SrI RAmAnujAcArya, the greatest AcArya of SrIvaishNavism has clearly upheld the sanctity of varNASrama
dharma in his SrI BhAshya, the exalted commentary on Brahma sUtra. All the 74 AcAryas
established by him uphold the Vedic
tradition and are conforming to sAstras
even today.
SrI RAmAnujAcArya at the same time strongly
believed that we have to respect the great Saints and devotees belonging to
other castes as well, as many AzhvArs are non-BrAhmaNas. While it is the duty of
one person to follow his own varNASrama dharma, it does not make him automatically superior
to others. In the considered view of SrI RAmAnujAcArya all VaishNavaites (tirumAl adiyArs)
are one and the same in the eyes of the Supreme BhagavAn. Hence one has to be always polite
and humble in spite of his caste.
The jIyars of SrI RAmAnujAcArya
tradition wear yajnopavitam and perform nitya karma. SrI RAmAnujAcAyra fully knows what is varNASrama dharma and
what is devotion (bhakti yoga) and Surrender (Prapatti).
Those vaishnavites
who are not brAhmaNas
do not wear yajnopavitam but are engaged in the service of BhagavAn are
called as "sAttANi" . They render "pushpa kainkaryam" in a selfless
manner. SrI RAmAnujAcAyra
welcomed all for doing unconditional and selfless service to the Supreme
irrespective of caste.
Vaishnavites never claim that they are
superior based on birth. For them, it is the loving devotion to the Supreme which is important.
All devotees are verily equals. At the same time, Vaishnavites fully adhere to varNaSrama dharma.
SrI RAmAnujAcArya never advocated the supremacy of
BrAhmaNas over others. One of his respected AcAryas
was Swami
Tirukkacchi Nambigal, who was a non-BrAhmaNa. Therefore, if only SrI RAmAnujAcAyra had
considered BrAhmaNas
as superior, there is some meaning in alleging that he could have converted
non-BrAhmaNas
into BrAhmaNas.
For him, all SrI Vaishnavaites are indeed equals. At the same time he also emphasized that the SAstras have
to be duly complied with based on one's VarNASrama dharma as determined by one's
birth.
SrI RAmAnujAcArya brought
many people into the fold of Sri
VaishNavism without any change in their status of varNa. As they were disillusioned with
the non-Vedic philsophies, mAyA vAdam etc, they voluntarily
came into the fold of Sri VaishNavism.
All the sAtthAda
mudalis of heritage temples like SrIrangam, still remain to date as sAtthAda mudalis
only. Nobody was ever converted into the BrAhmaNa fold. Pillai UrangAvalli Dasar became a very
close disciple of SrI RAmAnujAcArya at SrIrangam and he remained as a non-BrAhmaNa only.
SrI RAmAnujAcArya firmly
believed in the supremacy of Vedic Scriptures. According to the SAstras, there
are no rituals for converting the caste of the person into BrAhmaNa VarNa.
Hence as a strong upholder of SAstras, SrI RAmAnujAcArya would not have even
dreamt of changing the VarNas just like that.
SrI RAmAnujAcArya is far
beyond the mAyA of caste supremacy and there is no need for him to convert
non-BrAhmaNas into BrAhmaNa VarNa. He only openly welcomed all people with love
and affection irrespective of their
castes into the fold of SrI VaishNavism
to cross the ocean of samsAra and reach the abode of the Supreme.
श्रीमते रामानुजाय नमः।
जयजय श्रीराधे।
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