Simple Guide to SrivaishNavam – Introduction

SrI:
SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:
SrimathE rAmAnujAya nama:
Srimadh varavaramunayE nama:
Sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

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SrIman nArAyaNan,
for the upliftment of the samsAris (bound souls), out of his causeless
mercy, reveals the SAsthram (vEdham) to brahmA during Srushti
(creation). vEdham is the ultimate pramANam for vaidhikas. A pramAthA
(AchAryan) can determine the pramEyam (emperumAn) only through pramANam (SAsthram).
Just like emperumAn has akila hEya prathyanIkathvam (opposite to all
bad qualities) and kalyANaikathAnathvam (abode of all auspicious
qualities) which differentiate emperumAn from every other entity, vEdham
has the following important qualities (that differentiate it from other
pramANams):

• apaurushEyathvam –  not created by any individual (at the outset of every creation,
  emperumAn  teaches vEdham to brahmA who in turn propagates the same).
  Hence errors of individual’s sense-perception etc., are absent.

• nithyam –  it is eternal – with no beginning and no end – it is revealed time and
  again by emperumAn who is fully cognizant of the contents of vEdham.

• svatha prAmANyathvam – all vEdha vAkyams are self-sufficient, i.e., we dont need anything more to prove the validity of the same

While
vEdham is just one vast body of scripture, vEdha vyAsa, considering the
limited capacity of human intelligence in the future, divided the
vEdham into rig, yajur, sAma and atharva vEdhams.
vEdhAntham is
the essence of vEdham. vEdhAntham is the collection of upanishadhs which
talks about the intricate details about emperumAn. While
vEdham talks about the process of worship, vEdhAntham talks about
bhagavAn who is the object of worship. There are many upanishadhs, but
the following are considered as the most important:

• aitharEya

• bruhadhAraNyaka

• chAndhOgya

• isha

• kEna

• kata

• kaushIdhiki

• mahA nArAyaNa

• mAndukya

• muNdaka

• prashNa

• subhAla

• svEthasvathAra

• thaiththriya

brahma
sUthram that is compiled by sage vEdha vyAsa is also considered to be
part of vEdhAntham since it is the essence of upanishadhs.
Since,
vEdham is anantham (endless – huge) and vEdhAntham is very complicated
and the capacity of human intelligence is limited (which can lead to
misunderstandings and misinterpretations), we have to understand
vEdham/vEdhAntham through smruthi, ithihAsam and purANams.

• smruthi is the collection of dharma SAsthrams which are compiled by great sages like manu, vishNu hAritha, yAgyavalkya, etc.

• ithihAsams
  are the collection of SrI rAmAyaNam and mahAbhArtham – the two great
  epics. SrI rAmAyaNam is considered as the sharaNAgathi SAsthram and
  mAhAbhAratham is considered as panchamO vEdham (fifth vEdham after the
  rig, yajur, sAma and atharva vEdhams).

• purANams are the
  collection of 18 main purANams (brahma purANam, padhma purANam, vishNu
  purANam, etc) and many upa (minor) purANams which are compiled by
  brahmA. Of these 18 purANams, brahmA himself declares that when he is in
  the mode of sathvam (goodness) he glorifies vishNu, in the mode of
  rajas (passion) he glorifies himself and in the mode of thamas
  (ignorance) he glorifies Siva, agni, etc.

Even with the
existence of all of these, instead of gaining true knowledge through
SAsthram and looking out for the true goal, samsAris were still engaged
in materialistic aspirations. emperumAn
then personally descended as many avathArams, only to see many
disrespecting him and even fighting with him. Realizing that he should
prepare a jIvAthmA to help the samsAris (like a deer is used to capture
another deer by a hunter), he picked a select few jIvAthmAs and gave
them blemishless divine knowledge. These jIvAthmAs became to be famously
known as AzhwArs (ones who are immersed in bhagavath anubhavam). They are headed by nammAzhwAr (prapanna kula kUtasthar/vaishNava kulapathi) and are said to be 10 in number – poigai AzhwAr, bhUthaththAzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr, thirumazhisai AzhwAr, nammAzhwAr, kulaSEkara AzhwAr, periyAzhwAr, thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr, thiruppANAzhwAr and thirumangai AzhwAr. madhurakavi AzhwAr (disciple of nammAzhwAr) and ANdAL (daughter of periyAzhwAr)
are also added into AzhwArs goshti at times. AzhwArs who were fully
blessed by emperumAn preached the divine knowledge to many. Still, since
they were immersed in bhagavath anubhavam their focus was on
mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn.

emperumAn, wanting to uplift more jIvAthmAs from samsAram, divinely arranged the appearance of AchAryas starting with nAthamunigaL and ending with maNavALa mAmunigaL (SrI varavaramuni). bhagavath rAmAnuja who is an avathAra visEsham (special incarnation) of Adhi sEshan, appears right in the middle of our AchArya paramparai
and he leads this SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam and visishtAdhvaitha
sidhdhAntham to great heights. Following the works of great rishis
parAsara, vyAsa, dhramida, tanka, etc., he firmly establishes the
visishtAdhvaitha principles. He establishes 74 AchAryas as
simhAsanAdhipathis and instructs them to bring SrIvaishNavam to everyone
who has the desire to learn about emperumAn and gain true knowledge.
It is due to his great deeds and him being the ultimate saviour of all, this smpradhAyam became to be popularly known as SrI rAmAnuja dharSanam. Subsequently, He re-appears as maNavALa mAmunigaL to propagate the dhivya prabandhams and their meanings fully. periya perumAL accepts maNavALa as his own AchAryan in SrIrangam
periya kOyil and completes the AchArya rathnahAram which started from
him. After the time of maNavALa mAmunigaL, his main disciples, famously known as ashta dhik gajangaL (eight elephants) headed by ponnadikkAl jIyar
further propagate the SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam everywhere.
Subsequently, many AchAryas appear in this sampradhAyam and continue the
great work of our pUrvAchAryas.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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