Love of God is Vedanta!

7262019 Love of God is Vedanta

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E D U C A T I O N A L I N S I G H T

Love ofGod Is

Vedanta

p a i n t i n g b y s r a j a m

The Life amp Teachings of

Sri Ramanuja Indiarsquos Great Theologian

By Lakshmi amp Tim Sridharan

Ramanuja sits on the gurursquos traditional seat in worshipful acknowledgemRamanuja sits on the gurursquos traditional seat in worshipful acknowledgemthe pervasive presence of Varadaraja Vishnu) who reclines knowingly o the pervasive presence of Varadaraja (Vishnu) who reclines knowingly odivine serpent Adisesha a conch in His left hand and discus in His rightdivine serpent Adisesha a conch in His left hand and discus in His right

E D U

C AT I O N A

L

I N

S I G H

T S



intimidating teacherrsquos unbending ways Ramanuja could not suppresshis profound disagreement with Yadavarsquos views

For instance he openly challenged the teacher on the meaning ofldquoSatyam Jnanam Anantam Brahmardquo (Taittiriya Upanishad 211) Ya-davarsquos interpretation was ldquoBrahman is the whole form of truth wis-dom and infinituderdquo Ramanujarsquos gleaning was much fuller ldquoLord hasqualities such as truth and knowledge and has no beginning or endGod is eternal However those qualities alone are not Brahmanrdquo

Yadavaprakasha was not impressed with his disciplersquos extension orinterpretation of the text but rather annoyed He was afraid that his

brilliant student was a real threat not only to his status as guru butalso to his advaita philosophy Concerned that if allowed to thrivethe youth might found a rival school the guru hatched a plot to killRamanuja during a p ilgrimage to Varanasi that he would make with

all his disciples The plan was to drown Ramanuja near ManikarnikaGhat According to Life of Ramanujan Yadav rationalized this as a

ldquodeath which taking place in the Holy Ganga wouldaffair of merit which they thought would not invsin What travesty of spiritual ethics by Yadavardquo

Along the way Ramanujarsquos cousin Govinda learnous plot and informed Ramanuja Shocked and fearfintent Ramanuja fled the party hiking off into tTraveling through the forest he met and was befrier couple who said they were on p ilgrimage southHe shared that he wanted to go to Kanchi as well to take him there They suggested a well they knecould gather water and bathe They camped for thnext morning hiked to the well Ramanuja went dwell and drank of the cool water When he returnethe hunter couple he could not find them The c

peared Weary and confused he continued his joura town and seeing i ts temple towers he recognized

suri keshava somayajulu and his wife kanthimathi

a young orthodox Vaishnavite couple living in Sriperum- budur ( 30 mi les s outhwest of modern- day Chennai)yearned for a child As so many young Hindu couples

before them the two regarded birth as a blessing held in the handsof God Together they prayed ardently to the Varadaraja Perumal De-ity in nearby Kanchipuram Their heartfelt prayers were answered bythe birth of a healthy divine childmdasha son who according to legendwas an incarnation of the serpent Adishesha (who had long ago in-carnated as Ramarsquos younger brother Lakshmana)

Kanthimathirsquos brother Thirumalai Nambi struck by his nephewrsquosnoble appearance and brilliant aura named him Ramanujan (brotherof Rama) Also named as Ilaya Perumal (ldquoyounger Godrdquo) by Nambi

Ramanuja would grow up to became a great scholar teacher theo-logian philosopher and social reformer Born ten centuries beforeMahatma Gandhi he foreshadowed Gandhirsquos vision and ideals He believed that the holy scriptures and Lord Narayana God are not thesole property of the brahmin community Rather everyone irrespec-tive of social status has the right to learn the scriptures and worshipNarayana He believed that service to humanity is service to God

Ramanuja and His First Teacher YadavaprakashaYoung Ramanuja had an extraordinary and precocious gift for grasp-ing the meaning of the most dif ficult Sanskrit texts He sought outthe company of wise men scholars and devotees Ramanujarsquos familyarranged his marriage at age 16 to a beautiful girl named Raksham-

bal culmi nating in a week-long ceremony at which

the whole town rejoiced But the joy did not last longas Ramanujarsquos father Keshava fell severely ill and diedshortly after

Following the traumatic demise of his father theyoung groom left Sriperumbudur with his wife andmother and moved to the neighboring town of Thiru-putkuzhi near Kanchipuram a well-known center oflearning Having studied Sanskrit and the Vedas un-der his father he would now study advanced VedantaThere Yadavaprakasha a renowned advaitic acharyaaccepted Ramanuja and his cousin Govinda as hisdisciples

There is a saying in Tamil ldquoGuruvukku minjinasishyanrdquo praising the exceptional student who in someway surpasses his guru Ramanuja was one such stu-dent Yadava was strict in his beliefs demeanor andexpectations demanding complete unquestioningdevotion from his disciples Though faced with an

South Indiarsquos Four Renowned Philosopher SaintsSouth Indiarsquos Four Renowned Philosopher Saints

H

indu faith religion ethics culture and traditions arestrongly rooted in the vast body of ancient scripturescalled the Vedas Hindus revere these scriptures com-

piled thousands of years ago as revealed truth or shruti (ldquothatwhich is heardrdquo) The 1047297rst sections of the Vedas represent thekarma kanda emphasizing human life and worship of the Di-

vine The 1047297nal portion of the Vedas the Upanishads beingphilosophical by nature represent the jnana kanda (wisdom)emphasizing philosophy They are also considered the ulti-mate end of the Vedas hence the term Vedanta (Veda + anta meaning ldquoendrdquo) The Upanishads speak of the nature of realitythe world and the soulrsquos path to liberation from rebirth

In scripture it is proclaimed ldquoAcharya devo bavahrdquo ldquoAcharya

(guru) is Godrdquo implying that only with the guidance of an acha-

rya can one comprehend and interpret the holy scriptures lead a

righteous life and use jnana or knowledge as a vehicle to attain

moksha The four great acharyas of S outh India who lived many

centuries ago are Shankara Ramanuja Nimbarka and Madhva

Each formulated his own interpretation of the relationship be-

tween the in1047297nite God (Paramatman Parabrahman Purushotha-

man etc) and the 1047297nite atman (individual self) as revealed in

the Upanishads and other texts The three basic concepts in theirphilosophies are God soul and worldmdashthe fundamental triad of

existence

These four acharyas were not contemporaries Ramanuja

(1017ndash1137 ce) could question the interpretation of Shankara

(780ndash812) but not of Madhva (1238ndash1317) or Nimbarka (13th

century) Nor were they of the same faith Ramanuja Madhva

and Nimbarka were staunch Vaishnavites while Shankara was

of the Smarta tradition

Shankara promulgated pure Advaita a non-dualistic or

monistic philosophy teaching the oneness of the soul atmanwith Paramatman the Supreme Soul or God and focusing on

Reality as transcendent Madhva at the other extreme taught

Dvaita a dualistic and theistic philosophy postulating an

eternal distinction between atman and Paramatman He re-

garded the Supreme Person as a great Being a Personal Lord

Nimbarka taught Dvaita-Advaita positing three equally real

and co-eternal realitiesmdashBrahman the souls (chit) and the

world (achit) Brahman is the Controller (niyantri) chit is the

enjoyer (bhoktri) and the achit is the object enjo

Ramanujarsquos philosophy known as Vishishtadvaitof the quali1047297edrdquo 1047297nds a middle ground leaning

nism yet disagreeing with Shank ararsquos understand

points the relationship between atman and Para

de1047297nition of Parabrahman as nirguna (without gu

and the concept of maya which Shankara de1047297n

Ramanujarsquos Vishishtadvaita synthesizes the Advai

with the devotional practices of dualists and th

path of surrender saranagati

n a i n e e s h a h

n a i n e e s h a h

r a n g a n a t h a n

Left A view of the temples in SriperumbudurThe largest tower is one of the gopurams of the

Adhikesava Perumal temple Right Ramanujahas a heated philosophical debate with his fi rst teacher Yadavaprakasha (seated onbench) who scolds the impertinent student

38 hinduism today j ulyaug ustseptember 20 15 j ulyaug ustseptember 20 15 hindu



ldquoOne day Yadavaprakasha was interpreting the Upanishadic pas-sage Sarvam khalvidam brahma nersquoha nanasti kinchana lsquoAll thisis Brahman there is no diversity here whateverrsquo He was interpretingit justifying the doctrine of the oneness of the Atman and BrahmanRamanuja differed from him and said the passage would have meantthe oneness of all with Brahman if it were not followed by Tajjalaniti shanta upasita lsquoThis universe is born in sustained by and dis-solves in Brahman meditate thus on Himrsquo This qualification makesthe earlier part mean lsquoThe things in this samsara are not existingseverally but as pearls strung on a thread they are interpenetrated byBrahman and held as a uni ty without impairing their manifoldnessrsquoThis interpretation of Ramanuja generated a violentfit of annoyancein Yadavaprakasha He asked Ramanuja to get away from his schoolIn obedience to the teacher he took leave of him after worshiping his

feet in all reverencerdquoThis was a turning point in the young philosopherrsquos life Years later

Ramanuja defeated this former master in a debate So potent was thevictory that the once arrogant advaitin became a staunch Vaishnaviteand a devotee of Ramanuja

ldquoRamanuja was glad to leave this teacher of an impossible and ab-surd philosophy Straight home he went and informed his motherSri-Devi of all that happened lsquoEnough of thy studies sonrsquo said shelsquothere is Tirukkacchi Nambi who is in great favor with Lord Varada-raja Seek his advice and service and abide by his will That will dothee all the goodrsquo Ramanuja at once sought Nambi and besought himto employ him in divine services in the templerdquo (as recounted in Gov-indacharyarsquosThe Life of Ramanujacharya)

Ramanuja and the Great YamunacharyaAfter leaving Yadavaprakasha Ramanuja searchemaster Meanwhile the renowned Yamunacharya rangam now ailing had been looking for an ideal shis successor Yamunacharya was a scholar a spira powerful debater As a mere child of twelve he most formidable scholar at the kingrsquos court winnidom and receiving the title Alavandar (ldquorulerrdquo ldquosqueen Yamuna later renounced the kingdom to beand acharya fulfilling the wishes of his grandfathemuni It should be mentioned that the Vishishtadand the creed of Shri Vaishnavism were already wSouth India at this time firmly embodied in impoKanchipuram Tirupati and other major towns The

to the Goddess Lakshmi consort of Vishnu Yamunthe Ranganatha Temple and Vishishtadvaita Mathmain center of the Shri Vaishnavas

It is believed that Ramanujarsquos break with Yaddue to the prayers of Yamunacharya Having had heprowess Yamunacharya foresaw him as his succeindacharya narrates this prayer ldquoYamunacharya nowthe central shrine of Lord Varada (called Hastigiri)the Deity he prayed lsquoGreat Lord grant me a boon T(Boon-Granter) By thy favor the deaf hears the lamspeaks the blind sees and the barren bears I have some that Ramanuja shall become the bearer of the to

As explained by Swami Tapasyananda ldquoIt was h

Kanchipuram Suddenly it dawned on him that the hunter couplewere not human but divine beings The Deity Varadaraja Perumal ofthe Kanchi Temple and His consort Perundevi had become his guidesin the Vindhyan wilds and that night while he slept had miraculous-ly transported him 1000 miles to his destination

When Yadavaprakasa arrived at Kanchi to his astonishment anddismay he found Ramanuja there ahead of him Feigning joy he said

ldquoOur grief at your loss i n the wilds was great but seeing you now ithas given way to boundless joyrdquo Ramanuja reported to his would-beassassin that he had lost his way and gotten separated from the group

but was a ided by a hunter couple who had magic ally transported

him to Kanchipuram while he slept under a tree Hearing this ac-count Yadava stared at Ramanuja in fear and wonder at that momentrealizing that Ramanuja was not an ordinary man but a great soul to

be looked upon with utmost regard Ashamed of his evil intentionsYadava invited Ramanuja to again grace his school with his presence

Ramanuja resumed his studies with Yadava but their relationshiponce again became bitter as philosophical differences kept them atodds When Ramanuja could no longer endure his gurursquos intellec-tual tyranny he left him The following incident narrated by SwamiTapasyananda in his book Sri Ramanuja illustrates their divergentperspectives

in-difference) interpretation of Vedanta Sutras Ramanujarsquos

was the 1047297rst comprehensive criticism of the Vedanta as ex-

pounded by Shankara some three centuries before him The

other schools of Bhakti Vedanta that came after him have

only taken up his criticisms and teachings with minor re-

statements to suit their t heological leanings The common

object of all these systems may be stated thus They seek to

establish the supremacy of the Divine Personality known

under the different sacred names of Purushottama Naray-

ana Vasudeva Krishna etc and equate Him with Brahman

the Absolute of the Upanishads For them the Supreme Be-

ing is a Person with attributes and there is no Absolute be-

yond Him They also lay stress on the exclusive position of

devotion and Divine grace as the only means t o overcomethe hold of karma on the jiva and enable him to attain salva-

tion Salvation or release from the hold of karma does not

mean for them the mergence of the jiva in Brahman but

attaining to the status of an eternal servant of His which alone

can give unalloyed bliss to the jiva Most of these teachings are

mainly theological but they require the backing of a consistent

metaphysics to establish their credibility

Among all the teachers of this devotional brand of Vedanta

Ramanuja is the one whose metaphysical gen

Shankara himself He was a master of Vedic lore

ogy of arguments and exposition While in his s

he leans very much on the devotional writings

Vaishnavism in his main work the Shri Bhashya

Ramanujarsquos Philosophy TheologyRamanujarsquos Philosophy amp Theology

R

amanuja in contrast with Shankara asserts that theUpanishadic absolute Brahman is not a bare identity or a

non-entity but rather a determinate whole maintainingan identity in and through the differencesmdashthat the absolute

in1047297nite Brahman manifests in every 1047297nite reality He echoes thewords of Prahlad who de1047297ed his atheist father by saying God isin this pillar and even in the smallest of all things (ldquoThoonilum

ullan thurumbilan ullanrdquo) Life is real matter is real and universeis real these are not 1047297gments of imagination not illusory objectshowever transient they may be Ramanujarsquos personal Deityis a composite of the divine characteristics described in the

holy Sanskrit scriptures and the Tamil Divya Prabandham TheSupreme has ldquoa divine form peculiar to itself not of the primal

substance or matter (prakriti) and not due to karmardquoTo illuminate the acharyarsquos brilliant outlook we gratefully offer

the following long excerpt from the book Sri Ramanuja by Swami

Tapasyananda of the Ramakrishna Mission

The philosophy of Sri Ramanuja is the most pre-eminent

among the Bhakti Schools of Vedanta both because of the

profundity of the doctrines it expounds and the balanced de-

votionalism it teaches Barring Bhaskararsquos Bhedabheda (identity-

n a i n e e s h

a h

f o t

o l i a

Left Ramanuja kneels beside Yamunacharya who has just left his body The thumb and two fi ngers on the righthand are clenched which Ramanuja interprets as threewishes he must ful fi ll Right the distinctive sectarian

forehead amp body insignia of four Vaishnava denominationsalong with the tripundra tilak worn by Saivites

f o t

o l i a

n a i n e e s h

a h

40 hinduis m today julyaugus ts eptember 2015 julyaugus ts eptember 2015 hind



to bring about a union between the emotional religion of the alvarsand the Vedantic methodology of p hilosophic exposition which had

become current in the scholarly world after the advent of Shanka-racharya and his commentaries on Vedantic texts He could nothimself fulfill this work in his life but towards the end of his lifehe came across Ramanuja and recognized in him the competent Ve-dic scholar who could do itrdquo Overjoyed upon hearing of Ramanujarsquosseparation from his former guru Yamuna sent Mahapurna one of hisclosest disciples to go and bring the brilliant student to him fromKanchipuram

Reaching Srirangam after four days of travel Ramanuja and Ma-hapurna encountered a long funeral procession which they learned

was carrying the body of Yamuna to the cremation grounds Despitehis will to live until Ramanujarsquos arrival the great Vaishnava saint hadpassed away

Hearing this tragic news Mahapurna and Ramanuja fell to theground and wept After a few moments forgetting his own grief Ma-hapurna led Ramanuja by the hand to Yamunarsquos side ldquoI have at least been able to see Yamunacharyardquo Ramanuja uttered Falling silent hescanned the body and discovered that the thumb and two fingers ofthe right hand were curled Intrigued by the strange sight Ramanujawondered if the sage had some special message to express and askedaloud to the gathering if the guru had told them of some importantwishes that had been unsatisfied in his life Mahapurna then ex-

plained to Ramanuja that yes indeed his Acharya had manytimes expressed three aspirations

1) To perpetuate the doctrine of saranagati complete sur-render to the personal Deity 2) To write a commentary onthe Brahma Sutras of Sage Vyasa to bring out the real Vish-ishtadvaita meaning within them 3) To perpetuate the namesof Parashara (author of Vishnu Purana) and saint Shadakopa (apoet-saint also known as Nammalvar)

Without hesitation Ramanuja promised boldly that hewould fulfill these ambitious goals ldquolsquoHoly sagersquo addressing hisfigure lsquoif this is thy mind I promise I shall carry it out provid-ed I have the health provided thy grace is on me and providedGod grants my prayersrsquordquo (Govindacharya)

And as he did so the saintrsquos curledfingers straightened one by one At that moment Ramanuja accepted Yamunacharya ashis manasika acharya ldquosilent teacherrdquo Witnessing these vowsand the miraculous uncurling of Yamunacharyarsquosfingers the

whole assembly in one voice declared ldquoSire doubt not that the sagersquosgrace is fully upon you the very power and glory of his spirit willenter into you you are the fit successor to him for furtherance of ourfaith We all anoint you for the taskrdquo Once the funeral rites were per-formed Ramanuja took leave of Mahapurna

Yamunacharyarsquos death was a severe blow to Ramanuja he left forKanchi without even seeing Lord Ranganatha It is chronicled of Ra-manuja that he often used to express to his holy assembly that ldquoIf I

had been permitted for one single day to be in the lSri Yamuna I would have constructed a staircase tocured free admission to all theretordquo (Govindacharya

Transcending Social BarriersSocial structure in eleventh-century India was quiwhat it is now Only members of the brahmin casto perform puja in Hindu temples And the lowest

tary on the Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana he exhibits himself

to be a pure Vedantin that is the follower of the Upanishadic

doctrine of Brahman which of course is for him identical with

Narayana the Divine Person

The Upanishadic Brahman is the unity which comprehends

in Himself all the diversities of common experience and yet re-mains unaffected and unlimited by them Shankara establishes

that unity by reducing all diversity into a mere appearance like

a snake superimposed on a rope in semi-darkness According to

him the darkness of ignorance is the cause of illusory presenta-

tion of multiplicity All the time the multiplicity is perceived it is

not actually there and the unitary Consciousness had remained

unchanged On the light of knowledge arising the illusory pre-

sentation disappears without leaving any residue beyond the

Non-dual One which was always there unchanged as the

substratum He thus achieves the unity of all existence

and the unchangeableness and unaffectedness of Brah-

man This achievement leaves many problems unsolved

and creates many others to be solved He however gives a

prima facie reality to the world of diversity from the practi-

cal point of view (vyavaharika satta) only to deny it abso-

lutely in the end An unmodi1047297ed and attributeless Consciousness

alone is the Ultimate Reality Reality has thus for him two tiersmdash

the apparently real and the truly real

Ramanuja is totally hostile to this Advaitic interpretation of

the unity proclaimed by this brand of Vedanta Unity is not the

sublation of all diversity but the subordination of diversity tounity His system is called Vishishtadvaita a term which accord-

ing to competent authorities is not used by him anywhere in his

writings but came to be used later to differentiate it from the

other systems of Advaita just as Shankararsquos doctrine came to be

called in later times Kevaladvaita Both Shankara and Ramanuja

considered themselves only as Vedantins and for both of them

their system is the Vedanta

The term Vishishtadvaita is often translated as ldquoquali1047297ed non-

dualismrdquoScholars disagree with this translation The compound

(sandhi) is not karmadharayan but bahuvrahi and its English

translation will be t he ldquonon-duality of the quali1047297ed wholerdquo Von

Buitenin has elaborated it as ldquounity of the universersquos spiritual and

non-spiritual substances with and in a God whom they modifyas His bodyrdquoA more compact translation is ldquopan-organistic non-

dualismrdquo In this system the world is ultimately true the jiva is

ultimately true God is ultimately true and liberation from bond-

age is also factually true Thus in effect it is a totally realistic

theism in which God and the Absolute are one and the same

The non-dual all-inclusive quali1047297ed Whole is the Brahman of the

Vedanta according to Ramanuja

While this metaphysical framework is established and argued

with relentless logic and philosophical methodo

tradition Ramanujarsquos system gets 1047298esh and blo

tional ideologies of the passionate devotees of

(the alvars) that the Tamil land produced from th

eighth century Thus Ramanujarsquos Vedanta becocal Vaishnavism While he is a strict Vedantin in h

and way of scriptural exegesis he identi1047297ed t

Brahman with Vishu-Narayana and this is his tur

philosophy to religion His Vaishnavism is indic

major writing the Shri Bhashya but becomes pr

later writings The account of Ramanujarsquos life giv

clear how these two streams of thought the Ved

nava came to mingle in him

n a i n e e s h a h

l a k s h m i s r i d h a r a n

l a k s s

i

h m i s r i d i

h a r a n

Left The murti of Sri Ramanuja inside the Adikesava Perumal Temple at his birthplace Sripurembudur Right Standing at the base of a temple gopuram just moments

after his japa initiation Ramanuja shouts out to themasses the sacred and secret mantra Om Namo Narayana

n a i n e e s h a h

42 hinduism today julyaugus tsep tember 2015 j ulyaug ustseptember 20 15 hindu



swer from the Advaitin If it is Brahman Brah-

man becomes loaded with evil and becomes

unworthy as a spiritual goal If it is the jiva (in-

dividual spirit) the same defect persists as the

jiva in its real nature is one with Brahm an ac-

cording to advaita If it is an entirely different

category dualism is the result Besides the jiva

is caused by the upadhis (adjuncts) superim-

posed on Brahman and these upadhis are the

products of Ignorance Thus Ignorance must

precede the jiva and cannot t herefore be con-

ceived as located in it To describe Ignorance

as a category that is neither existent nor non-

existent nor a combination of both is to speaka language unknown to logical thinking

Ramanuja directs a devastating attack against the doctrine

of a sublatable God who is less than the Absolute or the Su-

preme Being against the theory of Ignorance which is without

a de1047297nite locus and which cannot be described as existent or

non-existent or a combination of both and against the compart-

mentalization of Reality into Paramartha (the ultimately real) and

Vyavaharika (the relatively real) which means only that the latter

is illusory

Ramanujarsquos greatness consists in bringing t

skritic and Veda-oriented ideology and metho

purely devotional heritage of the alvars and thu

is called Ubhaya-Vedanta [meaning two-fold Ve

signi1047297cant in the whole world of philosophy a

ited sphere of the Tamil land

Theology

In fact Ramanujarsquos mission in life was thismdashto effect a ratio-nal and natural mingling of the rapturous devotion of thealvars with the Upanishadic quest of the ontological and uni-fying ground of the changing world of the many Bhakti ordevotion requires twomdashthe adorable and lovable God whois a Person as also the Supreme Being on the one hand andthe devotee who 1047297nds his ful1047297lment in service of Him on theother The Vedanta of the Upanishads mainly preaches the

doctrine of the Absolute Being who is the non-dual sourcesubstratum and dissolving ground of the many that consti-tute the world of our experience ldquoThat out of which all beingscome in which they all subsist and into which they are with-drawn is Brahmanrdquomdashthis is the watchword of the Upanishads Brahman is all-inclusive and all-absorbing and is describedby such epithets as Sat-chid-ananda (Existence-knowledge-bliss) and Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma (Brahman is

Truth Consciousness and In1047297nite)

Shankaracharya interprets this Upanishadic doc-

trine of the Absolute as the Non-dual Being in whom

the world of the many is a mere appearance ascribed

by Ignorance and not actually existing For practical

purposes he gives a prima facie reality (Vyavaharika Satta) to

the world of the many and to God who is its cause But this God

(Saguna-Brahman) is distinguished from the Absolute and His

reality belongs to the same order as that of the world of the

many that are said to be His creation When Ignorance is over-

come by proper metaphysical insight the aspirant realizes that

what he considered as his ldquoIrdquois really the Absolute Brahman into

whom the apparent world and its God too resolve It is compara-

ble to the appearance of a snake in semi-darkness and its disap-

pearance in its substratum the rope on the removal of darknessBoth the world and God conceived as its cause are sublated and

are realized as having had no real existence

Ramanuja totally differs from such interpretation of the Upa-

nishadic doctrine which militates against the ultimacy of God

and the supremacy of devotion He criticises severely the theory

of Ignorance and the compartmentalisation of Reality into Par-

amartha (ultimate) and Vyavaharika (relative or practical) To the

question what is the locus of Ignorance there is no credible an-

social hierarchy the untouchables were not allowed to enter templepremises at all Brahmins did not entertain non-brahmins in theirhomes Ramanuja had no regard for the caste system and he neverceased seeking instruction from those who were qualified to give itregardless of caste

After the cremation of Yamuna Ramanuja returned to Kanchiwhere he devoted his time to serving Lord Varadaraja and associat-ing with Kanchipurna a saintly devotee he had known and respect-ed from a young age all the while paying little attention to his wifeand his family duties Though Ramanuja beseeched Kanchipurna to

be his guru the latter humbly declined and instead deferred him toMahapurna for further training Thus one year after Yamunarsquos granddeparture Ramanuja was formally brought into the Vaishnava fold ina rite in which Mahapurna impressed the seal of Vishnursquos conch on

his arms For the following six months in Kanchipuram he studiedwith Mahapurna the sacred Divya Prabandham 4000 devotionalTamil verses composed by the twelve Alvar saints

Meanwhile Rakshambal was understandably disturbed by herhusbandrsquos indifference to their life together since his return fromSrirangam Unwavering in her brahmin orthodoxy she was also ir-reconcilably opposed to his mingling with Kanchipurna and othernon-brahmins There were several incidents in which she insultednon-brahmins including Kanchipurna his wife and MahapurnaUnable to endure this Ramanuja sti ll somber over his gurursquos deathseparated from her sending her home to her parents

Resolving that he had had enough of worldly life Ramanuja un-dertook the rites for entering into the holy order of sannyasins at theVaradaraja Temple in the company of Kanchipurna with the De-ity Lord Varadaraja as his guru Thereafter staying for some time ashead of the monastery in Kanchi he began giving di scourses on Ve-danta and Vaishnavism to the many disciples who were drawn to his

presenceTo complete his conversion to Vaishnavism Ramanuja was encour-

aged by Mahapurna to seek init iation from Thirukottiyur Nambigal(aka Gostipurna) into formal recital of the sacred eight-syllable mantra Om Namo Narayanaya Nambigal taughtRamanuja the meaning of Charama shloka the noblest ofall passages in the Bhagavad Gita However he hesitatedto give him mantra initiation Ramanuja had to makeeighteen trips seeking this initiation before gaining theconfidence of the guru who swore him to secrecy beforeimparting the mantra ldquoRamanuja Keep this mantra a se-cret It is powerful Share it only with disciples who haveproven themselves worthyrdquo Ramanuja promised his guruthat he would not share itmdashbut it was a promise he couldnot keep

Desiring that all souls might enjoy the eternal bliss of

Lord Narayana Ramanuja immediately called all the village togeth-er irrespective of caste and creed to assemble in front of a templeStanding atop the entrance gate with the gopuram towering behindhim he shouted out the mantra at the top of his voice This blatantdisobedience to his guru was an unforgivable sin one for which hecould be condemned but Ramanuja was willing to suffer personaltorment if his transgression meant that millions of people could at-tain salvation by hearing the sacred mantra When Nambigal learnedof this he became angry but when Ramanuja stood before him andclasped the gurursquos feet in humility he realized the extent of his devo-teersquos selfless compassion then embraced Ramanuja and blessed him

At Home in SrirangamRamanuja settled in Srirangam After further training from Yamunarsquos

disciples he succeeded the great Yamunacharya asadministrator of Srirangam Math and Temple Heconversed with the temple Deity Lord Sriranga-nathan more than once During one conversationthe Lord granted him the title Udaiyavar own-ermdashpossessor of mukti (salvation) and Vaikun-tha (Lord Vishnursquos heavenly abode) In graciousresponse Ramanuja requested the Lord to grantthese blessings to all His devotees While at Sri-rangam Yatiraja (as Ramanuja was known in lateryears) gave discourses on the hymns of the Alvarsaints preached his Vishishtadvaita philosophyand composed important philosophical works inSanskrit He also held debates with leading ad-vocates of opposing schools of thought defeatingand winning them over to his way of thinking

As explained by Vedic Knowledge Online ldquoThoflocked to him every day to hear his lectures He clesettled the rituals to be observed in them and rectevils which had crept into the community He had 700 sannyasins 74 dignitaries who held special ofand thousands of holy men and women who reveredinducted lakhs of people to the path of bhakti and a disciplined life He gave initiation to all people He years old but was destined to live many more yearmaths construct more temples and spread his temore thousands of peoplerdquo

Ramanujarsquos most significant literary work was on Badaranayarsquos Vedanta Sutra the earliest knosystematization of Vedanta Its aphorisms are ext


Left The Thirunarayanapuram Temple in Melkotea sacred kshetra in Karnataka where Ramanuja

resided for twelve years Right Ramanuja seeksthe blessings of Lord Varadaraja in Kanchi

having renounced worldly life andtaken initiation to enter into the

holy order of Hindu sannyasinsas a lifetime celibate monk

l a k s

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n

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n a i n e e s

h a h

h a

44 hinduis m today julyaugustseptember 2015 julyaugus ts eptember 2015 hindu



Nine Literary WorksNine Literary Works

R

amanuja wrote to ful1047297ll the wishes of Yamunacharyaand to ful1047297ll the vision of Ubhaya Vedanta His nine

books are considered to be nine precious gems ( na-varatna) in the world of Vaishnavite Hindu philosophy 1) Ve-danta Sangraha an exposition of Vedanta 2) Shri Bhashya acommentary on the Brahma Sutras 3) Vedanta Sara (Essence

of Vedanta) an appendix to Shri Bhashya 4) Vedanta Dipa

(Light of Vedanta) another appendix and commentary to ShriBhashya 5) Gadhya Thrayam (or Vaikunta Gatyam) a descrip-

tion of Vaikuntha (the abode of Vishnu) 6) Shri Ranga Gadhyama prayer surrendering to the feet of Sriranganatha 7) Sarana-

gati Gadhyam an imaginary dialogue between Ramanuja Lak-shmi and Narayana 8) Nithya Grantham daily activities to beperformed by Vaishnavas and 9) Gita Bhashya a commentary

on the Bhagavad Gita All nine works were written in Sanskrit Though Ramanuja

spoke and discoursed in the Tamil language he d oes not seem

to have written anything in his native tongue

daughter of an illness Later in a visionary dream Lord Narayanantold him He was buried in the ground under a nearby anthill Bitride-va helped Ramunuja recover the statue of the Lord which had earlier been thrown out of the temple by Muslim invaders Ramanuja rein-stalled the sacred murti in the sanctum where it remains to this day

Ramanuja still needed an utsava murti a Deity image made spe-cifically to be paraded through the streets during festivals This wasneeded in order to celebrate festivals properly Once again the Lordappeared in his dreams this time telling him the templersquos originalutsava murti of Cheluvanarayana was currently in the possession of asultan in Delhi Ramanuja now 80 years old made the ti ring journeyto Delhi and asked the king to return the murti The king asked himto identify it but it could not be found

Ramanuja called out ldquoAdiyen Vareer Enthan Selva Pillairdquo (ldquoPlease

come out my darling child) Miraculously the three-foot-tall Chelu-vanarayana statue came running from the chamber of the princessand sat on Ramanujarsquos lap Ramanuja brought Him back to Thiruna-rayanapurammdashfollowed by the Muslim princess who could not bearto be separated from her beloved Lord She remained in Melkoteserving Narayana to the end of her life To this day she i s honored at

the temple there as Bibi NachiyarRamanuja remained in Thirunarayanapuram for

the administrator of temple activities he devoted hnity development and introduced several new festivDiamond Crown Festival He involved the people temple activities daily pujas rituals and annual fespeople of every caste and economic status in the serayana He called the tribal people thirukulathatar of Goddess Lakshmirdquo He was loved and respected by

When the cruel king Kulothunga I finally passeddesired to return to his beloved Srirangam But the p

begged him to stay in Thirunarayanapuram In rescreated a bronze image of himself which was formshrine in the temple He also brought 52 Bhattars

rangam to perform the daily worship To this dayout all temple activities according to the traditionsThere he is equally revered with the Deity Thirun birthday is grandly celebrated each year Shri Vaishings from the bronze Ramanuja murti before worshsanctums

philosophically cryptic without explanation Closely referencingBodhayanarsquos seminal commentary of the Sutra Ramanuja explainedand interpreted the verses according to the devotional philosophy ofhis tradition

As he commenced the work entitled Shri Bhashya Ramanuja toldhis disciples ldquoI can now refute the doctrines of these wrong-headedpersons who think that the mere intellectual understanding of thegreat Vedic statements like lsquoThat thou artrsquo and lsquoI am Brahmanrsquo isenough for final beatitude of liberation I have also to explode theviews of those Jnana-karma-Samucchayavadins who admit the greatef ficacy of yajna dana tapas and karma along with the understand-ing of these statements I have to establish that the purport of theVedas and the Vedanta is the attainment of liberation through dhy-ana upasana and bhakti For all this I shall begin writing the Shri

Bhashyardquo (from Life of Shri Ramanuja by Swami RamakrishnanandaRamakrishna Math Chennai)

All-India PilgrimageSwami Tapasyananda provides a summary of Ramanujarsquos travelsfollowing his magnum opus ldquoAfter completing the Shri Bhasya ac-companied by a large number of his disciples Ramanuja went onan all-India pilgrimage which was also of the nature of a digvijaya [victory tour] confronting philosophers of other schools of thoughtand spreading Vaishnavism among them He first visited all the holycenters of Tamil land and of Kerala and gradually moved northwardmdashvisiting Dvaraka Mathura Vrindavana Shalagrama Saketa Badari-kasrama Naimisa Puskara and at last the Sharadapitha in Kashmir

The Pandits of Sharadapitha had acrimonious debates with him buthe was able to convert the ruler of Kashmir to his faith Here Ra-manuja had a vision of Hayagriva one of the Divine IncarnationsThen he went to Kasi where he stayed for some time and won overmany learned men to his faith Continuing south to Shripurushotta-ma-Kshetra now known as Puri he founded there a monastery calledEmbar Math The scholars of that place who controlled the templerefused to face him in debate for fear of defeat He next went to Aho-

bila situated on Garuda mountain where he established a monasteryNext he worshiped Narasimha-Murti at Isalinga and afterwardsreached the temple of Venkatachalapati at Tirupati There he settledthrough his superhuman powers a di spute on the question whetherthe image of the temple was of Siva or Vishnu in favor of VaishnavasHe then returned to Srirangam via his old residence of Kanchipuram

where he did obeisance to Varadarajardquo

Twelve Years in Melkote KarnatakaRamanujarsquos influence grew in the years to follow and he gained ahuge number of followers Yadava and other advaitins including theChola king Kulothunga I (who considered him a threat to Saivism)continued to plot against him The king intended to force this leaderof Vashnavism to sign a declaration endorsing Lord Siva as the su-preme God When the king summoned Ramanuja to his court Ra-manujarsquos shishyas convinced him to flee to safety He escaped toMelkote in Karnataka where he is credited with rebuilding andrenovating the Thirunarayanapuram Temple There he gained the fa-vor of the Jain king Bitrideva of the Hoysala dynasty by curing his

n a i n e e s h a h

Left To Ramanujarsquos amazement Govinda fearless and full of compassion removes a thorn that has piercedthe tongue of a deadly cobra Right Ramanuja scribeshis commentary on the Brahma Sutras formulating a

Vishishtadvaita interpretation of this terse summationof Vedanta written by Badarayana around 400 bce

n a i n e e s h a h

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46 hinduism today j ulyaug ustseptember 20 15 j ulyaug ustseptember 20 15 hind



Influence TodayInfluence Today

S

wami Tapasyananda provides this summary ldquoIt is impor-

tant to point out that Ramanujarsquos devotional philosophyhad in a way a much wider 1047297eld of operation than South

India or Tamil Nadu Many sects of North Indian Vaishnavism

also had their origin in his teaching Ramananda (1300-1411)the fountainhead of monotheism and Rama cults of North In-dia was a follower of Ramanujarsquos sect and was initiated intoVishishtadvaita He went early on pilgrimage to the North andstayed there for several years On his return the caste-con-

scious Vaishnavas of the South could not entertain him in theircommunity He was a spiritual liberalist who did not recognizecaste as a factor in spiritual competence Therefore he settledin Benares and was practically the guru the spiritual stimula-

tor of the twelve great leaders of the Vaishnava cult of the

North They belonged to all castes and included a cobblerand a Muslim The most illustrious of them was Kabir whoworked for the uni1047297cation of Vaishnavaism and Islamicmonotheism Another disciple Ravidas a cobbler by birth

initiated the celebrated Mira Bai into the meaning of bhakti

Sena a barber by caste converted the Raja of Bandogarh intoVaishnavism Dana was a Jat and Pipa a Rajput prince In laterdays great leaders of monotheistic devotion like Tulsidas andDadu got their inspiration from Ramanujarsquos teachingsrdquo

From Ramanujaorg we read ldquoRamanujarsquos supreme effort re-

sulted in a systematic presentation of Vishishtadvaita His genius

also led to the development of a complete system which synthe-

sizes the concept of God with the philosophy of the impersonalAbsolute The followers of Ramanuja are called Shri Vaishnavas

This term is not exclusive to Iyengars (a major sect among Br ah-

mins of South India) Also among South Indians are a set of fol-

lowers called Shattada Shri-Vaishnavas of non-Brahmin origins

Followers of Ramanuja (or at least those who include him in the

lineage of their earlier acharyas) can be seen far and wide in dif-

ferent parts of India including Gaudiya Vaishnavas of Bengal and

the Swaminarayans of Gujaratrdquo

Vaishnava pathashalas and colleges all over India as well as

elsewhere include Ramanujarsquos philosophy in their curricula Sev-

eral Vaishnava organizations are propagating Shri Vaishnavism

in Europe Russsia and North and South America The traditionbegun by Ramanuja of reciting Divya Prabandham continues in

Sriranganadharrsquos temple and other Vishnu temples to this day

Sriperumbudurrsquos Adhikesava Perumal temple at Ramanujarsquos

birthplace is one of the holiest places of worship for Shri Vaish-

navites Ramanuja is equally revered with the Perumal Deity

there and a bronze statue of Ramanuja is under the same roof

as Adhikesava Shridevi and Bhudevi There is a small shrine to

Ramanuja next to the temple In virtually all Vaishanava temples

there is statue of R amanujacharya including Mu

where Ramanujacharya himself installed the m

which is made of saligram

Swami Vivekananda who introduced HinduWestern world at the turn of the twentieth cent

ldquoRamanuja with a most practical philosophy gre

emotions an entire denial of birthrights before

ments and appeals through the popular tongue

ceeded in bringing the masses back to the Ved

Historical Evolution of India)

This speaks volumes about Ramanuja as a g

humanitarian a philosopher and a guru

His Final MessageReturning to Srirangam the aged acharya continued to serve LordSriranganathan and all His devotees As a polemicist and philosopherhe devoted the remainder of his life to proving the Vedantic legitima-cy of the popular conception of a personal Deity with an approach-able identity

At the ripe age of 120 Ramanuja prayed to Sriranganathan formoksha liberation His parting words to his devoted disciples were

ldquoWorship holy men exactly as you would do in the case of yourspiritual preceptor Have sincere faith in the teachings of the greatAcharyas of yore Never be slaves to your senses Be not satisfied withthe acquisition of worldly knowledge Go on reading repeatedly the

books dealing with the greatness of God and the wonders of Hiscreation If perchance you are favored with scintillating wisdom bythe gurursquos grace then the attraction of the senses will cease for youLearn to treat all your feelings with indifference Enjoy the utteranceof the names and glories of Godrsquos devotees with as much relish as theutterance of Godrsquos names and glories Bear in mind that he who ren-ders service to Godrsquos devotees attains God speedily Therefore unlessyou dedicate yourself to the service of God and His devotees you willnot be saved however wise you may be Do not consider the life of aVaishnava as a means for acquiring any selfish advantage You mustendeavor to realize the ideal

ldquoDevote a portion of the day at least one hour to the contempla-tion of the greatness of your spiritual preceptor and some timeevery day to the reading of the sacred writings of the alvars or

the acharyas Always seek the company of those that pursue thepath of self-surrender to God and avoid the company of thosethat say lsquoThere are other paths leading to salvationrsquo Do not as-sociate with people who are always in quest of filthy lucre andsense enjoyment but mingle with the devotees of God to theextent possible Whoever looks upon the sacred images of Godas mere stones his own spiritual teacher as an ordinary human

being eminent devotees as high or low according to the caste oftheir birth the holy water that has touched the feet of God andhas as a consequence acquired the power to purify and purgeone of all sins as ordinary water the sacred mantras as a collec-tion of sounds and the Supreme Lord of all the worlds as onenot higher than the Devasmdashlet him be considered an unwor-thy person fit only for purgatoryrdquo (from Sri Ramanuja SwamiTapasyananda)

Resources

Sri Ramanuja His Life Religion amp Philosophy by SwamiTapasyananda Sri Ramakrishna Math Mylapore Madras

Life of Sri Ramanuja by Swami RamakrishnanandaSri Ramakrishna at Mylapore Madras 1959(translated from Bengali by Swami Budhananda)

The Life of Ramanujacharya the Exponent ofthe Vishishtadvaita Philosophy by AkondavilleGovindacharya Kapalee Press Madras 1906

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Lakshmi and Tim Sridharan were brought up with great emp

Hindu traditions culture and values by devout Tamil Brahm

Madras Tamil Nadu and now live in San Jose California In p

this article they traced the life path of Ramanuja through Ta

Karnataka during a visit to India in December of 2013 While

first joint venture in writing Lakshmi has published many a

variety of subjects including Indian tradition and culture

c r e d i t u n k n o w n

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Left This granite murti of Sri Ramanuja is enshrined in theCheluvanarayan Vishnu Temple at Melkote Right Near

the same temple Ramanuja discovered and unearthed the parade murti of Lord Cheluvanarayana which was thrownout of the temple centuries before by Muslim mauraders

n a i n e e s h a h

48 hinduis m today julyaugusts eptember 2015 julyaug us tseptember 20 15 hindu



E D U C A T I O N A L I N S I G H T

Love ofGod Is

Vedanta

p a i n t i n g b y s r a j a m

The Life amp Teachings of

Sri Ramanuja Indiarsquos Great Theologian

By Lakshmi amp Tim Sridharan

Ramanuja sits on the gurursquos traditional seat in worshipful acknowledgemRamanuja sits on the gurursquos traditional seat in worshipful acknowledgemthe pervasive presence of Varadaraja Vishnu) who reclines knowingly o the pervasive presence of Varadaraja (Vishnu) who reclines knowingly odivine serpent Adisesha a conch in His left hand and discus in His rightdivine serpent Adisesha a conch in His left hand and discus in His right

E D U

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Documents

Love of God is Vedanta!