The story

Though Sri Yamunacharya had departed before Sri Ramanuja could sit with him, he had arranged that the full artha — the lived meaning — of the Vedic tradition would not be lost. According to the Guruparampara Prabhavam and the Govindacharya biography, he had entrusted the five pillars of his teaching to five disciples, and each was to hand one pillar to Ramanuja when the time came.

From Mahāpūrṇa, known as Periya Nambi, Sri Ramanujacharya received the Thirumantra — the eight-syllable Oṁ namo nārāyaṇāya. Periya Nambi also performed his pañca-saṁskāra initiation at Madhurantakam, under the witness of Sri Rama Himself enshrined there. From Goṣṭhīpūrṇa, the Thirukkōṣṭiyūr Nambi, he received — after eighteen journeys and a strict vow of secrecy — the Dvaya Mantra and the Caramaśloka of the Gita. This meeting is commemorated in a separate naama, goṣṭhīpūrṇakṛpālabdhamantrarāja-prakāśaka (#37 in the Shatanamavali).

From Mālādhara, the Thirumalai Āṇḍān, Ramanuja received the Dravida-āmnāya — the meanings of Nammalvar's Thiruvaymozhi, the Tamil Veda. From Śrīśaila-pūrṇa, the Thirumalai Nambi — his own maternal uncle — he received the Ramayana-rahasya, the inner meaning of the Ramayana, over the course of eighteen expositions at the feet of Sri Venkateshwara. And from Kāñcīpūrṇa, the Thirukkacci Nambi, the humble devotee who fanned Sri Varadaraja Perumal daily, he received the teaching of āsrita-kaiṅkaryam — service to the Lord through service to His devotees — and the six sacred replies of Devaraja.

The Ashtottara records this distributed discipleship in its forty-second naama, pañcācāryapadāśrayāya — "one who has taken refuge at the feet of the five acharyas." He was already an acharya by learning. He made himself a śiṣya by posture.

Contemplation

Sri Ramanujacharya could have declared himself a teacher and gathered disciples. Instead, he placed his head at five different pairs of feet, receiving from each what that acharya had most deeply realized. The lesson for the devotee is simple and severe: knowledge has many chambers, and no single human being holds all the keys. Humility before every rightful teacher — including those who outwardly seem less learned than oneself — is the posture of true discipleship. Offer the 108-chant of this naama when beginning a new course of study or seeking a sad-guru: Sri Ramanujacharya himself modeled the way.