Sri Ramanuja Jayanti

Date    :   May 7, 2011
Venue :  Tamil Nadu


Sri Ramanujacharya Jayanti, or Ramanuja Jayanthi, celebrates the birth anniversary of Ramanujacharya (1017 – 1137), the famous South Indian philosopher who first advocated freedom to choose one or more personal deities and to attain moksha through bhakti or devotion. Today, the majority of Hindus in the country pray to one or more gods of their choice.

Ramanuja, a native of Tamil Nadu, amalgamated the philosophy of the Upanishads and the Brahmasutras. He championed faith based on reason rather than intuition and believed that devotional worship of Lord Vishnu, in any form, was the ideal path to salvation. He founded many centers to propagate the worship of Lord Vishnu and his consort Mahalakshmi.

The three major philosophical works of Ramanuja, referred to as Ilaiya Perumal in Tamil, are the Vedartha Samgraha (commentary on the Vedas), the Sri Bhasya (commentary on the Brahmasutras) and the Bhagavad Gita Bhasya (commentary on the Bhagavad Gita).