Ramanuja

INTRO: RAMANUJA’S PHILOSOPHY OF VISISTADVAITA

PREFACE Great saints and devotees of the Lord give purpose to this material world and its history by their presence; their absence renders this world useless and its history a chronological record of nonsense. By providing another glimpse into the ways that pure devotees transform the lives of materialistic people and alter the course of history, Naimisaranya Prabhu has done great service to all English readers, especially Vaisnavas and aspiring Vaisnavas. Without such information, people tend ...

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Ramanuja

CHAPTER ONE: YAMUNACARYA

By Naimisaranya Dasa20 min read

In the south of India, many great devotees have appeared to spread the glories of the Lord. Of all these devotees, perhaps the most famous is Sri Ramanujacarya, whose life is the subject of this book. However, just before Ramanuja, there lived another great Vaisnava whose life and teachings had a tremendous influence on Ramanuja, although in fact, the two of them never met. This was Sri Yamunacarya, also known as Alabandara - "The Conqueror." ...

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Ramanuja

CHAPTER TWO: RAMANUJA’S STUDENT LIFE

By Admin34 min read

One of Yamunacarya’s chief sannyasi disciples was Sri Sailapurna. He had two sisters, the elder named Kantimati and the younger named Diptimati. Kantimati was married to a very pious brahmana known as Asuri Kesavacarya. Because of his expertise in the performance of all five kinds of fire sacrifices, he was also known as Sarvakratu. Years passed by, and the couple lived happily in the village of Bhutapuri, but because they still had no children, Kesavacarya became ...

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Ramanuja

CHAPTER THREE: SANNYASA

By Naimisaranya Dasa19 min read

About six months before Yamunacarya's disappearance, Ramanuja's mother, Kantimati, had left this world. Now, Raksakambal, the wife of Ramanuja, was the mistress of the house. She was as beautiful as an apsara, devoted to her husband, and very strict in her cleanliness and observance of ritual. Unfortunately, she had been unable to imbibe her husband's pure love of God and was more attached to the external features of religious ritual. She was unhappy to see ...

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Ramanuja

CHAPTER FOUR: ACARYA AT SRI RANGAM

By Naimisaranya Dasa38 min read

While all these events were taking place in Kancipuram, the devotees in Sri Rangam were still feeling the lack of an acarya to guide them. The ardent desire of all of them was that Ramanujacarya come there and be their preceptor. Mahapurna had stayed for some time in Kanci with the intention of bringing Ramanuja to Sri Rangam, but, because he had left so abruptly, he was unable to do so. When the news reached Sri ...

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Ramanuja

CHAPTER FIVE: TRAVELLING AND PREACHING

By Naimisaranya Dasa27 min read

Three times over, Ramanuja studied the Sahasra-giti with his disciples. At the conclusion of the third reading, a desire arose within his heart to see for himself the holy shrine of Sri Saila. Thus, a few days later, he set off on the journey from Sri Rangam accompanied by his disciples, all chanting the holy name of Lord Hari together. At the end of the first day of the journey, they stopped for the night in ...

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Ramanuja

CHAPTER SIX: INSTRUCTIONS TO DISCIPLES

By Naimisaranya Dasa20 min read

Kuresa was one of Ramanuja's most intimate disciples, always absorbed in thought of how he could assist his guru in his preaching work. He came from a wealthy brahmana family of Kuragrahara, a small village near Kancipuram. As he was in fact the landowner of the whole area around the village of Kura, he came to be known as Kuresa, the master of Kura. He married a very qualified girl named Andal, and together they ...

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Ramanuja

CHAPTER SEVEN: EXILE FROM SRI RANGAM

By Naimisaranya Dasa23 min read

At that time Sri Rangam was a part of the dominions of the Chola king, Koluttunga I, who had made his capital at Kancipuram. Although the Cholas had become devoted to Lord Narayana in the time of Yamunacarya, Koluttunga was a great devotee of Lord Siva and an avowed enemy of all Vaisnavas. It was his desire that all the devotees of the Lord give up their faith and surrender to Lord Siva alone. Lord ...

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Ramanuja

CHAPTER EIGHT: FINAL DAYS IN SRI RANGAM

By Naimisaranya Dasa12 min read

Not long after Kuresa regained his sight, Ramanuja decided to leave Yadavadri and return to his previous residence at Sri Rangam. On the way, he stopped for some time at Vrsabhacala, near Madurai, to worship Lord Sundara-bahu in the temple there. In previous times the great female devotee, Andal, had composed a prayer which said, "O Lord Hari, if you will accept me, I will offer you a hundred pots of sweet rice and a ...

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