Sri Prabhupada's reverance for Sri Ramanujacharya

[Guest guest]

Jai Sri krishna, I was just browsing through the one of the latest

Editions of Back to Godhead (the ISKCON magazine) and i came across

this following article (see below for link), which talks about the

deep appreciation the founder guru of ISKCON had for our Sri Ramanuja.

 

Despite several differences in apsects of philosophy between sri and

gaudiya sampradaya (which this article mentions) Sri Bhakthivedanta

swami Prabhupada is always mentioning the greatness of Sri sampradaya

In his books and he often makes comments which show his humble

attitude to Sri Ramanuja and gives Him the credit for being one of the

first to defeat Mayavada and preach Vaishnavism. In fact He even

transalated Mukunda mala stotram and wrote a comentry on it.  I can

recall reading a recorded conversation where Prabhupada explains the

greatness of the GitaBashya by Sri Ramanuja. 

 

It is interesting to see that there are also some similarities in the

lives of Prabhpada and Sri Ramanuja.  Such as they both showed great

mercy in preaching Bhagavath-bhakthi and saw to distiction of race,

caste etc..., Ramanuja shouting ashtaksari from the temple gopuram and

Prabhupada preaching to melechas in the west (which is godbrothers did

not want to do).  Both these acharayas risked their lives to save us

souls!  Ramanuja ascaped plots to kill him and Prabhupada suvived 2

heartattacks on his journey to the USA. 

 

   I want to share this article with the rest of you on this forum as

i beleive that it was Sri Prabhupada, his books and his devotees who

bought me to your association. It was they that spoke of the greatness

of purity of the teachings of Sri Ramanuja.  Despite being a staunch

Gaudiya, Prabhupada is stilla able to give a message universal to all

Vaishnavs.

 

here is the link-  Terms of Service.

[Guest guest]

harE krShNa! AzhwArgaL thiruvadigaLE sharaNam! jay shrIlA praBhupAdha!

 

 

 

Dear Devotee,

 

 

 

It is so nice that you have bought this good point here. Srila Prabhupada

uses many times shrI yamunAchArya's verses in preachings and praises shrI

rAmAnujAchArya. And no doubt that before preaching he used to say many

times "shrI rAmAnujAchArya ki jai".

 

 

 

And this is the true spirit of a devotee of lord viShNu or vaiShNava. First

we must be clean from designations such as Indian, Hindu, Muslim, American,

etc. and must be able to surrender to ANY VAISHNAVA. Not that, "Oh! I belong

to goudIya sampradhAyam. I don't respect shrI sampradhAyam devotees." No.

This attitude is condemned by vaiShNavAchAryas every where. One must respect

any type of vaiShNava even if he is a Muslim (e.g. haridhAs thAkUr, a

perfect vaiShNava who chanted every day 3 lakh times of harE krShNa manthram

though he was a Muslim).

 

 

 

And to point out a fact:

 

 

 

In my life (as far as my knowledge), I have seen only 2 bad-blasting masters

in *HUGE* and converted human beings into vaiShNavas. They are:

 

 

 

One is rAmAnujAchArya (who converted 1000 jains to vaiShNavAs in a shot + so

many others)

 

Second is Srila Prabhupada (who converted 1000s of hippies in America to

vaiShNavas + all over the globe in just 12 years, i.e. from age 69 to 82

years, without any magics, gimmicks, etc.).

 

 

 

Hats off to these two, not just vaiShNavas, but our great spiritual mothers..

 

 

 

To know more about Srila Prabhupada, visit this URL (a short movie):

http://www.krishnalilas.com/dloads/edi1jan06/SrilaPrabhupadaTKP.swf

 

 

 

- Balaji - The Servant of Devotees!