Sri Ramanuja

Sri Ramanuja8217;s jayanti was on April 25, just the day after Adi Sankara8217;s. One yearns to have met a person of such kindness and 1...

Sri Ramanuja8217;s jayanti was on April 25, just the day after Adi Sankara8217;s. One yearns to have met a person of such kindness and 8220;basked in his effulgence8221; as Rajaji8217;s generation would have put it. Ramanuja was born at Sriperumbudur in 1017 CE and set his heart on God in the aspect of Mahavishnu, as the embodiment of all that was good and auspicious. Ramanuja8217;s guru, Sri Ghoshtipurna, initiated him into the holy Srimantram 8216;Thirumanthiram8217; in Tamil. Its eight mystic syllables were given only to the deserving few who had proved their selves worthy to receive it. But Ramanuja his name, pronounced 8216;Raamaanuja8217; is a synonym for 8216;Lakshman8217;: Rama-anuja, or Ram8217;s younger brother was as impulsive as his epic namesake and as self-sacrificing. He raced to the very top of the temple and cried the mantra aloud for all to hear: 8220;Hear, O people! This is the life-transforming mantra that will redeem you if you repeat it always with your mind fixed on God: Om Namo Narayanaya! Om Namo Narayanaya!8221;

When Ghoshtipurna scolded him for scattering the powerful Srimantram broadcast, Ramanuja was unrepentant. He was ready to be sent to narkam hell as punishment, he said respectfully but steadfastly to his guru. But he couldn8217;t bear to keep such a treasure secret. Surely it was meant to benefit the whole world.

Ramanuja disdained to slot people into castes and sects. Though a Brahmin born, he received all castes into his house and fed everyone alike with love and care. The Bhakti Movement rollercoasted through India from the 12th century for almost 500 years. It was the profoundest thing to happen in the inner life of Bharat after the Buddha and Adi Sankara one of its consequences, the 8216;Ramcharitmanas8217; of Goswami Tulsidas, was to change the history of North India forever. It was Ramanuja8217;s disciple, Ramananda, who went from Karnataka to North India as a flagbearer of the Bhakti Movement. His disciple, Raidas was guru to Meera Bai. Another of Ramananda8217;s great disciples was Kabirdas, whose ideas later impressed none other than the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanakdev, that other great abode of sweetness who became the next major spiritual force in India. Few can claim, as Ramanuja does, such a golden roll of honour as legatees.

But it is his empathy for small human wishes that gently nudge us not to be emotionally 8216;kanjoos8217;, for we too can make others feel so cherished with little acts of thoughtfulness. Aandaal, the girl saint who had merged into the Lord at Srirangam had wanted a hundred vessels of sweet rice called 8216;akkaara-vadisal8217; to be served at her wedding. But since it hadn8217;t happened, Ramanuja, though he came several centuries later, fulfilled her wish and is known ever after as her elder brother.