Sri Ramanujacharya's Last Visit To Thirumala

Jai Srimannarayana. Sri Ramanuja heard the death news of the Chola King Kulothunga, known as Srimikanta, and decided to go to Sri Rangam. People of Melkote could not bear his separation and did not let him go. Then Ramanuja assured that he would be there with them forever in archa form. A sculptor was called for. He made a statue of Ramanujacharya in sitting posture and it just resembled him. He embraced the statue and sent his powers into it. He addressed it, Ramanuja. The statue responded. At the end, thus he proved his presence in the archa form and left for Srirangam after 17 years and now he reached the age 102. On his way to Srirangam once again, he stayed in Tirumala and it was his fourth and last visit. He ensured whether temple activities or procedures were going on properly. He established a murti there to the right of Hanuman on the hill. He then consecrated the deities of Sri Rama Parivaram. He did that as such the Jivans would also remember to serve the Lord just as Hanuman served the Lord Sri Rama. He increased the number of Ekangis from 1 to 4 and promoted the earlier Vishwaksena Ekangi to be Satagopa. Ramanuja ji who would supervise the entire temple administration with the help of these four Ekangis. Like the people of Melkote, Anantaryulu who was 66 by then was not in a mood to bid farewell to Ramanuja. He even graced Anantaryulu with his archa form in Jnana Mudra which was placed in Sri Bhaskara Sanidhi and has been worshipped even today. This Sanidhi is in the north eastern corner of the temple. However, the lord ordered the archa form to be so because he wanted acharya's feet to be at the same height closer to his heart. The landmark for this sanidhi is the hundi since it is a few feet away from it. He gave elaborate instructions to his disciple Yadavarya, the ruler of the area. His main instructions were as follows. All the flowers on the hills were meant for the Lord alone And the flowers once offered to him should reach Vishwaksena Nobody should wear them He prohibited wearing shoes on the sacred hills He disapproved cremating dead bodies on those hills He also wished enough prasadam to be offered to the Lord That would be sufficient for all devotees So that no other cooking would be done by others That way, the devotees could focus on the Lord rather than arranging for their food. Moreover, the more prasadam that offered to the Lord, the greater the power of the preceding deity. Since Ramanuja made many changes in Tirumala during his fourth visit, he found it difficult to move away from Tirumala. It was with heavy heart that he decided to move on from Tirumala. Thank you. Jai Sriman Narayan.