Ramanujar's Journey to Sri Rangam

After the miracle performed by Swami Rāmānujar at the king's court, he gained an unbelievable amount of fame among the masses. This caused Yādava Prakashar's jealousy to stir up even further. This caused Swami Rāmānujar's mother to get worried. She told Swami Rāmānujar that his guru was not showing the ideal characteristics of a teacher as he was getting jealous of his students' achievements, and that Swami Rāmānujar should withdraw from Yādava Prakashar's gurukulam.

Thus, Swami Rāmānujar stopped attending his lessons at the gurukulam. At this same time, Āḷavandār, who was residing in Sri Rangam, wished to see Swami Rāmānujar so that he could take him under his wing as a disciple. To make this a certainty, Periyanambi, who was one of Āḷavandār's foremost disciples, was sent to receive Swami Rāmānujar from Kanchipuram. Thus, Periyanambi rushed to Kanchipuram and found Swami Rāmānujar performing kainkaryam to Sri Varadaraja Perumāl in the form of getting water from a well for the Lord.

Periyanambi went to Swami Rāmānujar and told him the wish of his Āchārya, who wished to take Swami Rāmānujar under his tutelage.

Swami Rāmānujar was elated by the news and chose to travel to Sri Rangam to become Āḷavandār's disciple. Upon reaching Sri Rangam, sad news reaches the ears of Swami Rāmānujar, saying Āḷavandār had attained Paramapadam. According to Guru Paramparā, we cannot treat Paramapadam here as death but as a state of coma, the reason for which we will discuss further.

When Swami Rāmānujar went to see Āḷavandār's mortal remains, he noticed that Āḷavandār's right hand was holding up three fingers. When Swami Rāmānujar asked the fellow disciples why he was holding out three fingers, they said those three fingers represent Āḷavandār's final wishes that he wished Swami Rāmānujar to carry out. The three requests are as follows:

1) To write a commentary on the Vedānta Sūtras that were written by Maharishi Vedavyasa, revealing its knowledge to the commoner.

2) To honor Maharishi Vedavyasa, who wrote the Mahābhārata, and Maharishi Parāshara, who wrote the Vishṇu Purāṇam, by naming two capable people after their names.

3) To propagate the Vishishṭādvaita Philosophy, name a person after Nam Āzhwār and get them to write a commentary for the Tiruvāymoḻi.

As Swami Rāmānujar vowed to satisfy each of these three wishes, Āḷavandār's three fingers closed into his palm, and a sense of satisfaction was visible on his face. Thus, we can infer that Āḷavandār was in a state of coma and had not yet attained Paramapadam. After Swami Rāmānujar took these three vows, Āḷavandār truly attained Paramapadam.