A Sanskrit hymn of twenty verses ('vimsati' means twenty) in praise of Sri Ramanuja (Yathiraja). It was composed at the request of his acharya, Thiruvaymozhi Pillai.
1234567891011121314151617181920
Meaning
Nammazhwar (Parankusa) longed with a melting heart to serve forever at the lotus feet of Madhava, the Lord of Sri; Sri Ramanuja is wholly devoted to Nammazhwar's feet. He removes desire and the other faults of everyone who takes shelter at his own feet. Manavala Mamunigal bows his head to this Ramanuja, the lord of ascetics.
Meaning
Manavala Mamunigal praises Yathiraja with four pictures. He is a royal swan resting at the lotus feet of Sri Ranganatha, and a king of bees drinking at the lotus feet of Nammazhwar. He is the sun that makes the lotus faces of Periyazhwar (Bhattanatha) and Thirumangai Azhwar (Parakala) blossom, and he is the refuge of Koorathazhwan (Srivatsachihna).
Meaning
O Yathiraja, many teachers served your lotus feet with speech, mind and body: Koorathazhwan, Thirukkurugai Piran Pillan and others. Manavala Mamunigal asks only one thing: that he may always be absorbed in thinking about the feet of those teachers.
Meaning
O Yathiraja, may my mind always stay on remembering your divine form, and may my speech stay on praising your qualities. Let the work of my two hands be service to you. And may mind, speech and body all turn away from every other occupation.
Meaning
O Yathiraja, my lord, give me now firm grounding in the meaning of the three words of the eight-syllable Thirumantra. Your lotus feet are served by the very best of the wise. May my mind always be happy enjoying those feet.
Meaning
Manavala Mamunigal confesses that he has not even a little devotion to Yathiraja's feet, while his taste for the pleasures of the senses grows day by day. The cause is his own sin and nothing else. He begs Yathiraja, the ocean of compassion, to remove it.
Meaning
"By my conduct I am an animal in a human body. Even so, I make learned people say respectfully to each other that I possess every good quality of the soul taught in the scriptures." With this, the poet admits that to this day he lives as a deceiver, O Yathiraja.
Meaning
"I always grieve you with my bad conduct. I am fond of the pleasures of the senses, yet I call myself a surrendered soul. Among good devotees I go about pretending to love your feet, which is false. So, Yathiraja, I am a fool."
Meaning
"I keep disregarding my acharya, the sacred mantra and the Lord the mantra speaks of, and none of this frightens me. Though I am crooked, I move happily among your devotees as if I were sincere. So, Yathiraja, I am a fool."
Meaning
"Alas, alas! With mind, deed and speech I keep committing the three kinds of offences the elders warn about: against the Lord, against His devotees, and the 'unbearable' ones. I do what displeases you, yet I pass my days as if I were pleasing you. So, Yathiraja, I am a fool."
Meaning
After a sin, fear, regret and shame should arise, and then no one could commit it again. Because of my delusion, not even a trace of fear arises in me. That is why, O Yathiraja, I sin again and again.
Meaning
The Lord stands inside and outside of everything, yet like a blind man who cannot see what is right in front of him, I do not see Him. My heart is always under the sway of desire. Alas, Yathiraja, I am not fit to come into your presence.
Meaning
Even though I keep falling into the suffering caused by the three kinds of affliction, I want to stay in this body and have no wish to end this bondage. The only cause is my sin. Lord Yathiraja, please remove it quickly.
Meaning
O Ramanuja, your great qualities are beyond words, and you are the foremost of teachers. All the lowliness that Koorathazhwan spoke of as his own truly belongs to me alone; there is no one else like me in the world. So your compassion alone is my refuge.
Meaning
The pure-souled Alavandar (Yamunacharya), Koorathazhwan and the great teacher Parasara Bhattar each described themselves as lowly. Today all of that lowliness is found, undiminished, in me alone in this world. Therefore, Yathiraja, your compassion alone is my refuge.
Meaning
O Yathiraja, by your mercy may my taste for the objects of the senses be destroyed here and now. Imagine your servants' servants counted one by one, and the very last person on that list. May I have unbroken, single-minded joy in being that person's servant.
Meaning
Lord Ranganatha, whose nature and divine qualities are known through the Upanishads, has made Himself visible here in Srirangam. He is always at your command, Yathiraja. That is why you are able to free your own people from their sins.
Meaning
Some have sinned greatly in past, present and future, through mind, speech and body. For them the only refuge is the Lord's forbearance. You yourself prayed to Lakshmi's beloved Lord for that forbearance, so it alone is the safety of everyone who depends on you, O Yathiraja.
Meaning
O glorious Yathiraja, my lord: service at your divine lotus feet came to me as the fruit of the grace of Srisailanatha (Thiruvaimozhi Pillai, Manavala Mamunigal's own acharya). Make that service grow in me day by day, and remove every desire that stands against it.
Meaning
O Yathiraja, ocean of compassion, please accept this humble request of mine today. Think of me this way: "He knows nothing and has not even a trace of the soul's good qualities, so he has no refuge other than me."
The text is checked verse by verse against sanskritdocuments.org, prapatti.com, koyil.org. The meanings are simple ones to help the reader; learn the recitation from an adhyapaka.
These are short introductions to help the reader; the works themselves are best studied under one's acharya.
Ask Sri Paduka about this work →