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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00106 Apr 2003

 
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Dear Friend:
We have heard of what is known as "Nindaa Stuthi", in which on the face of it, the statement would appear offensive but in reality it would convey the opposite, an eulogy. (eg) Songs like
"yEn PaLLik koNDeer ayyaa Sriranganaathare?",
"NaDamaaDi thirinda umadu iDadu kaal Udavaamal muDamaagip pOnadu",
"Ethaik koNdu ichchai koNDaai, aDi magaLE?" etc.

There is another variety in which what appears to boost the image of the character of the person actually means the opposite and in reality has the contrary effect of pulling down the image!.

The classic example from Shakespear's Julius Caesar in which Mark Antony calls the assasins of Caesar as "They are all, all honourable men", while conveying just the opposite.

The present instance seems to fall under the second category, (Stuthi nindaa?)May be with the best of intentions, the proponents of this version might have meant to boost the image of Bhagavad Ramanuja to be so broad minded as to reveal the mantras and that to all and sundry.

And, by constant repetition time and again, (a la Goebelles, the misinformation Minister of Hitler)people are led to believe it to be true!. Unfortunately, some of our own commentators seem to have fallen for this misstatement and have given credence to it in their writings.

It is derogatory to Bhagavad Ramanuja, to suggest that he did not know the dictum contained in the SEsha Samhitai (14.50) (Vide Guru Parampara saaram in Swami Desika's Srimad Rahasya Traya Saaram") viz.,
"Gurum praakasayEth dheemaan mantram yathnEna gOpayEth /
aprakaasa prakaasabhyaam ksheeyatE sampad aayushi"
roughly meaning
" It is the duty of the Sishya to bring to light the glory of his Acharya. It is equally his duty to zealously and with utmost effort guard the secrets contained in the mantras taught to him by his Acharya. Not revealing the greatness of the Acharya and/or revealing the sacred secret mantras (Rahasyas) will destroy the spiritual wealth and the spiritual life of the sishya"

The following is an excerpt from the Biography of Bhagavad Ramanuja archived at -http://members.tripod.com/~sriramanujar maintained by Si Madhava Kannan Swamifrom Singapore.

" (6) The seat of Acharya at Srirangam was lying vacant without a successor to take over. He was prevailed upon to assume charge. But, before doing so, he wanted to equip himself with the secrets of the three great Mantras. For this purpose, he approached one " Tiruk Koshtiyur Nambi" who made him come several times before actually instructing him. He cautioned Ramanuja that he should not give out the secrets to all and sundry and if he did so, he would go to hell.

Immediately on receiving the instructions, Ramanuja climbed up to the top of the steeple of the temple and proclaimed to the large gathering of his disciples assembled there the "purport of the instruction"(Not the mantras themselves).

The popular belief that he gave out the Mantras is not correct; What he actually gave out was that he had found out the way to attain Moksha through the three great Mantras and invited those who sincerely wished to follow him and get initiated.

Also, he did not advise all and sundry as assumed by some. By the time of this episode, he had already gathered a huge following of disciples who congregated at the main entrance to the temple and he was thus addressing his own disciples (as explained in a separate posting in this series).

This is another less known fact about the well known Acharya. When a tale bearer, rushed to Nambi saying that Ramanuja was revealing the mantras to the rubble, Tirukkoshtiyur Nambi was so enraged and demanded an explanation.

Ramanuja replied that he did not give out the mantras and even if he had transgressed the specific warning of the Guru,(which he did not) - only he himself would go to hell but the multitude of humanity that listened to his clarion 'wake-up' call would be saved spiritually.

The Guru was overwhelmed by this reply. Embracing Ramanuja appreciating his broad mindedness, he called him 'Emperumanar'- "Oh! My Lord" and declared that Srivaishnavism would thenceforward be known as " Ramanuja Darsanam"- "the light of Ramanuja"
Dasoham
Anbil Ramaswamy
======================================================
From: Aravind Gopalan <balaji_gop@xxxx>
To: umm@xxxx
CC: SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [SriRangaSri] IT IS NOT TRUE.
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 12:13:28 -0700 (PDT)

SrimathE RangaRamanuja Mahadesikaya Nama:SrimathE GOpAlArya Mahadesikaya Nama:SrimathE NigamAntha Mahadesikaya Nama:SrimathE BhagavathE BhashyakArAya Mahadesikaya Nama: SrI: It is NOT true that Bhashyakarar chanted the mantra loudly in GhOstipuram temple. Bhashyakarar's acharyan was not ready to reveal the mantrArtham(meaning of the mantram) to more than one sishya at a time. This is was actually the tradition which was strictly followed. But Bhashyakarar thought that if a guru was going to pass on the meaning of the mantra for only one sishya at a time then how will Visistaadvaitam spread fast? Swami Desikan had taught Sribhashyam some 40 times in His avathara kAlam. If he taught sribhashyam at the rate of one student at a time then we would be having only 40 acharyaas directly taught by NigamAntha Mahadesikan!! So Bhashyakarar out of 'dayai' announced loudly that he would tell the meaning of the mantram for group disciples at a time. More importantly he was ready to reveal the meaning of the rashya mantram only for those who had panchasamskaaram and that too not in public. The acharyan became angry with Bhashyakarar because of his "invitation" for disciples to come in group to hear the meaning. But when bhashyakarar explained him about his intention the acharyan also agreed. From that time till now upadesam is done for groups and the previous strict traditional rule was RELAXED. In Srimad Rahasya Traya Saram in the Guruparampara saram swami desikan stresses the importance of protecting/safegaurding the mantrOpadesam of an acharyan. Swami desikan belongs to the line of acharyaas coming from Bhashyakarar. In such a case it is funny to accept such 'stories'. Some of us try to encourage such stories thinking that it will add more to bhashyakarar's vaibavam, but it actually would yield a negative result. One should be very careful in sorting out 'stories' from biographies! AcharyaLum BhagavathaLum KatakshikkavEnum.
AdiyEn, PAdhukAdAsan,
AravindalOchanadAsAnudAsan.
dI understand that Sri Ramanuja does not use that specific term
sankîrtana in his writing -- but that he refers to the idea of it in
his in the Gita bhAshy and in the Nitya (his manual of household
worship) and in his Theology. Can anybody please tell me of these
references and/or if there are copies of the above mentioned works on
line

I have also hear:

Sri Ramanuja got the secret mantra from his guru who told him not
reveal it to anyone and as soon Sri Ramanuja departed after getting
the mantra he started chanting it loudly for all to hear. Then his
guru asked him why he had revealed the mantra to so many by chanting
it out loud and Sri Ramanuja replied that if the mantra had all the
wonderful power and blessings that he said it had that he wanted to
share it with everyone and not just keep it to himself.

Is the above true or is it a tale... If it is true where can I read
more about this


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