997th Thirunakshathra celebrations were held with full fervor in the JIVA campus today. After concluding the thirttha goshti  at HH Swamiji’s Kutiram, all the devotees went to the Divya Saketham temple to celebrate Bhagavad Ramanuja Thirunakshathram. Sri Ramanuja was brought out  in a palanquin carried by the Vedic students amid Vedic chants and prabandha parayana.   Devotees were elated to see the vayyari nadakalu of our beloved acharya. They danced to the tunes of the music while others were enjoying the beauty of the acharya’s gait.

On the ocassion of the 997th birthday celebrations of our beloved acharya Bhagavad Ramanujacharya, HH Sri Swamiji prayed to Him on our behalf to bless us with the strength and capacity to serve Him.  HH Swamiji  giving mangalasasanams said that

” We all gathered here to see the thirumanjana (shower) program to Bhagavad Ramanuja.  We all completed the Satthumurai program in the temple, brought Ramanujacharya in a procession and He is now giving his darshan on the stage.

Ramanuja took birth on this earth and proved existance ‘sattha’. If we are today able to sing the glories of Lord, it is only because of Ramanujacharya’s grace. If the  four syllables ‘ RA MA NU JA ‘  did not exist, in what state we would have been? What experience would we be going through?!   ” nache:th ra:ma:nuja:thye:sha chathura chathurakshari:  ka:m avasttha:m prapadyanthe:“.

We are very similar to animals because we too take birth, we eat, live, and one day we too will be drowned in the sea of samsara and be caught in the cycle of birth and death.

Bhagavad Ramanuja brought a meaning to this human life by giving us the knowledge of self ( svarupa pradhanam ) – thereby giving us the knowledge of who we are, what is our goal, how can we attain it. Knowledge of these three is called thathvam, hitham and purusha:rttham.

Thathvam means knowing about the three things:

  • to know about our self – a:thma svarupam
  • to know about the one who brought us here – bhagavad svarupam
  • to know the cause of our physical body appearance along with God’s support behind us – prakruthi svarupam

The benefit of knowing about these three thathvas is joy – eternal joy. The experiences we undergo here are not always comforting. Once in a way, they give us sorrows too. But we all desire to have a trouble free life, always experience a:nanda, joy which never ends. This is our final goal. One that describes the goal and its nature is called purusha:rttham.

How can we attain this goal, through what we can attain it, the sadhana  is called hitham.

Vedas, Upanishads and Vedic literature discussed in detail about the three – thathvam, hitham and purusha:rttham. But we lack the age, opportunity and knowledge to understand and experience them.  Hence, our pu:rva acharyas determined to pick the quintessence of these three thathvas  for the benefit of mankind chose the three manthras.

While revealing the manthras, our purva acharyas never revealed the three manthras at once. It was a six step process. Acharyas rigorously examined the seekers. After getting confirmation of their abilities, acharyas initially gave the ashtakshari manthra only. After practicing the thirumanthra, when the seekers approached their acharya, they was again put through strict tests. After getting confirmation on the seekers’ progress, acharya blessed them with the thirumanthra:rttham – meaning of ashtakshari manthra.  This was followed by charama sloka, charama slo:ka arttham, dvaya mathra and dvaya manthra:rttham in a step by step process.

All this took a lot of time. The three manthras were never revealed at one point of time. Human life is not predictable. Given this scenario, how can one get the grace of Lord in one go?

Just as Veda Vyasa, realizing the situation we are in , took the pain to partition the Vedas into smaller parts and assigned each one of them to a rushi to save that part of the Veda, our Bhagavad Ramanujacharya, taking our weaknesses into consideration, graced us with the three manthras at once with the hope that one day we might get the ability, knowledge and austerity to understand the real knowledge.

He instructed the acharyas to bless the seekers with the three manthras saying ‘ a:saudyo:r kella:m’ – if you notice that the seeker at least has the wish to redeem himself, bless him with the manthras’. Thus, Ramanujacharya blessed us all with his magnanimous heart. We being born as human beings are now  able to comprehend the purpose of our life and are no longer in the group of the ignorant.

Because of benevolent Ramanujacharya, we got a chance to know what we should know being born as a human being. We became aware of the existence of the three manthras, the meanings, the knowledge that these manthras belong to us and that we belong to God.

Acharya Parampara gave us an opportunity to reach the Lord, and the fact that we are able to surrender to Lord is because of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya. Else, without Ramanujacharya, we too would have been in the lot of animals.

The mere darshan of such great acharya and installing His divine avathara in our hearts will redeem us.  This can be seen in the life history of our acharya. Many people used to listen and enjoy the discourses of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya. One of the devotees was a deaf and dumb person, who was observing the elated faces of the listeners. He was distraught and filled with sorrow as he could not hear to Ramanujacharya’s discourses. One day, he stayed back in despair and prostrated before Ramanujacharya. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. Ramanuja using sign language asked  him the reason. The deaf and dumb devotee replied using signs, “O acharya! All are listening to your nectar filled discourses. I can neither hear or speak.  I am an ignorant. How will I be redeemed? ”

Kurathalvan observed this scene. He was curious as to how Ramanujacharya will reveal him the knowledge.

Ramanuja understood the devotee’s predicament and  asked him to come to His chambers. Inside the chambers, He showed the devotee his divya mangala vigraham and said using sign language, ” Dear one keep visualizing my physical form in your heart chanting ‘srimathe: ramanuja:ya namaha’ ”

Curious Kurathalavan peeped through the hole in the door and saw the whole scenario and felt distressed. “Oh why do I possess the intelligence, knowledge about sasthras. Because of my thinking that I possess jnanam, I am told to read scriptures, I am given a huge list.- read sri bhasyam, rahasya granthas, bhagavad vishayam,  tharkam, sastrham. The cause for all this is the feeling that I have jnanam. The very feeling that he doesn’t possess all these resulted in him getting the easiest of the easiest path to get redeemed. I am such a loser. The one who has no capacities was blessed with the sulabhathamam upayam while I am given a huge list. ”

There are 3 types of upayas:

  • sulabham (easy) upayam  is God
  • sulabhatharam (easier) upayam is acharya  – one can attain God only through acharya who gives us manthra upadesa
  • sulabhathamam (easiest) upayam  – visualizing the divine form of acharya in our heart

-Ramanuja till then never told anyone this secret of getting the easiest way to redeem ourselves.

Among the herds, if there is a rogue animal, which doesn’t listen and create havoc in the herd, the farmer ties a log to its neck such that it hangs between its two legs. Now when the animal which was having a mind of its own and not in the herd now will be forced to be disciplined and will try to walk along with the other animals.

Similarly, people taking pride in their status, knowledge and caste become arrogant. This is called ‘madam’. As long as this ‘madam’ occupies our heart, we can never become god-realized. But it is not in our hands to remove it. It can be removed by the power of sripada thirttham of our acharya only. Then, our real self will be revealed to us.

Bhagavad Ramanuja Himself gave us the ability and with the desire to redeem us gave us the sulabhathram upayam out of sheer compassion  – blessed us  with bewitching divine form.Later, the great saints who thought of this great boon said ” janthavo: hantha ma:drusaha” what would have been the fate of  animals such as myself – though we cannot comprehend the manthra or its meaning, envisioning the divine vigraham of Ramanuja is enough to evolve us, redeem us!

Mother Earth gave birth to such  Ramanujacharya 997 years ago. We are now celebrating His birthday celebrations. Today is the fifth day. Our Mangalasasanams to All”