Svāmī Rāmānuja's incarnation

Background to the incarnation of Śrī Rāmānuja

“anantaḥ prathamaṁ rūpaṁ lakṣmaṇastu tataḥ param |

balabhadraḥ tṛtīyastu kalau kaścid bhaviṣyati ||”

Ādiśeṣa, the primordial serpent is engaged eternally in the service of the Almighty, Lord Nārāyaṇa, in his eternal and exalted abode, the Vaikuṇṭha. In the Tretā Yuga (the period in history known as the Silver Age), when the Lord incarnated as Śrī Rāma, Ādiśeṣa accompanied Him, by being born as Lakṣmaṇa, just to serve Him. Similarly, in the Dwāpara Yuga, (the Bronze Age) when the Lord incarnated as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Ādiśeṣa again accompanied Him, being born as Balarāma. The main purpose of the incarnation of the Lord is to destroy the forces of Adharma and to re-establish the reign of Dharma. In this Kali Yuga (Iron Age), Ādiśeṣa took incarnation, unaccompanied by Lord Nārāyaṇa, as Rāmānuja.

The reason for this is said to be that the previous incarnations of the Lord were not as successful as the Lord Himself had envisaged or would have wanted them to be. Even though Kṛṣṇa proclaims himself (quite rightly) as almighty in the Bhagavad Gītā:

“… madyāji, mām namskuru; māmeva eṣyasi”

(“Worship Me alone. Prostrate to Me alone; Surrender unto Me, You will reach Me alone”).

He also makes it clear that in this world, if a person proclaims that He Himself is the Almighty, people do not generally value such statements, even if they are true.

“avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam”

(“Even though I am verily the Almighty, generally people are indifferent towards me thinking that I am an ordinary person, since I have taken a human form”).

Knowing that the incarnations he had taken had not been as successful as envisaged, the Lord persuaded His own divine servants to take birth in the world, and continue the tasks He had initiated in this world. Their words were more valued than the Lord’s, because they never said anything like, “I am the Almighty Lord; Worship Me for fulfillment.” Instead, the servants of the Lord who appeared on this earth always said: “He is verily the Almighty Lord; Please worship Him in order to attain liberation.” This seemed to be more appealing to the people. Thus, the incarnations of the Lord’s divine servants have been more successful in terms of achieving the objectives of their incarnations. The life of Ādiśesa, the most beloved of the servants of the Lord Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, as Rāmānuja, was one such incarnation.

Rāmānuja appears in this world

At the time when Ādiśeṣa (the primordial serpent) took incarnation as Śrī Rāmānuja, due to the influence of Kali Yuga (the Iron Age), the authenticity of the Vedas had been questioned. Due to the advent of Buddhism, the Vedas could not command any respect and the subsidiary supportive texts of Vedic thought known as the Smṛtis and other allied works like the Itihāsas and the Purāṇas were not in a position to influence the people at large, or help them lead virtuous lives. To rescue people from this hopeless situation, and to guide them towards the path of fulfillment, Śrī Rāmānuja appeared in this world in the Pingaḻa samvatsara (circa 1017), in the month of Caitra, in the moonlit fortnight (Śukla Pakṣa), on the fifth day of the fortnight, Thursday, in the constellation of Ārdrā.

Śrī Perumbūdūr – Śrī Rāmānuja’s birthplace

ŚrīPerumbūdūr is a quiet temple town near Chennai in South India. A pious Brahmin named Śrī Āsūri Keśava Perumāl dwelt here and was engaged in performing the Vedic rites.

At the time of Śrī Rāmānuja’s birth, Śrī Yāmunācārya was the leader of the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition. One of Yāmunācārya’s premier disciples was Śrīśailapūrṇa. Śrīśailapūrṇa had dedicated his heart and soul to the service of Lord Veṅkaṭeśvara at Tirumalai. He had two sisters, ŚrīDevī (Kāntimatī) and BhūmāDevī (Dyutimatī). The elder of Śrīśailapūrṇa’s sisters, ŚrīDevī, was given away in marriage to Āsūri Keśava Perumāl. Since Āsūri Keśava Perumāl was engaged in the conducting of different Vedic yajñas (sacrifices), he was adorned with the honourific title ‘Somayāji’. In due course, he came to be known as Keśava Somayāji.