Sri Ramanuja
Āchārya abhimānam can have two vigraha-vākyas. Āchāryasya abhimānam and sishyasya āchārye abhimānam (or sishyasya Āchāryamprathi abhimānam). In the context of the choornikai 443 of Srivaćanabhūshanam, in their commentaries, both Āy and Manavālamāmunihal have adopted sishyamprathi āchāryasya abhimānam, i.e., the great concern of the (righteous) preceptor (for the disciple’s salvation), as the relevant vigraha. If it were the other way, viz. the great regard (of the disciple) towards the āchārya, there is inconsistency with the main tenet of the Āzhwārs, neri vāsal thānēāy ninrān, the Supreme Being is both the means (upāya) and goal (upēya). Most of the people do not look into this inconsistency and advise the latter interpretation with a recommendation that the Srivaishnavites should recite the thaniyan of the āchārya daily and offer rewards to the āchārya even in the context of their day-today welfare. This is also the practice with almost all Srivaishnavites conforming to the existing system.
More than salvation, it is the worry about the continuing cycle of sorrow and happiness which creates fear during the life time of an individual. That this cycle will be terminated by the Supreme Being with unsurpassed kindness and with no expectation on His part from the individual is THE message which eliminates this worry. The true Āchārya passes on this message amounting to the aphorism that “the Supreme Being is the sole goal and means” out of his great concern for his disciple. It is, thus, this great concern of the āchārya (Āchārya abhimānam) which uplifts the soul of the disciple ( āchāryābhimanamē uddhārakam –chūrnikai 447) and makes him ‘nirbhara’ (relieved, so peaceful) and ‘nirbhaya’ (fearless, confident) about his ātmayātrā (spiritual existence). The Srivachanabhūshanam also makes it clear that the right āchārya for a chētana is a gift by the Supreme Being (chu: 437). However, quoting the sloka : arvānchō yatpadhasarasija dhvandhvam āşrithya pūrvē mūrdhnā yasya anvayam upagathā: dhēşikā: muktim āpu: -sōyam rāmānujamunirapi svīyamuktim karasthām yatsambandhāt amanutha katham varńyathē kūranātha: By getting to the lotus feet of whom the present people (got their salvation), and by having connection with whose head the earlier āchāryas got salvation, such a saint Ramanuja considered his salvation on hand by his association with Kūresa, how can the latter be described?
For quite some time upanyasakas try to create confidence in their audience that with their Ramanuja sambandha they are assured of mōksha and sometimes they even go to the extent of saying that only those having such sambandha get mōksha . If the whole sloka were to be cared for, it is because of Kūrathāzhvān Ramanuja considered mōksha on hand and there is an inconsistency that Āzhwān was to get his mōksha by his śēshatva to Ramanuja while his association afforded mōksha to Rāmānuja, creating a vicious circle. The first two lines can only convey the message that Ramanuja made his predecessor, preceptors like the āzhwārs, Nāthamunihal, Ālavandhār well-known to his followers and to the world (i.e., but for Ramanuja their greatness would not have been brought to light) and by his abhimānam made his followers shed their worry about salvation, mōksha (which is assured by the Lord- e.g. “inŗip-poka iruvinaiyum kedutthu onŗi yākkai pukāmai uyyak-koļvān ….. Thiruvaimozhi 9-3-8.) It is the sacrifice of Azhvan which helped Ramanuja to survive a crisis so that he could pass on the message of upaya- upeyatva of the Supreme Being conveyed in the charamasloka to the people at large. For him this was more than mōksha, viz. bhāgavatha kainkaryam superior to mōksha. (Ref. Uŗumō pāviyenukku …….avanadiyār ciŗumāmanicarāi ennaiyāņdār inkē thiriyavē . Thiruvāimozhi 8-10-3.)
Thus to portray that mōksha is because of great regard towards āchārya or by connection through several links with Ramanuja is not consistent with the Azhwars' works or their interpretation by the āchāryas. That Madhurakavi points out the āchāryasya abhimānam in Nammazhwar is clear from his statement “aruļ kondādum….”. ‘arul’ on the part of the Azhwar is nothing but his concern for the entire humanity which swells larger than the world. Periyavāchānpillai points out that the āzhwār strives to show his concern even on those who are delayed in receiving the blessings of the Supreme Being on the knowledge of His upāya upēyatva. Likewise Amudhanaar pointed out the concern of Ramanuja for the world by his verses ‘periyavar pēsilum…….. (87) and uņņinŗu uyirkaļukku…..(95). for instance again pointing out āchārya abhimānam.
Some have been misled that ‘E’ in Tamil at the end of a word is a stress or avadhāranam always. It is used in twenty different contexts (Vide Tholkapiam- Chol Adhikaram- Idai Iyal-Sivalinganar Edn. International Institute of Tamil Studies, Chennai. 600 113 pp 70-72) and for example “nāvukkē” “thirivanē” in Kaņņinuņ ciŗutthāmpu have ‘E’ just as ‘asai’ for verse form.
Some anecdotes in the Guruparamparaprabhavam are to be explained properly. For instance the naming of Ramanuja as “emperumanar” (our Swami) by Thirukkoshtiyurnambi is because of Ramanuja’s concern for the common man as revealed by his haranguing from the temple top on the purport of the charama sloka (the ashtakshara does not give explicit confidence to the listeners in this context). It showed his abhimānam towards the entire humanity as an āchārya and Nambi went to the extent of saying that Ramanuja was the āchārya even for him and not vice versa. Ramanuja is also known as Udayavar. The term udayavar is a shortened form of ubhayavibhoothi udaiyavan. This is attributed to him for his propagating the message of the āzhwārs that the Supreme Being is so kind to shower His blessings inclusive of mōksha on His subjects without any expectation from them. By his preaching and practice Ramanuja could instill such a faith in the common folk as also with the scholars that made them to deem even paramapadham of the Supreme Being to be in his possession. His compassion for the humanity was so great, that made the people to feel even the concern of the Supreme Being as secondary to his.
It is this concern – abhimānam- of the āchārya imbibed by the disciple that generates the āchārya-viśvāsam in the disciple. A total faith in the preaching of the āchārya enlightens the disciple on the īśvarasvarūpa – the unsurpassed kindness of the Supreme Being without any expectation. This confidence develops and grows to the extent of even relinquishing the Supreme Being, to regard the āchārya as everything for the soul, as Madhurakavihal , Vaduhanampihal and others have done. Thus it is the abhimānam of the āchārya that really matters for the salvation of the soul, so much as nothing can ever be done in return by the ignorant and inept ones for such a grace.