Page 72 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

serving Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Nammalwar, who was the fi fth Alvar, appeared just 45 days after Lord
Krishna disappeared from this planet over 5000 years ago. A king who ruled
over the area where Nammalwar lived passed a law making it mandatory for
every poet to submit his works to the council headed by the court poet for its
scrutiny. The saint refused to go to the court of the king. He did, however, send
his disciple with a palm leaf that contained one stanza from one of the hymns
that he wrote. It was the following: Kannan-kazhal inai nannu manam udayir ennum
tiru-naman tinnam naraname, which means Those whose hearts are in love with the lotus
feet of Lord Krishna, take this mantra for editation, it is indeed the holy name of the Lord.
After reading that particular passage the council consisting of 300 scholars and
the court poet became the disciples of Nammalwar

There is no doubt that Nammalvar was completely dedicated to worship Lord
Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Another important point is that Ramanujacarya has identifi ed the “Charama
Sloka” as the most important verse that is the quintessential teaching that all Sri
Vaisnavas should recite.
It is in the Bhagavad-gita spoken by Lord Krishna to his disciple Arjuna:
sarva-dharman parityajya / mam ekam Saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo / moksayisyami ma Sucah
“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from
all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” (Bg 18.66)
From the following commentary of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, we
can understand why Ramanujacarya emphasized this verse:
One should be attracted by the beautiful vision of Krsna. His name is Krsna because
He is all-attractive. One who becomes attracted by the beautiful, all-powerful, omnipotent
vision of Krsna is fortunate. There are different kinds of transcendentalists – some of
them are attached to the impersonal Brahman vision, some of them are attracted by the
Supersoul feature, etc., but one who is attracted to the personal feature of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and, above all, one who is attracted by the Supreme Personality of
Godhead as Krsna Himself, is the most perfect transcendentalist. In other words, devotional
service to Krsna, in full consciousness, is the most confidential part of knowledge, and this
is the essence of the whole Bhagavad-gita. Karma-yogis, empiric philosophers, mystics and
devotees are all called transcendentalists, but one who is a pure devotee is the best of all. The
particular words used here, ma Sucah, “Don’t fear, don’t hesitate, don’t worry,” are very
significant. One may be perplexed as to how one can give up all kinds of religious forms and
simply surrender unto Krsna, but such worry is useless.
The service of Ramanujacarya is based on transcendental dedication to
Lord Krishna. Srila Prabhupada has glorifi ed Ramanujacarya throughout his
voluminous books. We can garner from the above that the relationship between
the Alvar saints and Ranamujacarya, who are the greatest proponents of the
Sri Vaisnavas, are eternally united by their siddhanta to the Gaudiya Vaisnava
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