The story

Āḷavantār — the one who came to rule us — was the title the Srirangam devotees had given Sri Yamunacharya, grandson of Sri Nathamuni and the great acharya in whose heart the entire darśana of Sri Ramanuja's tradition had already taken shape. Having heard of the young scholar of Kanchipuram, Yamunacharya sent word that he wished to see him before leaving this world. Ramanuja, tradition records, set out for Srirangam at once with his disciple Periya Nambi.

They arrived on the bank of the Kaveri to the sound of the funeral rites already begun. The Guruparampara Prabhavam and the Govindacharya biography agree on the sight that met Ramanuja: the body of Sri Yamunacharya laid out for its final journey, and on the right hand, three fingers curled inward as though held in a deliberate knot.

Ramanuja, who had never set eyes on his acharya in life, understood at once. Speaking before the assembled devotees, he vowed three things: that he would write a Sri Bhashya on the Brahma Sutras in the tradition of Bodhayana so that Vedanta would rest on a sure foundation; that he would compose a lineage-commentary on the Tamil Divya Prabandham of Nammalvar, so that the dravida-veda would be honored as the veda-in-Tamil that it is; and that he would preserve the names of Sri Parashara the rishi and of Sri Vyasa in the order, so that the line of the maharshis would not be forgotten.

At each vow, it is said, one of the three folded fingers opened. The devotees of Srirangam wept. The name yāmunāṅgulimocakāya — "the releaser of Yamuna's fingers" — is inscribed in his 108 names for this single morning. Sri Ramanujacharya kept every vow. The Sri Bhashya became the philosophical foundation of Vishishtadvaita; the Āṟāyirappaḍi commentary on Thiruvaymozhi was composed by his disciple Tirukkurukaippirān Pillāṉ under his direction; and the names Parashara Bhattar and Vyasar Bhattar (sons of Sri Kurattalvan) were given in honor of those rishis.

Contemplation

A vow taken at a departed acharya's feet is heavier than any living oath. Sri Ramanujacharya received his charge not through a single private teaching but through an unanswered gesture, and he carried it for the rest of his 120 years on earth. The devotee, contemplating this naama, learns that the guru-disciple bond is not interrupted by death — only tested by it. Whatever task your acharya left unfinished, accept it as your own. Offer the 108-chant of this naama when you are uncertain of your life's direction: it was in the presence of Yamuna's silent hand that Sri Ramanuja found his.