Understanding Sri Vaishnavism

REligion means Bhakti towards the Divine. In the Bhakthi schools, there are people who [1] worship Vishnu and Mahalakshmi and [2] those who worship Siva and Sakthi. Vaishnavas are Vishnu Dasas who worship Vishnu and Mahalakshmi. .

Vaishnavas are called Sri Vaishnavas because they workship both Sri and Vishnu, i.e. Mahalakshmi and Sriman Narayana, together.

Sri Vaishnavas worship Sriman Narayana in five forms, viz. Param, Vyuham, Vibhavam, Archa and Antharyami, as under:

1. Param is that form of Lord Sriman Narayana who lives in His permanent abode, Sri Vaikuntam. There He is sitting on Adisesha along with His consorts.

2. Vyuham is that form of Lord Sriman Narayana wherefrom he focuses on Creation, Maintenance and Destruction, from the posture of Vyuha Vasudeva lying down on his Bed Adisesha in Thirupparkadal, the Milky ocean.

3. Vibhavam is that form of Lord Sriman Narayana in which He took Avatara in this world and was known in different names such as as Nrisimha, Rama, Krishna, etc.

4. Archa is that form of Lord Sriman Narayana in which, having been duly invocated, He gives Darshan to you and I, in various temples on this earth. In these temples, He had taken such form as the Bhaktas have wished and gives them Darshan day today.

5. Antaryami is that form of Lord Sriman Narayana in which He resides within all of us as our soul, giving guidance day to day to people who care to listen to Him.

Sri Vaishnavism is a broad-based universal religion, which is open to one and all independent of Caste , creed, gender, or scholarship of the individual.

Sri Vaishnava Philosophy:

The Basic Tenets of Sri Vaishnava Philosophy are:

1. Sriman Narayana is Supreme God, the Para Bhamham. The Para Bramham is not Nirguna or Nirakara as claimed by certain schools , but possesses inifinite auspicious qualities.

2. Sriman Narayana not only created the Nature and the Jivas, but also resides as Anthryami / Soul in everyone and everything. Thus everything is in Him and He is in everyone / everything. Thus the jivas are part of this Supreme God.

3. While ultimately all the Jivas have to merge with the God, this merger could take many Janmas / births till the Jivas qualify for this merger by doing good deeds.

4. This merger with Sriman Narayana can be quickened to happen at the end of current life itself, provided we do Prapatti / Saranagati through an Acharya and lead a righteous / Dharmic life after doing the Prapatti.

5. Once the soul reaches Sri Vaikunta, the abode of Sriman Narayana, having been freed from the cycle of birth and death, the soul engages in eternal service to Sriman Narayana.

Sri Vaishnava Literature

We know every country has a Constitution. And every country frames various Acts and Rules under the Constitution. And under these Rules, Procedures are written up. And to supplement the Constitution, Rules and Procedures, many guide books are written by many knowledgeable people.

In the same way, the Constitution for our religion is Vedas. And God Himself took Avataras, gave us Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, etc to give us Rules for leading our day to day life. The Procedures for conduct of Temples and worships were written up in the form of Agamas. Then many kritis were made by Alwars explaining the pathways for understanding the Vedic philosophy and Teachings. Then the very learned Acharyas gave us many books / Granthams for understanding and practicing the codes contained in the Vedas and other religious literature that would serve as Guide Books to laymen.

Thus Sri Vaishnavism has a very rich five-fold literature. They are:

1. The Vedas
2. The Puranas, like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagavata, Gita, etc.
3. Agamas, the Procedures for Temple construction and worship
4. 4000 Divya Prabandham by Alwars
5. Variious Books / Granthams written by Acharyas

Alwars:

There are 12 Alwars who were born to propagate Bhakti among the common men. Though they all lived like human beings, they were in fact divine incarnations of God Himself. There is reference to the future birth of Alwars in Srimad Bhagawatam as under:

kalau khalu Bhavishyanthi narayaaa parayana:
kvachin kvachi mahabhaga dramidesu cha bhurisa:
thamaraparani nadI yatra krtamaalaa payasvinI:
kaverI cha mahabhaga prathIchI cha mahanadhI

(Srimad Bhagawatham- XI-5- 38-39)

Meaning: In the beginning of Kaliyuga, persons exclusively devoted to Narayana and endowed with spiritual knowledge will be born here and there but in large
numbers in the land of the Draavidas where the flow of rivers Thaamaraparani, Krtamaalaa (Vaigai), Payasvini (Paalaar), the holy river Cauveri, and the MahaanadhI (Periyaaru), which runs westwards.

Alwars -in pure Tamil "Azhwar"- means "One who immerses himself". They really, deeply immersed themselves in their devotion and bhakti towards the Lord Sriman Narayana and burst out bhakti laden great works for the sake of humanity. The works of Alwars were a replica of the Vedas themselves and therefore came to be known as Tamil Veda.

We had stated above that Vaishnavism is a broad-based universal religion, which is open to one and all independent of Caste , creed, gender, or scholarship of the individual. The proof for this statement is the composition of Alwars themselves. Among the 12 Alwars, one is a lady [Sri Andal] and the others are gents. Again among the 12 Alwars, only two belong to Brahmin community and the rest belonged to various other communities, including from the then untouchables.

The Alwar Kritis which were mostly made in the beginning of Kaliyuga, were all oral and passed from one generation to another. Any written record of these were on palm leaves. With a few thousand years passed after Alwar’s kritis were made, many were lost over a period of time.

Acharyas:

Sri Nathamunigal was born towards the end of 9th Century AD. He prayed Sri Nammalwar by doing Tapas and received the Alwar Kritis in Upadadesam. Thus Sri Nammalwar who made the first Upadesam, is First Earthly Acharya of Sri Vaishnavas.

Sri Nathamunigal took great effotts to collect, consolidate and codify all the kritis of Alwars and revived their recitation in Sri Vaishnava Temples. For the above contribution and for his own kritis, Sri Nathamunigal is revered as the next Acharya after Srii Nammalwar.

Sri Nathamunigal’s Sishya Sri Uyyakkondar and and Sri Uyyakkondar’s Sishya Manakkal Nambi were the next level Acharyas.

Sri Manakkal Nambi handed the inherited spiritual treasuires to Sri Alavandar. Sri Alavandar wrote many Books and enriched the Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya. His heritage were then inherited by Sri Ramanuja. And all these spiritual leaders are our Acharyas.

Along side the above advent of Sri Vaishnava Sampradayam, India saw some other religions entering the masses. The Budhism, Jainism were the most prominent. The people were getting converted into Budhists and Jains during this period. Then came the invasion by Muslims and again Hindus were at a great disadvantage and pressure. Many were being forcibly being converted into Muslims. Our Temples were attacked by many Muslim leaders and it was becoming difficult to follow Hinduism in general and Sri Vaishnavism in particular.

In this Scenario, Sankaracharya was born and he re-established Hinduism with his Adwaita Philosophy. Many Hindu Kings were influenced by his philosophy and embraced the Adwaita philosophy and became Saivaites. Now it was the tough time for Sri Vaishnavas. Even Ramanuja was under attack by the Saiva Kings and he had to shift from Srirangam to Melkote at Karnataka.

Coming immediately after the advent of Adi Sankara’s Advaitha, Sri Ramanuja had the hectic duty of re-establishing the Sri Vaishnava Philosophy among the masses. And he did that with great ability and aplomb. Unmatched by his predecessors, Sri Ramanuja had a great following in his days. Since Sri Acharya Sri Ramanuja re-established the Sri Vaishnava philosophy, the Sri Vaishnava Sampradayam is also known as Sri Ramanuja Sampradayam.

Until the time of Sri Ramanuja, the Sri Vaishnava Siddhanta was handed down by Acharyas to their own disciples. But Sri Ramanuja appealed to the masses to recognize the glory of Sri Vaishnava Principles. For propagating these principles, he appointed 74 learned men and asked them to carry the religion to the people.

After Sri Ramanuja, we had a very great Acharya in Sri Vedanta Desika who not only wrote more than 125 Kritis for the benefit of Sri Vaishnavas, but also withstood the onslaught of Mohammedan invasion and destruction of our temples and re-established Sri Ramanuja siddhantam to its original glory.

And after Sri Vedanta Desika, many acharyas took up the task of propagating Sri Ramanuja Siddhanta. Among them, Sri Adivan Satakopa, taking divine instructions from Sri Ahobila Nrisimha, established Sri Ahobila Mutt in the year 1398 AD.

Similar to Sri Ahobila Mutt, other Institutions such as Parakala Mutt, Srimad Andavan Ashramam were all born.

Since then a succession of Acharyas have been touring places all over India and propagate the Sri Ramanuja Siddhantam tirelessly among the masses.

Thus we have the Lord, Alwars and many Acharyas to offer our daily obescience to. Our list of Acharyas is very long and the same is called Gutu Parampara.