Today a grand and jubilant celebration was held at Divya Saketam to mark the auspicious occasion of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya’s 999th birth anniversary.
Thousands of devotees, guests, scholars and saints alike, attended the mega event. Devotees thronged the ashram in large numbers today, in spite of the terrible weather and heavy rains.
The celebrations commenced with HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji’s Theertha Goshti. . The occasion was telecast live on Bhakti channel, the number 1 telugu devotional channel.
The Theertha Goshti was held for up to 45 mins, to accommodate each and every member present at the auditorium where the celebrations were held.
The Archa murthy of Bhagwan Ramanujacharya was placed on a beautifully carved, ornate throne. It was placed in front of a beautiful golden coloured Gopuram. It symbolised the Gopuram atop which Ramanujacharya climbed and selflessness gave the message of the divine, secret and sacred mantra to attain the lotus feet of Lord Srimannarayana, for the benefit of the common man and anyone or everyone who was interested and listening.
The beautifully decorated and adorned statue of Bhagwan Ramanujacharya was a divine, spiritual and truly blessed sight to the eyes of all the devotees, followers and admirers of Lord Ramanujacharya.
Theertha Goshti wa followed by Lord Ramanujacharya’s Amrutha Abhishekam after which HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji gave a discourse on Amrutha Abhishekam and other procedures of worship, their symbolic representation, significance and meaning of rituals.
HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamivaru went on to explain that each ingredient used to perform the divine abhishekam of Ramanujacharya. He explained that water represents strong faith and shraddha, milk represents Gyan or knowledge, yoghurt represents faith and honey represents sweet love. He enlightened the crowd about the fruits that were offered to the Lord symbolised the fruits of our actions or results, which we present to God to signify our complete surrenderance.
Swamiji spoke about Ramanujacharya’s public appeal as both an extremely compassionate social reformer and as an erudite scholar, highly revered for His knowledge and literary poweress. Swamiji explained how Ramanujachary was respected by both the common man and the elite of society because of these qualities of knowledge and compassion. HH enlightened the crowd about how Ramanujacharya was always called as “Bhagwath” and why the word was used as a prefix to His name. This is because, Ramanuja was such a great man known for his knowledge, teachings, actions, humility, service, commitment, great thining etc and had reached an almost God-like status. It was also these very qualities that made Him a great Acharya or teacher. This was because Bhagwath Ramanujacharya practiced, followed and implemented the very teachings He taught His own disciples and devotees, everyday of His life!. He was a living example of His teachings and practised them first before preaching them to His sishyas. Being both God and Acharya gave Him a divine status and Ramanujacharya’s selfless service to society can never be repaid or forgotten.
Swamiji also recollected to everyone the great story of Lord Tirumala Venkateswara Swamy of the seven hills. During the time of Ramanujacharya, there as a huge debate happening at Tirumala, regarding the true identity of the deity present at the Daiva Sannidhi. Some argued that the deity in the Archa form was of Lord Shiva, some claimed it belonged to Lord Kartikeya and some envisioned it to be that of a goddess or Shakti. People were not able to decide amongst themselves and there was a lot discord regarding the identity of the presiding deity.
To Ramanujacharya, this was very surprising, because the Alwars and Acharyas had been worshipping the presiding deity as Lord Vishnu since centuries. It was clearly stated in the Shastras that the presiding deity was Lord Srimannarayana and that He, the Lord had loaned His weapons to His devotee King Thondaman Chakravarthy to fight and win a great war. Thondaman Chakravarthy did not want to return and part with the divine weapons and the Lord agreed to let His favourite devotee keep the weapons. The Lord at Tirumala had already predicted and it was predecided by the Lord Himself, that another great devotee of His would entrust the weapon along with Shanku and Chakra back to Him in the Kaliyuga.
In spite of quoting the Shastras and other religious and ancient texts, the people at Tirumala were not convinced with Ramanujacharya’s literary proofs and evidences.
So, Bhagwath Ramanujacharya devised a foolproof plan to determine the true identity of the Lord of Tirumala. What better and truthful way, than to ask the Lord himself on His true identity? Bhagwath Ramanujacharya then placed the Shanku, Chakra along with Damarukam, Trishul, Vel and other insignia inside the Sannidhi (sanctum sanctorum) and prayed to the Lord to reveal His identity. Later in the night, after the devotees left for the day, Ramanujacharya then went on, safely and securely locked the doors of the Sannidhi overnight. Leaving the Lord alone with the various insignia overnight, Ramanujacharya fervently prayed to Srimannarayana to clear all doubts and confusions from the mind of the devotees regarding His true identity.Lo and behold! When the doors of the Tirumala sanctum sanctorum were opened the next morning, the Lord gave darshan adorning the royal insignia of Lord Vishnu- the Shankhu and Chakra in each hand proving He was Lord Sripati, the husband of Goddess Lakshmi Herself!
Answering the prayers and plea of His favourite devotee, Lord Venkateswara Swamy appeared next morning holding the Shanku and Chakra, thus establishing Lord Vishnu as the presiding deity of Tirumala.
In fact in a way, Bhagwath Ramanujacharya can be considered the Acharya to Lord Venkateswara because it was Ramanuja Swami’s prayer and pleas that lead the Lord to adorn the Shanku and Chakra in each arm. This can also be interpreted as and considered to represent the SamashrayanamPanchasamskaram’s & Thapa initiation ceremony of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala Himself by Bhagwath Ramanujacharya.
Thus, Lord Venkateswara Himself, established His own true identity as Lord Vishnu or Srimannarayana in the form of Lord Venkateshwara, on the behest of Ramanujacharya, His great devotee and Acharya.
Further into the discourse, HH spoke about life,other stories, various journeys, trials, tribulations, success & social contributions of the beloved Sri Vaishnava saint. HH provided the latest updates on the progress of the establishment and consecration of the Ramanuja Sahasrabdi 216 feet world’s largest sitting statue called the Ramanujacharya Statue of Equality. HH called for one and all to join hands in contributing and being part of this eagerly awaited mega celebrations, marking the 1000th birth anniversary in 2017.
The HIGHLIGHTS:
HH Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji announced yesterday that all the clearances required for the construction and consecration of the Bhagwath Ramanujacharya Statue of Equality had been sanctioned and approved. This great achievement took place on the 9th of May 2016, a day before the Thirunakshatram of the great Acharya Himself! The airport clearance, environment security clearance, fire security clearance etc were received on the night before the grand celebrations.
HH Swamiji spoke about the 120 kilo gold statue consecration, to mark the 120 golden years of Bhagwan Ramanujacharya’s life on earth. He explained how each kilo of gold represents our gratitude towards each year of Bhagwan Ramanujacharya’s life and selfless service and devotion to God and mankind.
He called for all devoted Bhagwat’s to come forward and donate the gold required for the construction of such a unique gold statue. He said “What’s the use of gold sitting away in lockers? What’s the use of gold that you never get to see or wear? What’s the use of paying such high monthly rental fees and rent lockers to safely lock away gold that is never used or even touched? Instead donate your gold to create a statue of Lord Ramanujacharya, where it will be put to good use, worshipped by sages and common man alike and be put towards the benefit of society! It was a great way to express our gratitude towards the greatest saint to have walked the earth. The statute would stand for equality, to represent and most importantly, remind us of the importance of equality,humility and the teachings of Ramanujacharya that we need to practice in our everyday lives. Swamiji explained to everyone the importance of donating now, and the importance of time and how lost time is time wasted. He reminded us on how we are on a deadline of just 1 year, till the next Thirunakshatram marking the 1000 years of our beloved Bhagwath Ramanujacharya’s life.
To this, a lot of devotees reacted by immdeiately donating the gold they were wearing on their body! Especially a lot of elderly ladies were seen enthusiastically donating their ear rings, nose rings, bangles, chains and other jewellery.
HH also spoke about the next upcoming project of having all of Bhagwad Ramanujacharya’s literary works translated into various languages and uploaded online for the benefit of all mankind. He explained to the crowd present, the works of Veda Vyasa’s Brahma Sutras and the words of his great, great, great, great prodigal grandson Bodhayana Maharishi’s works. He spoke about Ramanujacharya’s Sri Bhashyam and the magnum opus commentary on the Brahma Sutras. He recalled the story of Ramanujacharya’s journey and Padayatra to Kashmir from Tamil Nadu in South India, with His devoted disciple Kurathalvan. The the sacred texts were obtained after great literary debate, which Ramanujacharya fairly and squarely won. After which the copy of the Brahma Sutras was handed over to Ramanujacharya by the ruler and authorities of Kashmir. The sacred texts were stolen and there was eminent threat to the lives of Ramanujacharya and His disciple.The two escaped and Ramanujacharya fought against all odds and wrote the magnum opus Sri Bhashyam, that was named and blessed by Devi Saraswati, the Goddess of learning Herself!
The grand translation and publication of Ramanujacharya’s works, is just another one of our Swamijis ambitious and generous projects. It requires immense dedication, research, designing, development, execution and implementation; something HH is famous and renowned for. His past projects have been on a great scale, projects which were humanitarian, national, international etc. However the project of having all 8 of Bhagwan Ramanujacharya’s words translated and uploaded online to the internet, for the benefit of the society and the world, is the magnum opus of HH Swamijis never ending contributions and blessings to society.
The crowd read the Ramanujacharya Ashtotram under the aegis of both the Jeeyar Swamijis, scholars and saints present at the grant event. The celebrations concluded with the blessings of HH Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji and Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Ahobila Jeeyar Swamiji followed by a grand lunch banquet and Thadiaradhana.
The post HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji Message on Sri Bhagavad Ramanujacharya Thirunakshathram appeared first on chinnajeeyar.
Source: Varija News