Sunday, May 07, 2006
Ramanujacharya Thirunakshatram
Thirunakshatram is the spiritual word for birthday. May 2nd was the thirunakshatram of Ramanujacharya. In Livermore temple we had weekend celebration of the thirunakshatram of Ramanujacharya. The celebration included Ha:rathi to acharaya and veedhi utsavam. The Ghosti group graced the occasion to sing Pallandu and perform Sattramurai to the Acharaya.
Ramanujacharya was born Ilaya Perumal to a brahmin family in the village of Perumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India in 1017 CE. Ramanujacharya was the chief exponent of Vishishtadvaita school of thought and was a great social reformer. Worshippers of Lord Vishnu as their supreme godhead are called SriVaishnavas and SriVaishnavas accept only the Ramanuja philosophy of Vishishtadvaita. Once Ramanujacharya imparted the sacred mantra (supposed to be the most secret imparting of a Guru to a Sishya,) his guru had revealed him, openly to the public announcing to the whole community which had gathered at the temple. On being questioned, Ramanuja declared that if by his going to hell so many souls could be saved, he would prefer that to his own salvation. Such was the greatness of this acharya. Ramanujacharya's famous works include the Vedartha-sangraha, Sribashya, commentaries on the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras (portions credit - Kamat's potpourri). Ramanujacharya's version of non-dualism differed from Adi Shankaracharya's because Ramanujacharya acknowledged the existence of differences, and believed that the identity of an object as a part was as important as the unity of the whole. The vaishnava theology espoused by Ramanuja propounds that Brahman is not devoid of attributes but is expressed as a personal God, full of infinite good qualities, as Narayana himself. Hence the philosophy of Vishishtadvaita combines Advaita (oneness of God) with Vishesha (attributes).
The ghosti group and the priests recited various mantras, performed naivedyam and sattramurai to the acharaya. May Perumal bless all! ¶ 6:25 AM
Thirunakshatram is the spiritual word for birthday. May 2nd was the thirunakshatram of Ramanujacharya. In Livermore temple we had weekend celebration of the thirunakshatram of Ramanujacharya. The celebration included Ha:rathi to acharaya and veedhi utsavam. The Ghosti group graced the occasion to sing Pallandu and perform Sattramurai to the Acharaya.Ramanujacharya was born Ilaya Perumal to a brahmin family in the village of Perumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India in 1017 CE. Ramanujacharya was the chief exponent of Vishishtadvaita school of thought and was a great social reformer. Worshippers of Lord Vishnu as their supreme godhead are called SriVaishnavas and SriVaishnavas accept only the Ramanuja philosophy of Vishishtadvaita. Once Ramanujacharya imparted the sacred mantra (supposed to be the most secret imparting of a Guru to a Sishya,) his guru had revealed him, openly to the public announcing to the whole community which had gathered at the temple. On being questioned, Ramanuja declared that if by his going to hell so many souls could be saved, he would prefer that to his own salvation. Such was the greatness of this acharya. Ramanujacharya's famous works include the Vedartha-sangraha, Sribashya, commentaries on the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras (portions credit - Kamat's potpourri). Ramanujacharya's version of non-dualism differed from Adi Shankaracharya's because Ramanujacharya acknowledged the existence of differences, and believed that the identity of an object as a part was as important as the unity of the whole. The vaishnava theology espoused by Ramanuja propounds that Brahman is not devoid of attributes but is expressed as a personal God, full of infinite good qualities, as Narayana himself. Hence the philosophy of Vishishtadvaita combines Advaita (oneness of God) with Vishesha (attributes).
The ghosti group and the priests recited various mantras, performed naivedyam and sattramurai to the acharaya. May Perumal bless all! ¶ 6:25 AM
