's shining skull visible - can be that the kapalam was broken similarly...so that the skin is not visible but the inner skull is ....just thinking aloud.
On the meeting front - Talked with chandra and shankaran...both are attending.
Does this sound like the failure of the leader or the yogi in not been able to communicate and get his views accepted and followed.
Looks like our yogis and mahans failed to imbibe their teachings.. Ramanujar treated harijans as equals, Raghavendrar did the same, many people before and after them have done the same, but did the caste system change??
Or is it a collective failure that we are not able to assimilate and accept the core teachings, but are able to godify a person and believe he will do all our silly requests and prayers.
I guess this is still found in all religions inclusive..