Svāmī Rāmānuja's incarnation Contd.
Rāmānuja undergoes the sacramental saṁskāras
In due course, Keśava Somayāji performed the birth-ceremonies for his newly-born son, adhering with great devotion to the Śāstraic injunctions. Having come to know of the birth of his nephew, Śrīśailapūrṇa arrived at Śrīperumbūdūr, on this auspicious occasion. He immediately noticed the extra-ordinary brilliance of the newborn boy and told Keśava Somayāji: “Your child is endowed with all the traits of a genius. He will master all the Śāstras. In the Rāmāyaṇa, we see that Lakṣmaṇa was so named because he could render all services to Rāma, just like the primordial serpent does to the Lord. Similarly, your baby has the potential and privilege to serve the Lord to His heart’s content. As such, it is in the fitness of things to name him Rāmānuja (meaning the younger brother of Śrī Rāma – another name of Lakṣmana).” Accordingly, Keśava Somayāji named the newborn child ‘Rāmānuja’ in the nāmakaraṇa (naming ceremony), on the twelfth day after he was born, as ordained in the Śāstras.
Soon after, at the appropriate times, the other ceremonies, like Akṣarābhyāsa,Chauḻa and Upanayana, were performed for Rāmānuja by his father. After Upanayana, Rāmānuja began study of the Vedas, Aṅgas and Upāṅgas (subsidiary aspects of the Vedas), and very quickly gained mastery over these subjects. By the time he turned sixteen, he had mastered all the Śāstras and become well versed in their exposition. In accord with the custom prevailing in those days, he was married to Rakṣāmbā, a beautiful bride endowed with all good qualities.
Rāmānuja and Yādava Prakāśa
Rāmānuja and Yādava Prakāśa
Soon after, in order to further his studies, Rāmānuja was sent to Yādava Prakāśa, a saṁnyāsin-scholar who belonged to the Advaita tradition at a place called Tiruppuṭkuļi, situated near Kāñcīpuram. He was accompanied by his close cousin, Śrī Govinda Bhaṭṭar.
Rāmānuja was a brilliant student and instantly earned the admiration and goodwill of Yādava Prakāśa. However, Rāmānuja, whose intellect was always guided by his divine wisdom, would often see inadequacies and inconsistencies in Yādava Prakāśa’s explanations of the Scriptures.
Once, while Rāmānuja was, as usual, giving oil massage to his teacher Yādava Prakāśa, the teacher was explaining a passage from the Upanishads that described the beauty of the divine eyes of the Almighty as
“ tasya yathā kapyāsaṁ puṇḍarīkam evam akṣiṇī ”
Yādava Prakāśa explained: “The word ‘kapi’ means monkey. The word ‘āsa’ means rump. So ‘kapyāsa’ means the rump of a monkey. So, this Vedic passage says that the divine eyes of The Almighty resemble the red rump of a monkey.”Highly sensitive Rāmānuja was so hurt by this bad explanation and overwhelmed by grief. Instantly tears trickled down from his eyes and fell on the body of the preceptor.
Feeling the hot tears, Yādava Prakāśa turned to Rāmānuja in astonishment and asked: “What happened? Why are you in tears?” Rāmānuja replied in a voice choked with emotion, “O sire, Please forgive me. To compare thedivine eyes of the Almighty, who is the very embodiment of all that is beautiful in this world, to the ... seat ...” Rāmānuja faltered; so sensitive was he that he could not even utter the word ‘rump’, and continued: “…the seat of a monkey is totally incongruous. How can the scriptures, the very breath of the Lord, mean such a thing?”
Yādava Prakāśa responded with irritation: “Rāmānuja, what other meaning could there be? This has been the interpretation given by our masters. If you are so intelligent as to find fault with my interpretation, let me hear your interpretation.”
Rāmānuja, with all the humility at his command and with folded hands explained: “O revered one, how could a novice like me dare to interpret an Upaniṣadic passage? But in all sincerity, I feel that the meaning of this passage could be: the word ‘kapi’ means the Sun and the word ‘āsa’ means that which depends on or which is caused to bloom by the Sun – naturally meaning a lotus. So the meaning of the passage would be ‘the divine eyes of the Almighty resemble a lotus.”
Hearing this beautiful exposition of the scriptural passage, Yādava Prakāśa was awe-struck. But he was also irritated. It had never occurred to him that this passage could be interpreted in such a beautiful manner. However, he could not tolerate the fact that his own student was able to interpret the Vedic passage better than him, and in such a beautiful manner that appealed to both head and heart.
The plot to execute Rāmānuja
Rāmānuja continued offering new interpretations of Vedic passages for many days thereafter. Before long, Yādava Prakāśa grew unable to tolerate this. He assembled his close disciples and told them: “All of you have accepted my exposition of the Vedic passages, only Rāmānuja is opposing it. If he continues to do so, our school of thought is sure to suffer, and it will never get propagated. Hence, we have to find some permanent solution to this problem. That would be to, somehow, finish off Rāmānuja.” In response, the disciples suggested some possible solutions. However, Yādava Prakāśa turned down these suggestions, saying that they would result in unnecessary complications and would be sinful. But he did agree with their suggestion that all of them go to Kāśī, and there in the bathing ghat known as Maṇikarṇikā, they would push him into the water and drown him.
Having this plan in his mind, Yādava Prakāśa soon organized a tour to Kāśī. Rāmānuja, unaware of the wicked plan, innocently accompanied Yādava Prakāśa to Kāśī. Govinda Bhaṭṭar, his cousin, was also among the touring party. Since the other disciples knew that Govinda Bhaṭṭar was aware of the wicked plan, they took care not to allow him to be alone with Rāmānuja. During the course of the journey, they happened to pass by the Vindhya mountain range. Seizing an opportune moment, Govinda Bhaṭṭar gestured to Rāmānuja to accompany him to an isolated place. There he disclosed the plan of Yādava Prakāśa and his other disciples to Rāmānuja and urged him to leave immediately. Rāmānuja, perturbed by the conspiracy, left the group and wandered off into the forest. Govinda Bhaṭṭar continued his journey with Yādava Prakāśa and his disciples.
Having traveled a long distance in an unknown land, he soon became tired and sat under a tree in the dense forest. He was all alone and was anxious about the course he had to take, not knowing in which direction to proceed.
Rāmānuja’s escape
Just then, the Almighty Lord wanted to shower His divine grace on His dear devotee. Disguising Himself as a hunter, along with His consort, He arrived in front of Rāmānuja. Rāmānuja was delighted to see them and asked, “From where have you come, and where are you heading to?” The couple replied, “We have come from the Siddhāśrama in North India; we are heading towards Kāñcīpuram in the south.” Rāmānuja immediately told them “It would be my pleasure to accompany you to Kāñcīpuram ,” to which the Divine couple readily agreed. Rāmānuja accompanied them and they travelled for a long time.
Soon twilight descended, and Rāmānuja was tired. Rāmānuja performed his evening ablutions, and continued to follow them. Soon, it became pitch dark and as they could no longer proceed, they decided to stay under a large tree for the night. The huntress was feeling extremely thirsty, and the hunter suggested that he would search around and get her some water. Rāmānuja offered to bring water himself, but was unable to do so in the pitch dark night, being in the midst of the dense forest. He felt depressed that he could not help quench the thirst of the couple who had been so helpful to him. Soon he fell asleep even as the hunter-couple were watching.
When Rāmānuja woke up, the hunter-couple were nowhere to be seen. He wandered around to see if they could be found somewhere nearby. After a short while, he saw a few Brahmins. He approached them and asked: “O Sirs, which place is this”? The Brahmins were surprised at this question and replied “O Sir! How is that you are not familiar with this place, which is popularly known as Kāñcīpuram?” Rāmānuja was awe-struck. He had been instantly transported all the way from the Vindhyas to his own place, Kāñcīpuram. He now realized it was none other than the primordial couple Lord Nārāyaṇa and His consort Lakṣmī who had appeared before him the previous day and who had brought him back to his own place.
