thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar

sri:
srimathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srimadh varavaramunayE nama:
sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

thirunakshathram: AvaNi rOhiNi

avathAra sthalam:  madhuramangalam

AchAryan: kOil kanthAdai rangAchAryar swamy (chaNdamArutham dhoddAchAryar thiruvamsam)

Sishyas: Many

Place where he attained paramapadham from: srIperumbUthUr

Born in madhuramangalam, he was named krishNan by his parents rAgavAchAryar and jAnaki ammAL since he was born on the same thirunakshathram as krishNa and periyavAchAn piLLai. He was born in the glorious srIvathsa lineage. He was born in the year 1805 CE.

His parents performed all applicable vaidhIka samskArams for him at the right ages. Even at a young age, he had great attachment towards emperumAn. In his childhood, He was always playing with divine vigrahams of emperumAn and showed great attachment towards bhagavath vishayam.

After some time, his father wanted to look for a bride for him to have him married. His father set out on a journey and krishNamAchAryar accompanied him in the journey. On the way, he observes a couple with their child also travelling at the same time. He sees that the husband is carrying lots of luggage and the child as well and is often seen quarelling with the wife but was also being submissive towards her due to his attachment towards her. krishNamAchAryar was struck with the miseries of married life and at once calls out his father and says that he never wants to get married. He was then blessed with AchArya sambandham when his AchAryan visits his village (kappiyAmUr). kOil kanthAdai rangAchAryar performs pancha samskAram to him and teaches the essential principles of sath sampradhAyam. He also starts going to many yAthrais along with his AchAryan and serves him constantly.

Once when he was in thiruvEnkatam, embAr appears in his dream and invites him to madhuramangalam and instructs him to bring a shawl as he was feeling very cold. krishNamAchAryar goes to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn to request his permission to leave and thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn blesses with his own shawl which is carried by him and submitted to embAr at madhuramangalam. Subsequently, by the grace of embAr, krishNamAchAryar develops great desire to accept sannyAsAsramam. He returns to thiruvEnkatam and requests vakuLAbharaNa jIyar (periya jIyar) to bless him with sannyAsAsramam. vakuLAbharaNa jIyar feels krishNamAchAryar is too young and informs him to wait for some more time. But krishNamAchAryar insists that by the grace of embAr he has become totally detached and cannot continue without the sannyAsAsramam. vakuLAbharaNa jIyar then says, if perumAL sanctions it, he will proceed. jIyar then leaves to thirumalai and on his way he observes a properly prepared thridhaNdam and collects that. When he lies down to rest, emperumAn appears in his dream and instructs him to bless krishNamAchAryar with that thridhaNdam and crown him with sannyAsAsramam. periya jIyar then happily invites him and blesses him with sannyAsAsramam.

A painting of thirumalai jIyar with embAr jIyar in the side – as seen in thirumalai jIyar mutt

Since vakuLAbharaNa jIyar knew the great attachment of krishNamAchAryar towards thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn, he names krishNamAchAryar as thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja jIyar. He returns to madhuramangalam and serves embAr for some time and becomes to be popularly known as madhuramangalam embAr jIyar.

He travelled to many dhivya dhEsams and finally arrived at srIperumbUthUr to stay there and serve emperumAnAr at his avathAra sthalam. His sishyas arranged for a mutt for him to stay in the south side of the temple and he started living in that mutt.

Adhi kEsava perumaL – bhAshyakArar temple, srIperumbUthUr

embAr jIyar mutt, maNavALa mAmunigaL kOil street, srIperumbUthUr

Several srIvaishNavas approached him and studied the pure principles of our sath sampradhAyam during his times at srIperumbUthUr. He expertly explained the principles in our pUrvAchArya srIsUkthis and nurtured many vidhwAns (scholars) during his time.

He lived for a short time (77 years) in this leelA vibhUthi and ascended to paramapadham on vishu varsham thai month krishNa paksham thrayOdhasi thithi.

One of his most important works is the arumpadham (detailed explanations) for mAmunigaL‘s vyAkyAnam for piLLai lOkAchAryar‘s srIvachana bhUshaNam. Not only he wrote a commentary for the magnum opus of our sath sampradhAyam (srIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram) , he also lived a life of total dedication to bhagavath/bhAgavatha kainkaryam as highlighted in srIvachana bhUshaNam. He had also written several other granthams to establish the principles of our sath sampradhAyam.

He also explained the structure of the brahmANdam very nicely based on the descriptions in vishNu purANam, thathva thrayam, yathIndhram matha dhIpikA, etc. This structure was represented in a pictorial form and was recently re-published by the sincere efforts of one srIvaishNava named Sri Ravi.

A portrait of thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar swamy.

brahmANdam – pictorial representation of one brahmA’s universe

Works:

Here is the list of his literary works:

1. arumpadham for srIvachana bhUsaNam
2. sidhOpAya sudharisanam
3. sadhdharisana sudharisanam
4. dhudhdharisana karisanam
5. viprathipaththi nirasanam
6. vyAkyAnam for “cheththaththin …” srIsUkthi (of nammAzhwAr)
7. sharaNAgathikku adhikAri visEshaNathva samarththanam
8. jyOthisha purANangaLukku aika kantya samarththanam
9. dhurupadhEsadhikkAram
10. sharaNa sabdhArththa vichAram
11. shruthaprakAchikA vivaraNam
12. mukthipadhashakthi vAdham
13. brahmapadhashakthi vAdham
14. bhUkOLa nirNayam
15. thyAgasabdhArththa tippaNi
16. gIthArththa tippaNi
17. kaivalya sathadhUshaNi
18. srIrAmAnuja ashtapathi
19. sidhAntha thUlikai
20. sidhOpAya mangaLa dhIpikai
21. dharmagyA prAmANya prakAchikai
22. sidhAntha paribhAshai
23. immersing in srIrAmAnuja’s divine form – thirumanjana kattiyam , etc

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of appan thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar. He was a great scholar and has contributed greatly to our sampradhAyam through his literary works. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such gyAnam/bhakthi in bhagavath/bhAgavatha/AchArya vishayam.

appan thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar’s thaniyan:

srIvAdhUla ramApravALa ruchira sraksainya nAthAmchaja
srIkurvIndhram mahArya labhdha nijasath saththam chruthA bhIshtatham
srIrAmAnuja mukya dhEsikalasath kainkarya samsthApakam
srImathvEnkatalakshmaNArya yaminam thamsathguNam bhAvayE

ஸ்ரீவாதூல ரமாப்ரவாள ருசிர ஸ்ரக்ஸைந்ய நாதாம்சஜ
ஸ்ரீகுர்வீந்த்ரம் மஹார்ய லப்த நிஜஸத் ஸத்தம் ச்ருதா பீஷ்டதம்
ஸ்ரீராமாநுஜ முக்ய தேசிகலஸத் கைங்கர்ய ஸம்ஸ்தாபகம்
ஸ்ரீமத்வேங்கடலக்ஷ்மணார்ய யமிநம் தம்ஸத்குணம் பாவயே

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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Sources: an old publication named “thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar prabhAvam” – full grantham can be viewed online at https://drive.google.com/?tab=go&authuser=0#folders/0ByVemcKfGLucZnZBMjlIa1JHdFk