Sri Ramanujacharya was an Indian philosopher, Hindu theologian, social reformer, and one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism. His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement. His Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism) philosophy has united the Dvaita (theistic dualism) philosophy of Madhvāchārya, and Advaita (non-dualism) philosophy of Ādi Shankara, together the three most influential Vedantic philosophies of the 2nd millennium.
Sri Yadugiri Yathiraja Mutt of Melkote, Mandya District in Karnataka is the original institution established by Sri Ramanujacharya and exists from the time of Sri Ramanujacharya. Swami Ramanujacharya was the First Pontiff of this mutt. It was started by the saint-reformer for services and control of the temple of Sri Thirunarayana at Melkote. More details on the Mutt and its legacy are available on its website: http://www.yathirajamutt.org.
H.H. Sri. Sri. Yadugiri Yathiraja Narayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Swami, the current and 41st Pontiff of Sri Yadugiri Yathiraja Mutt, of late has been an icon and fondly being addressed as “Abhinava Ramanuja”. He implements the eternal principles of Sri Ramanujacharya in all the verticals, religious, social service and cultural with no bias on religion, caste and creed.
With the divine sankalpa, H H Sri Sri Yadugiri Yathiraja Jeeyar Swami has successfully completed installation of Swami Ramanujacharya’s statues in key locations across the country namely Kashmir – Srinagar, Ayodhya (UP), Kanyakumari (TN), Puri (Odisha) and Dwarka (Gujarat) in a span of 10 months.
Sri Ramanujacharya’s most famous work is Sri Bhashya – which is his commentary on the Vedanta / Brahma Sutra. To compose this work ordered by his Guru Sri Yamunacharya, he wanted to refer to Bodhayana Vritti Grantha – which had the reputation of being the most authoritative explanation of the Brahma Sutras. This work was available only in the royal library of the state of Kashmir. Therefore Sri Ramanujacharya, along with his beloved disciple Kooresha undertook the tedious journey to Kashmir and met the king of that state. The king was very much pleased with their divine nature and immediately granted them access to the library.
This enabled him to refer to the texts and return back to Srirangam where he composed his commentary. He returned to Kashmir again to dedicate his Bhashya to Sharadadevi who named the commentary as SRI BHASHYA and bestowed Sri Ramanuja with a special title of Sri Bhashyakara. This shows the importance of Kashmir with the life of Sri Ramanujacharya.
Sri Ramanujacharya was a saint who propagated universal brotherhood. He embraced the untouchables and treated them on par with the elite. Of late, this society gets wretched/depressed on account of tensions of disparities and blows of Terrorism. Hence, the path blessed by Sri Ramanujacharya is THE NEED OF THE HOUR.