A serious study of Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya’s monumental granthas would reveal that his all-encompassing Vedic knowledge, his supreme intellect, and the honesty and rigor of his teachings are beyond comparisons and gloriously divine. Yet, what dominates even this is his soul-stirring bhakti towards Bhagavān and his bhaktas. What beats even that and enslaves us to him is his overwhelming compassion towards us. He deemed that the entire world, without exception, should be experiencing the bliss of service that he and the liberated souls experience.
Holding that the Vedas are the only source of spiritual information guiding humanity at all times, he taught that all of us in our true nature are ātmans (spirits) and that spirituality is the only way for true happiness. He therefore preached spirituality that emphasized that all are spiritually identical and true unbroken spiritual happiness is everyone’s right, irrespective of birth or status. From the greatest of maharṣis and the highest of devas to the lowest of earthly beings and the most banal of asuras, we are all jīvātmans identical in our true nature. We therefore are equal in respect and are equally entitled to blissfully serve the paramātman (God, the super-spirit) out of bhakti permanently in Śrīvaikuṇṭha. He singled out that the best way to break the shackles of karma, which keeps us bonded in this world, and enter into blissful service, is to understand that God Himself longs for this to happen and has been working hard for this since ever. This in fact was the purpose of creation. He taught that this understanding and the ensuing mental resignation, called Śaraṇāgati, to let God’s work bear fruit, is the most appropriate recourse for everyone, and is equally available for everyone. And having resigned to that, the way to live in this world, he taught, is to live like in Śrīvaikuṇṭha. That means living around divyadeśas (sacred temples), knowing them as Śrīvaikuṇṭha itself, and serving archāvatara Bhagavāns (the deities in the temples) understanding that they are the supreme God. This central and most mature teaching of the Vedas was given the highest importance it deserved by Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya, out of his supreme compassion towards the souls suffering in this world. This overwhelming magnificence of heart, riding above intellectual acumen and Vedic knowledge, and even bhakti, distinguishes Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya and places him towering high above all the other great ācāryas the world has seen. Realizing and implementing the Vedic teaching of identifying ourselves with our souls rather than with our bodies, resulted in the emphasis of the equality that is naturally present among souls. This enabled him to break from the non-ideals of the past and institute services in divyadeśas, along with enabling formal access to the secret Vedic teachings for all those interested, irrespective of any birth or status considerations.
The institution he set up for service at divyadeśas is operational to this day. He made people rightly adore the deity in the temple as the supreme God and made them see that serving Him here like liberated souls is their immediate puruṣārtham (overarching goal). Anything and everything one would do in life would take place only after a mental make-up that it ought to be a part of serving this deity in some way. Besides making spirituality the centerpiece of people’s lives, this brought in an equality of spiritual purpose among people divided based on considerations of the body. Everyone, from the priest learning the Vedas to the potter learning to make the pot, had just one purpose! He instituted equality in rewards obtained in temples between the various peoples doing service, and made it starkly evident that God looks at the soul and therefore all are equal in respect. Access to the treasures of Vedic meanings was made available purely based on one’s interest as is clearly seen from the population of Śrīvaiṣṇava ācāryas being of all sections of society and having śiṣyas of all sections of society. That the Āļvār saints, worshipped by Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya as greater than God, appeared in all sections of society, and that the feet of Āļvārs are called Rāmānuja, makes his tradition’s conviction in this unquestionable. This institution of equality is still effective in many of its aspects – especially so in the foremost of divyadeśas, Śrīraṅgam.
The centrality of temple service, and the spiritual and social belonging it brought to people of all sections of the society, that are visible today would not have happened without Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya. The right sanctioned by Vedas to all peoples to call out God’s names and sing His praise asking for loving service to Him, and the intrinsic naturality of it, remained suppressed in the past but was brought out to its original shine by Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya. This made Nāma Saṁkīrtana a household activity across the social spectrum, showing the inerasably deep penetration of the great ācārya’s influence on society.
He not only established this in his time but also set up systems for it to be taken forward for generations to come. He made the services as family endowments and made the servicemen realize that it is a matter of great blessing, equaling being in Śrīvaikuṇṭha itself, that they are able to do this service to the arcāvatāra Bhagavān. This ensured that the services are carried out without slack and that the same faith is instilled in the minds of successive generations. This was true of the people that served by protecting the sacred body of God, His properties and the temple premises, those that provided security during His processions, those that grew the food crops needed, and those that cooked for His consumption, those that made flower garlands to decorate Him, those who washed His clothes, those that arranged for His daily festivities, those that performed music and dance for His entertainment, those that chanted the Vedas for His pleasure, and those that did direct physical service to His body. It is a wonder to see their descendants today doing these services with the same vigor and the same sense of blessing, notwithstanding the pressures of the modern age. The fruits of Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya’s work is visible today, with a deep sense of equality and reverence in the various services glowing bright. And what is more? He unmistakably warned all pointing out that the Vedas prohibit the slightest thought of having anything less than utmost respect for any of this service amounts to bhāgavata apacāra, a transgression bound to earn God’s ire and its consequences.
As a parallel to the institution centered around temple service, a second major institution was set up by Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya to spread to one and all the knowledge of Vedic meanings including even the ones that have been guarded most secretly for their power to liberate souls. He entrusted 74 of his śiṣyas with this task and ensured that anyone interested in learning these treasures is indeed able to do so, irrespective of birth or status. These 74 shishyas, called the Simhāsanadhipatis, were again instilled with the realization that an extremely important service to God is being carried out by them, which ensured that their descendants carry out this without break, with all the same vigor and seriousness. This too we see in practice today after a 0thousand years! The people approaching one of these 74 ācāryas would enter into a formal guru-shishya relationship called samāśrayaṇa, learn the meanings and secret teachings of the Vedas, and would enter into the temple service said above with the same conviction that they are serving God in Śrīvaikuṇṭha. This ensured that the personnel experiencing the performance of blissful service kept growing ever more. This and the equality of the purpose of service meant that the entire spiritual society experienced equality in respect too. Descendants of these servicemen can be seen all over Bhārata today continuing to bear explicit marks as well as implicit ideals of this tradition.
Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya, the great mind he was, knew full well that in spite of this most efficient set up, the powers of Kaliyuga and the karmas of individuals will erode the system, making the service offered to the arcāvatāra God and the experience of it less than ideal. At an opportune moment when God Sri Raṅganātha was granting our ācārya eternal service in Śrīvaikuṇṭha, Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya, the ocean of mercy he was, covered for our faults by securing God Raṅganātha’s word that anyone that enters into the guru-shishya relationship with one of the 74 ācāryas would automatically get a connection with him and would be granted eternal service in Śrīvaikuṇṭha!
Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya’s teachings and reforms went beyond the Vedic pundits and actually influenced the spiritual living of the masses, making him truly a Jagadācārya! Bhagavad Rāmānujācārya was aware that this would precisely fulfil the service God expected of him.
