Welcome to Adiyen Sri Ramanuja Dasan !
" Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha !"
Ramananda Sampradaya
Ramananda a follower of Ramanuja, determination to ignore caste discrimintaion led to his break away from the followers of Ramanuja.
With 12 disciples he founded his own sect Ramanandi in Varanasi in the 14th century. He revoke the strict rule on Sanskrit and other caste discriminative practices. While in the South, Sanskrit replaced Tamil, in the North Ramananda replaced Sanskrit with Hindi, and accepted lay members regardless of castes, classes, and creeds.
He soon became a popular religious reformer and teacher. Among his prominent disciples were; Kabir, a Muslim weaver, Tulasi Das, author of Ramcharitmanas, a Hindi rendering of the Ramayana and Meera a lady saint.
The Ramananda Sampradaya currently has the largest number of renunciants (vairagis/sadhus) estimated to be 2 million. This sect is prevalent in Uttar Pradesh, Rajastan, Gujarat, and Nepal.
Swami Narayan Sampradaya
Founded by Swami Sahajanand ( Swami Narayan ) in 1801, a follower of Ramananda sect, espousing Ramanuja's Visistadvaita Vedanta. A wealthy group, it is in the forefront of social, rehabilitation and missionary works.
Its followers are numerous in the Gujarati trading communities in Gujarat, Mumbai, and in East Africa, Great Britain and USA.
Some prominent Sri Vaishnavas (and Institutions)
Unlike in north India, in the south Sri Vaishnavism has been a relatively low keyed and restricted to mutts and temples. There are various factors that had contributed to its stagnation, one being the rigid social structure.
However, there a few individuals who have broken this barrier, reaching out to everyone. Some of these well known personalities based in India are :
Tridandi Chinna Narayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Swamy (Andra Pradesh, India)
The youngest Jeeyar (acharya) in India, who took over the spiritual lineage from his grand father Pedda Jeeyar swami in 1980.
He has established many charitable and educational instituitions and his social work with the tribals in Andra Pradesh is note worthy.
His activities are mainly focussed in Andra Pradesh and also in North America, where theres a substantial Telegu speaking expatriate community.
Chinna Jeeyar website : http://www.chinnajeeyar.org
Jai Srimannaryana !
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