Sri Ramanuja is like the central pendant or stone in the
garland of our Acharya lineage. He is one of the most
famous acharyas who established Sri Visishtadvaita doctrine
in a firm ground, according to the wishes of Sri Alavandar.
He started his in-depth studies, as an advaita student
under Sri YadavaPrakasar of Kanchipuram. Govindha
Battar, his cousin, also joined Sri Ramanujar during his
studies. Sri Ramanujar excelled as a student and even
corrected Sri YadavaPrakasar's explanations of
Upanishads. This brought about a tinge of unpleasantness
in Sri YadavaPrakasar's attitude towards Sri Ramanujar. The
famous incident, where Sri Ramanujar gave a superior
explanation to Sri YadavaPrakasar's explanation of the word
"Kapyasam" fueled this unpleasantness to the
extent that the Guru plotted to kill his illustrious
student. He invited both Sri Ramanujar and Sri
GovindhaBattar to accompany him to Ganga Yatra and plotted
to kill him there.
Sri GovindaBattar got to know about the plot and warned
Sri Ramanujar, who ran away from the group and tried to go
back to Kanchipuram. On his way back, Sri Varadaraja
Perumal and Sri Perundevi Thayar, the Divine Dampathis
themselves, came disguised as a hunter couple and helped him
reach Kanchipuram.
In the meantime, Sri Alavandar visited Kanchipuram and
felt very happy by Sri Ramanujar's radiance and prayed Sri
Varadaraja Permual to make Sri Ramanuja come into the Sri
Vaishnava fold.
At this time, the Divine Dampathis decided to bring to
light, Sri Ramanujar's greatness. The king's daughter
became possessed by a "Brahma Rakshasa", a
formidable evil spirit. On king's request, Sri Yadava
Prakasar and his main students (including Sri Ramanuja)
visited the palace to cure the king's daughter. Sri
Yadava Prakasar tried to cure the princess, but in
vain. The evil spirit informed Sri YadavaPrakasa that
it would move out, if Sri Ramanujar instructed him to do
so. Sri Ramanujar instructed the evil spirit to leave
and it left the princess' body. Sri Ramanujar became
famous.
Sri Ramanujar started doing "Theertha Kainkaryam"
(fetching water from a well for temple use) at Sri
Varadaraja Perumal Koil, based on orders from Sri Varadaraja
Permual himself. This was conveyed by Sri
ThiruKacchiNambigal to Sri Ramanujar. At the
instruction of Sri Alavandar, Sri Peria Nambigal (one of Sri
Alavandar's sishyas) visited Kanchipuram and made Sri
Ramanujar come with him to visit Sri Alavandar.
At that time, Sri Alavandar was in his deathbed and Sri
Ramanujar made three promises ( to write vishnu Purana
Bhasyam, Sri Bhasyam and explanations for Sri Nammalwar's
works).
After returning to Kanchipuram, Sri Ramanujar asked Sri
Thiru Kacchi Nambigal to find out answers from Sri
Varadaraja Permual to clear his doubts. Sri Varadaraja
Permual gave the famous "Six words" that formed
the basis of Sri Visishtadvaita philosophy and Sri
Ramanujar's magnum-opus work: Sri Bhasyam. One of the
six words also instructed Sri Ramanuja to be a student under
Sri Periya Nambigal. So, Sri Varadaraja Perumal
himself gave the roots of our philosophy to Sri Ramanujar.
Sri Ramanujar underwent "Pancha Samskaram" by
Sri Periya Nambigal in the Sri Kodanda Raman Temple at
Madurantakam.
Sri Ramanujar's wife committed three "Bhaghavata
Apacharams" (sins committed against Sriman Narayana's
bhaktas) and due to that, Sri Ramanujar left her and
undertook "Sanyasa Ashramam" in Kanchipuram.
Sri Varadaraja Permul gave him the title of "YathiRajar".
Later Sri YadavaPrakasar himself became his Sishyar
(student) and got the title of Sri "Govinda
Jeeyar".
When Sri Ramanujar visited Sri Rangam, Peria Permual
himself asked him to attend to SriRangam Koil Kainkaryam and
called him "Udayavar". Later he visited Sri
Thirukoshtiyur Nambi and requested him to bless him with
explanations for the three important mantras of Sri
Vaishnavism: Sri Moola Mantram, Dvyam and Charama Slokam.
In order to let the world know about Udayavar's conviction,
Sri Nambigal turned him down seventeen times before giving
him the explanations. Sri Nambigal also got a promise
from Ramanujar that the latter will not reveal the
explanations to anyone. Sri Ramanujar, with lots of
compassion for other Sri Vaishnavas, immediately called Sri
Kooratalwan and others and gave out the "Mantraartam"
(explanations for the Mantras).
After this, Sri Ramanuja went on to write the famous
"Sri Bhasya" and many other Granthams. Due
to this, he got the title "Sri Bhasyakarar".
He also traveled to Tirumalai-Tirupathi and proved that
the main idol (Moolavar) of the temple is "Archa
Moorthy" of Sri Vishnu himself and not that of Shiva or
Parvathi Devi, as widely suspected at that time.
After performing many such miracles and establishing Sri
Visishtadvaitam in a firm base, Sri Bhasyakarar established
74 Simmasanthipathis (heads of various Mutts) to propagate
Sri Vaishnavism for ever. After giving all the
responsibilities to Sri Pillan, Sri Ramanuja left this world
and went to Sri Vaikuntam to serve the Divya Dampathis.
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