{"id":2840,"date":"2018-04-29T19:35:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-29T09:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pillai.koyil.org\/?p=2840"},"modified":"2018-04-29T19:35:49","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T09:35:49","slug":"newcomers-guide-our-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pillai.koyil.org\/index.php\/2018\/04\/newcomers-guide-our-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"\u015ar\u012bVai\u1e63\u1e47avam for Newcomers – Our Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u015ar\u012b\u1e25\u00a0 \u015ar\u012bmath\u0113 \u015aatak\u014dp\u0101ya nama\u1e25\u00a0 \u015ar\u012bmath\u0113 R\u0101m\u0101nuj\u0101ya nama\u1e25\u00a0 \u015ar\u012bmath Varavaramunay\u0113 nama\u1e25<\/small><\/p>\n

\u015ar\u012bVai\u1e63\u1e47avam for Newcomers<\/a><\/p>\n

This article is part of the newcomer series, a set of brief articles which give an outline of our sampradaya for people with no previous exposure to our tradition.<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u015ar\u012bVai\u1e63\u1e47ava Sampradaya (spiritual tradition) exists since time immemorial. The \u201crecent\u201d history of our tradition begins with the \u0100\u1e3bv\u0101rs (a Tamil term, which means somebody deeply immersed in God-Love). \u0100\u1e3bv\u0101rs started to appear roughly 5000 years ago.<\/p>\n

The \u0100\u1e3bv\u0101rs composed divine literature which contains the knowledge of the Veda, but in a more condensed and accessible form. However, this divine literature was nearly lost in the first centuries C.E.. N\u0101thamuni, the first of our early \u0100ch\u0101ryas (teachers) heard a single verse from the \u0100\u1e3bv\u0101rs\u2019 literature, pretty much all that was left at his time, and was so enchanted by it that he took a lot of hardship to regain the rest of this literature.<\/p>\n

N\u0101thamuni and the \u0100ch\u0101ryas after him were teaching the divine literature of the \u0100\u1e3bv\u0101rs and highlights from the huge canon of Vedic literature side by side. The line of our early \u0100ch\u0101ryas was crowned by the appearance of R\u0101m\u0101nuja in the 11th<\/sup>century CE, who holds a pivotal role in our tradition.<\/p>\n

R\u0101m\u0101nuja and his successors spread the tradition over the whole Indian subcontinent. However, a few centuries after R\u0101m\u0101nuja, in the early 14th<\/sup>century CE, Muslim invaders reached even the strongholds of our tradition in South India and occupied \u015ar\u012brangam, the main temple of our tradition. Numerous \u015ar\u012bVai\u1e63\u1e47avas lost their life and the huge treasure of scriptures and commentary works were partly destroyed and partly scattered in attempts to rescue these invaluable works.<\/p>\n

In the 15th<\/sup>century, Muslims were driven out of \u015ar\u012brangam and our tradition had to recover from the destruction. The \u0100ch\u0101rya Manav\u0101\u1e37a M\u0101muniga\u1e37 holds a central role in this process, as he collected and personally copied texts from the tradition wherever he found them. Manav\u0101\u1e37a M\u0101muniga\u1e37\u2019s behavior and practices are well documented and serve as ideal example for the conduct of a \u015ar\u012b Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava to this very day. Manav\u0101\u1e37a M\u0101muniga\u1e37 had eight disciples who successfully completed the return of our tradition to its old glories.<\/p>\n

Today, nearly every major town in India holds at least one \u015ar\u012b Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava temple, their total number accounts to more than hundred. There are numerous \u0100ch\u0101ryas initiating into the tradition all over India. Two temples, the \u015ar\u012brangam temple<\/a> and the Thirumala Ve\u1e45ka\u1e6d\u0113\u015bvara<\/span> temple<\/a> are major pilgrimage sites which sometimes attract more than a million visitors in a single month.<\/p>\n

There are also \u015ar\u012bVai\u1e63\u1e47ava temples and many religious activities going on in the US and\u00a0Australia. In Europe, the UK has a number of very active \u015ar\u012bVai\u1e63\u1e47avas and hosted the first \u015ar\u012b Y\u0101gam ever conducted in Europe in 2017. A \u015ar\u012b Y\u0101gam is a sophisticated Vedic ritual dedicated to divine mother Lak\u1e63mi (name giveing to our tradition, as \u015ar\u012b is the short name for Lak\u1e63mi). In Germany, a group of \u015ar\u012b Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas is active in the Munich area and conducts events on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

Further Reading:<\/h3>\n