Life Of Bhagavd Ramanujaacharya

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Life Of Bhagavd Ramanujaacharya

 

In the year 1017 A.D., Ramanuja was born in the village of Perumbudur, about

twenty-five miles west of Madras. His father was Kesava Somayaji and his mother

was Kantimathi, a very pious and virtuous lady. Ramanuja's Tamil name was Ilaya

Perumal. Quite early in life, Ramanuja lost his father. Then he came to

Kancheepuram to prosecute his study of the Vedas under one Yadavaprakasha, a

teacher of Advaita philosophy.

 

Ramanuja was a very brilliant student. Yadavaprakasha's interpretations of Vedic

texts were not quite up to his satisfaction. Ramanuja pointed out many mistakes

in the exposition of his master. Sometimes he gave his own interpretations which

were much liked by all the co-students. This made Yadavaprakasha very jealous of

Ramanuja.

 

Yadavaprakasha made a plan to take away the life of Ramanuja. He arranged for

Ramanuja and his cousin Govinda Bhatta--a fellow student--a pilgrimage to

Varanasi. Govinda Bhatta, being a favourite student of Yadavaprakasha, came to

know of the latter's plan while they were travelling. He at once apprised

Ramanuja of the danger and helped him to escape. By the grace of God, Ramanuja

escaped with the help of a hunter and his wife whom he accidentally met on the

way.

 

About the end of the tenth century, the Visishtadvaita system of philosophy was

well established in Southern India and the followers of this creed were in

charge of important Vaishnavite temples at Kancheepuram, Srirangam, Tirupathi

and other important places. The head of the important Vaishnavite institution

was Yamunacharya, a great sage and profound scholar; and he was also the head of

the Mutt at Srirangam. One of his disciples, by name Kanchipurna, was serving in

the temple at Kancheepuram. Although a Sudra, Kanchipurna was so very pious and

good that the people of the place had great respect and reverence for him. At

present, there is a temple at Kancheepuram where Kanchipurna's image has been

installed and where he is worshipped as a saint.

 

Young Ramanuja came under Kanchipurna's influence and had such reverence for him

that he invited him to dinner in his house. Ramanuja's intention was to attend

on Kanchipurna and personally serve him at dinner and himself take meals

afterwards. Unfortunately, Kanchipurna came to dinner when Ramanuja was not at

home, and took his meals being served by Ramanuja's wife. When Ramanuja returned

home, he found the house washed and his wife bathing for having served meals to

a Sudra. This irritated Ramanuja very much and turned him against his wife who

was an orthodox lady of a different social ideal. After a few incidents of this

nature, Ramanuja abandoned the life of a householder and became a Sannyasin.

 

About this time, Yamunacharya being very old was on the look-out for a young

person of good ability and character to take his place as head of the Mutt at

Srirangam. He had already heard of Ramanuja through his disciples and made up

his mind to instal Ramanuja in his place. He now sent for Ramanuja. By the time

Ramanuja reached Srirangam, Yamunacharya was dead; and Ramanuja saw his body

being taken by his followers to the cremation ground outside the village.

Ramanuja followed them to the cremation ground. There he was informed that

Yamunacharya, before his death, had left instructions that he had three wishes

which Ramanuja was to be requested to fulfil, viz., that a Visishtadvaita

Bhashya should be written for the Brahma Sutras of Vyasa which hitherto had been

taught orally to the disciples of the Visishtadvaita philosophy and that the

names of Parasara, the author of Vishnu Purana, and saint Sadagopa should be

perpetuated. Ramanuja was deeply touched, and in the cremation ground itself,

before the dead body of Yamunacharya, he made a solemn promise that, God

willing, he would fulfil all the three wishes of Yamunacharya. Ramanuja lived

for 120 years, and in the course of his long life, fully redeemed his promise by

fulfilling all the three wishes of Yamunacharya.

 

After the death of Yamuna, his disciples at Srirangam and other places wanted

Ramanuja to take Yamuna's place as the head of the Mutt at Srirangam. This was

also the expressed wish of Yamuna. Accordingly, Ramanuja took his place and was

duly installed with all the attendant ceremonies and celebrations as the head of

the Visishtadvaita Mutt at Srirangam.

 

Ramanuja then proceeded to Thirukottiyur to take initiation from Nambi for Japa

of the sacred Mantra of eight letters Om Namo Narayanaya. Somehow, Nambi was not

willing to initiate Ramanuja easily. He made Ramanuja travel all the way from

Srirangam to Madurai nearly eighteen times before he made up his mind to

initiate him, and that too, only after exacting solemn promises of secrecy. Then

Nambi duly initiated Ramanuja and said: " Ramanuja! Keep this Mantra a secret.

This Mantra is a powerful one. Those who repeat this Mantra will attain

salvation. Give it only to a worthy disciple previously tried " . But Ramanuja had

a very large heart. He was extremely compassionate and his love for humanity was

unbounded. He wanted that every man should enjoy the eternal bliss of Lord

Narayana. He realised that the Mantra was very powerful. He immediately called

all people, irrespective of caste and creed, to assemble before the temple. He

stood on top of the tower above the front gate of the temple, and shouted out

the sacred Mantra to all of them at the top of his voice. Nambi, his Guru, came

to know of this. He became furious. Ramanuja said: " O my beloved Guru! Please

prescribe a suitable punishment for my wrong action " . Ramanuja said: " I will

gladly suffer the tortures of hell myself if millions of people could get

salvation by hearing the Mantra through me " . Nambi was very much pleased with

Ramanuja and found out that he had a very large heart full of compassion. He

embraced Ramanuja and blessed him. Having thus equipped himself with the

necessary qualifications, Ramanuja succeeded Yamuna.

 

By this time, Ramanuja's fame had spread far and wide. He became a good

controversialist. Then he wrote his commentary on the Brahma Sutras known as the

Sri Bhashya. The Visishtadvaita system is an ancient one. It was expounded by

Bodhayana in his Vritti, written about 400 B.C. It is the same as that expounded

by Ramanuja; and Ramanuja followed Bodhayana in his interpretations of the

Brahma Sutras. Ramanuja's sect of Vaishnavas is called by the name Sri

Sampradaya. Ramanuja wrote also three other books--Vedanta Sara (essence of

Vedanta), Vedanta Sangraha (a resume of Vedanta) and Vedanta Deepa (the light of

Vedanta).

 

Ramanuja travelled throughout the length and breadth of India to disseminate the

path of devotion. He visited all the sacred places throughout India including

Kashi, Kashmir and Badrinath. On his way back he visited the Tirupathi hills.

There he found the Saivites and the Vaishnavites quarrelling with one another,

one party contending that the image of the Lord in the Tirupathi hills was a

Saivite one and the other party saying that it was a Vaishnavite one. Ramanuja

proposed that they should leave it to the Lord Himself to decide the dispute. So

they left the emblems of both Siva and Vishnu at the feet of the Lord, and after

locking the door of the temple, both parties stayed outside on guard. In the

morning, when they opened the doors, it was found that the image of the Lord was

wearing the emblems of Vishnu, while the emblems of Siva were lying at its feet

as left there the evening before. This decided that the temple was a Vaishnavite

one and it has remained so ever since.

 

Ramanuja then visited all the Vaishnavite shrines in South India and finally

reached Srirangam. Here he settled himself permanently and continued his labours

of preaching the Visishtadvaita philosophy and writing books. Thousands of

people flocked to him everyday to hear his lectures. He cleansed the temples,

settled the rituals to be observed in them, and rectified many social evils

which had crept into the community. He had a congregation of 700 Sannyasins, 74

dignitaries who held special offices of ministry, and thousands of holy men and

women, who revered him as God. He converted lakhs of people to the path of

Bhakti. He gave initiation even to washermen. He was now seventy years old, but

was destined to live many more years, establish more Mutts, construct more

temples and convert many more thousands of people.

 

The Chola king about this time was Kulothunga I and he was a staunch Saivite. He

ordered Ramanuja to to his faith in Siva and acknowledge Siva as the

Supreme Lord.

 

Two of the disciples of Ramanuja, Kuresa and Mahapurna, donned the orange robes

of Sannyasins and visited the court of Kulothunga I in place of Ramanuja. They

argued there for the superiority of Vishnu. The monarch refused to hear them and

had their eyes put out.

 

The two unfortunate people started for Srirangam--their native place. Mahapurna

was a very old man, and unable to bear the pain, died on the way. Kuresa alone

returned to Srirangam.

 

Meanwhile, Ramanuja, with a few followers, by rapid marches through day and

night, reached the foot-hills of the Western Ghats, about forty miles west of

Mysore. There, after great difficulties, he established himself and spent some

years in preaching and converting people to the Visishtadvaita philosophy.

 

The king of the place was Bhatti Deva of the Hoysala dynasty. The Raja's

daughter was possessed of some devil and nobody was able to cure her. Ramanuja

succeeded in exorcizing the devil and the princess was restored to her former

health. The king was very much pleased with Ramanuja and readily became his

disciple and he was converted by Ramanuja into a Vaishnavite. Thereafter

Ramanuja firmly established himself in the Mysore king's dominions, constructed

a temple at Melkote, and created a strong Vaishnavite community there. The

Pariahs or depressed classes (now called Harijans) of the place were of great

service to Ramanuja; and Ramanuja gave them the right of entry inside the temple

which he constructed at Melkote--on some fixed days and with some limited

privileges--which they enjoy to this day.

 

Ramanuja constructed a few more Vishnu temples in and about Mysore, set up a

strong Vaishnavite community and put them in charge of his disciples to continue

his work and spread the Visishtadvaita philosophy and Vishnu worship throughout

the king's dominions. Thus he continued his labours here for nearly twenty years

and his followers numbered several thousands.

 

Meanwhile, Kulothunga Chola 1, who persecuted Ramanuja, died. The followers of

Ramanuja immediately communicated the news to Ramanuja and requested him to come

back to Srirangam. Ramanuja himself longed to go back to his followers in

Srirangam and worship in the temple there. But his new disciples and followers

at Melkote and other places in Mysore would not let him go. So he constructed a

temple for himself, installed therein his own image for worship by his disciples

and followers, and left the place for Srirangam. He was welcomed by his friends

and disciples at Srirangam. The successor to Kulothunga Chola I was a

pro-Vaishnavite and Ramanuja was left undisturbed. Ramanuja continued his

labours for thirty years more and closed his long active career after attaining

the remarkable age of 120 years.

 

Ramanuja was the exponent of the Visishtadvaita philosophy or qualified

non-dualism. Ramanuja's Brahman is Sa-visesha Brahman, i.e., Brahman with

attributes. According to Ramanuja's teachings, Lord Narayana or Bhagavan is the

Supreme Being; the individual soul is Chit; matter is Achit. Ramanuja regards

the attributes as real and permanent, but subject to the control of Brahman.

Lord Narayana is the Ruler and Lord of the universe. The Jiva is His servant and

worshipper. The Jiva should completely surrender himself to the Lord. The

oneness of God is quite consistent with the existence of attributes, as the

attributes or Shaktis depend upon God for their existence

extract from the mail of Pujya Prem Siddharth