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From: Sampath Rengarajan (srengara_at_hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Jun 25 2000 - 17:09:52 PDT
Srimadh Azhagiya singar thiru vadikaLE saraNam
irAmAnusa nORRu anthAthi - part 3 - prapanna sAvithri
Dear bAgawathAs,
A prapannA considers himself as adiyAr's adiyAr. Sri iramAnuja
noRRu anthAthi is also known as the prapanna sAvithri. Sri
sAvithri means pradhAna manthiram for one'e ujjevanam. sAvithir
also means the word that gives us the life or tells us the purpose
of the life, the word that encourages us in our kainkaryam, the
word that corrects our life as a prapanna (thirutthip paNi koLLum
sol). Untill one is initiated into Srivaishnavam, Sri sAvitthri
(also known as Sri gAyathri) is the pradhAna manthram for one in
their nitya anushtAnam and karmAs. Once the jivAtmA is initiated
into Srivaishnavam thiru AshtAkshram becomes the PradhAna
manthiram. However once a Srivaishnava undertakes saranAgathi and
becomes a prapannA his or her AchAryA thanian is the pradhAna
manthiram or sAvithri for them. The most important manthram is his
or her AchAryA thaniyan for a prapannA. It is the protocol that
one chant their AchAryA thaniyan and think of their AchAryA
thiruvadi at the most crucial time of their departure to
Srivaikundam. When Sri Ramanuja ascended to Srivaikundam he
meditated on the thiruvadikaL of Sri Periya nambi. When Swami
Desikan ascended to Sri vaikundam he meditated on the thiruvadikaL
of Sri AppuLAr. There are scores of other poorvAchAryAL from whom
this niyamanam can be learnt. It is even the thiru uLLam of our
poorvAchAryALs to mediate upon the thiruvadi of their achAryAL
even though Sri Ramanuja himself is the thiru avathAram of
adiseshan and Swami Desikan the thiru avathAram of or temple bell
(maNi) of thiru vEngada mudaiyAn.
Since Sri rAmAnujar is the pradhAna AchAryAL for all
SriviashnavaLs, chanting his thiru nAmam and thinking of his
thiruvadi itself is considered as pradhAna manthram and yAgam. Sri
thiru arangatthu amudhanAr delivered this anthAthi in such a way
that each and every pAsuram has the "mantrhram" or manthrA
embedded in it. Such manthram is none other than the thiru namAm
of our pradhAna AchAryAn Sri irAmanusar. ie the name "irAmAnusan"
is placed in each and every pasuram and for a total of 108 times.
Many slOkams have the beeja manthrams embedded in it as similar to
being hard coded. Some examples are Sri Hayagreeva slOkam, Sri
Garuda panchAsat and so on. Since some of the beeja manthrams are
not advisable to be chanted by everyone these are embedded by our
poorvA chAryALs in slOkams that everyone can chant and derive the
palans of chanting these beeja manthrams. In the sameway,
"SrimathE rAmAnujAya namaha" is embedded in each pAsuram and so
for 108 times. Those who can recite this anthAthi gets the palan
of chanting the pradhAna AchAryA thaniyan 108 times. Thus it is
also known or called as prapanna sAvithri.
In Sri visnu purAnam it is said that during kaliyugam mere doing
nAma japam will itself lead one to mOksham (*). It is understood
that such chanting will lead one to doing saranAgathi through a
sadhAchAryAL. The reference to nAma japam in Sri Vishnu purAnam
can be considered as a direct reference to chanting irAmAnuja
nooRRu anthAthi. The name "rAmA" and "anujA" has the "rAma"
saptham in it. Every one knows the power our Sri rAma nAmam. In
addition to it this name also has anujA in it. anuja is generally
meant as younger brother. Since an younger brother is a dAsan to
elder brother (here it is empurumAn Sri rAmA is the elder brother)
the combined word also means the one is a dAsan to Sri rAmA. Thus
the word rAmAnuja itself becomes a secret code or manthra for
everyone. It is all the more important for prapannAs as it is the
thiru nAmam or the thaniyan of the AchAryAn. All our AchAryAs in
Srivaishnavam recited their AchAryA's thaniyan during their last
breath. Thus, reciting AchAryA thanian is so important and is
sAvithri or the pradhAna manthram for a prapannA.
Sri Ramanujar thiru vadigaLE saraNam
adiyEn irAmAnusa dAsan
thiruk kudanthai Sampath Rengarajan
* (Refer to some details of nAma japam mentioned in Sri
V.SadagopAn's article
http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/aug97/./0040.html)
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