Sri Ramanujacharya, the well-known
exponent of Sri Vaishnavism and Visishtadvaitam, was born in
Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, in 1017 A.D. to a pious and virtuous couple, Keasava Perumal Somayaji Dikshitar and Kanthimathi ammal. He was named Ilaya
Perumal by his parents. Within sixteen years of age he had learnt the Vedas and
Sastras. At the age of seventeen he married Rakshakambal. Soon after his marriage his father died and
the family moved over to Kanchipuram. There he enrolled himself in the school
run by an Advaitic Sanyasi Yadavaprakasa to prosecute further study of
Vedas. On many occasions he differed
with guru’s interpretations. On one
occasion Yadavaprakasa became so angry that he asked Ilaya Perumal to leave the
school and start his own, if he felt so strongly about his interpretation.
Ilaya Perumal parted company with Yadavaprakasa and started a small school
where he taught his Visishtadvaita philosophy and became popular.
Seeing the growing
popularity of Ilaya Perumal and his philosophy, Yadavaprakasa feared he will be
a threat to his school and spread of Advaita philosophy. So he planned to kill
Ilaya Perumal by drowning him in River Ganges while on a pilgrimage tour of the
country with his disciples. He invited Ilaya Perumal to join him and his disciples
in the pilgrimage tour. Unsuspectingly
Ilaya Perumal agreed and joined the pilgrimage along with his cousin, Govinda. On the
way Govinda came to know of Yadavaprakasa’s plot from some of the disciples and
alerted Ilaya Perumal, who then slipped out of the group into the forest at
dead of night. He was lost in the forest
but miraculously an aged hunter couple appeared from nowhere and led him as if
in a trance to the outskirts of Kanchipuram and disappeared. As the couple disappeared as suddenly as they
appeared, he realized it was none other than Lord Varadaraja and Perundevi
Thayar who had come in the guise of the hunter couple to guide him. Feeling thankful
to the Lord he continued his routine in Kanchipuram, assisting Tirukkachi Nambi
in his daily chores of service to Lord Varadaraja and also running the school,
as if nothing had happened. When Yadavaprakasa returned, he was surprised to
see Ilaya Perumal working as before and did not interfere in his life. Rather he became Sri Ramanuja’s disciple at a later
date and was given the name Govinda Jeer.
Yamunacharya, a great sage
and profound scholar and head of the Mutt at Srirangam, had once met Ilaya Perumal
and was very much impressed by him and secretly desired Ilaya Perumal should
succeed him as head of the Srirangam Mutt. So when Yamunacharya fell ill he sent word to Ilaya
Perumal. As Ilaya Perumal and Tirukkachi
Nambi arrived in Srirangam, they could see the funeral procession only. Ilaya
Perumal was told of three wishes that Yamunacharya wanted Ilaya Perumal to
carry out. They were; 1) to write a
commentary to Brahmasutra on Visishtadvaita lines; 2) to spread Visishtadvaita
on the lines of Nalayira Divya Prabandham; 3) to perpetuate the memory of
Parasara and Vedavyasa. Ilaya Perumal swore to carry out all the three wishes on
the funeral pyre of Yamunacharya and returned to Kanchipuram.
Ilaya
Perumal’s married life was not a happy one as there was a regular clash of
views with his ultra orthodox wife on what was holy and sacred and on what was religiously
correct. Matters came to a head one day
when he was aged thirty and he walked out of the house and took Sanyasa with the
name “Ramanuja Muni”. The inmates of the monastery in
Kanchipuram made Sri Ramanuja their head. Dasarathi, his nephew became the first
disciple of Sri Ramanuja with the name Mudaliandan. Another important disciple
to join him at Kanchipuram was Kuresar, also known as Kurathalwan.
The seat of Acharya at
Srirangam was lying vacant without a successor to take over. Sri Ramanuja was
prevailed upon to assume charge. So Sri Ramanuja left
for Srirangam along with Mudaliandan and Kurathalwan and a host of disciples
and devotees. At Srirangam Lord Ranganatha Himself
invited Sri Ramanuja into the temple by calling him “come on my son,
Udayavare". From then on Sri Ramanuja came to be called also as Udayavar. After installation as the head of Visishtadvaita Mutt
at Srirangam, Sri Ramanujacharya proceeded to
Thirukkoshtiyur to take initiation from Thirukkoshtiyur Nambi for Japa of the
sacred Mantra of eight letters “Om Namo Narayanaya”. Somehow, Nambi was not willing to initiate him
easily. Nambi made him travel many times before initiating him and that too
only after exacting solemn promises of secrecy.
But Sri Ramanujacharya wanted all to benefit from this Mantra and so climbed
up to the top of the steeple of the temple and called out aloud to people and proclaimed
to the large assemblage the sacred Mantra. Thirukkoshtiyur Nambi was enraged
and demanded an explanation. Sri Ramanujacharya gave the reason that though he
would go to hell for breaking the secrecy, the multitude of humanity that
listened to this would be saved spiritually. The Guru was overwhelmed by this
reply. Embracing Sri Ramanujacharya and appreciating his broad mindedness, he
called him 'Emperumanar'.
Ramanuja travelled
throughout the length and breadth of India to disseminate the path of devotion.
He visited all the sacred places throughout India including Kasi, Kashmir and
Badrinath. Sri Ramanujacharya then
visited all the Vaishnavite shrines in South India and finally reached
Srirangam. Here he settled himself and continued his labours of preaching the
Visishtadvaita philosophy and writing books. He wrote a detailed commentary on
the Brahmasutras known as the Sri Bhashya as promised to Yamunacharya. He wrote
also other books—detailed commentary on Bhagavad Gita (Gita Bhashya), a treatise
on Visishtadvaita (Vedanta Sangraha), a brief commentary on Brahmasutras and
also a commentary for beginners (Vedanta Dipa and Vedanta Sara), Grantha thriam
(Saranagathi Gadhya, Sri Ranga Gadhya, Sri Vaikunta Gadya) and manual for
Thiruvaradhana (Nithya grantha). Thousands of people gathered every day
to hear his lectures. During this period he cleansed the temples, settled the
rituals to be observed in them, and rectified many social evils which had crept
into the community. . He converted lakhs of people to the path of Bhakthi
But this routine was
disturbed when the Chola king Kulothunga I, a staunch Saivite. wanted him to
subscribe to king’s faith. When ordered
to king’s court, two of his disciples, Kurathalwan and Peria Nambi, donned the
orange robes of Sannyasins and visited the court of Kulothunga I in place of Sri
Ramanujacharya. They argued there for the superiority of Lord Vishnu, when
asked to accept the superiority of Lord Siva. The monarch was incensed and had
their eyes put out and subjected them to torture. Peria Nambi succumbed to the torture, but Kurathalwan
survived and managed to get back to Srirangam blind.
Meanwhile, Sri Ramanujacharya,
with a few followers, left Srirangam and proceeded with difficulty to Melkote
in the kingdom of Mysore. The king of
the place was Bhatti Deva of the Hoysala dynasty. The king’s daughter was possessed
of some devil and nobody was able to cure her. Sri Ramanujacharya succeeded in
exorcizing the devil and the princess was restored to her former health. The
king was very much pleased with him and readily became his disciple and
converted himself into a Vaishnavite. Thereafter Sri Ramanujacharya firmly
established himself in the Mysore king's dominions, constructed a temple at
Melkote, and created a strong Vaishnavite community there. He constructed a few
more Vishnu temples in and about Mysore, 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.
In the meantime, Kulothunga
Chola 1, died and the successor to Kulothunga Chola I was not a religious bigot
and allowed full freedom of worship. The followers of Sri Ramanujacharya in
Srirangam communicated the news to Acharya and requested him to come back to
Srirangam. Sri Ramanujacharya himself longed to go back to Srirangam and continue
his work from there. But his new
disciples and followers at Melkote and other places in Mysore would not let him
go. So he installed his own image in a temple for worship by his disciples and
followers and left the place for Srirangam. He was welcomed by his friends and
disciples at Srirangam and he continued his labours from there for another thirty
years and ended his long active career attaining Paramapadam at the ripe
old age of hundred and twenty.
Stated briefly, Sri
Ramanujacharya’s philosophy is Visishtadvaita philosophy. Here Parmathma, Jeevathmas and Jagat
, all three are Real as they form a whole with Jagat and Jeevathmas
being part of Paramathma as His body. Jagat and Jeevathmas
inhere in Paramathma as attributes to a substance. Lord Vishnu is the Paramathma.
He is the life of all Jeevathmas as individual Jeevathma is the life of
individual Jeeva. Jeevathmas are of three types; Nitya,
eternally free, Muktha, free now but once were in Samsara and Baddha,
in Samsara and not free. Jeevathmas retain their identity even
after Moksha and live in Fellowship with Paramathma, either
serving Him or meditating on Him. Moksha
is attained through liquidation of one’s karmas as spelt out in Vedas achieved
through total devotion to Lord Vishnu, characterised by Saranagathi. Vaishnavism as expounded by Sri
Ramanujacharya is called Sri Vaishnavism because of the special importance given
to the worship of Goddess Laksmi as the mediator between Jeevathma and Paramathma.
-------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment