Ramanujacharya – Biography - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree

THE FIRSTCONFRONTATIONOne day when the other students had gone home to takelunch, Yadavaprakasa asked Ramanuja to massage his body withoil. At that time one of the other students returned to theschool to discuss with his teacher a passage from theChandogya Upanisad they had been studying that morning. Inparticular he inquired about the word kapyasam, whichoccurs in the first chapter, part six, verse seven. Thereinit is stated, kapyasam pundarikam evam aksini.Following Sankaracarya's interpretation,Yadavaprakasa began to explain that kapyasam referred to therear-end of a monkey and that the whole passage meant thatthe Supreme Lord had eyes like lotuses as red as a monkey'srear-end.On hearing this horrible explanation of theappearance of his beloved Lord, Ramanuja, who was stillmassaging his guru, was filled with such intense grief thathot tears immediately began to pour from his eyes. WhenYadavaprakasa felt the touch of these tears, he looked up insurprise. Seeing Ramanuja's distress, he asked what wascausing him such pain. To this inquiry Ramanuja replied, "0master, it causes me such suffering to hear this terribleexplanation from a great soul like yourself. How sinful itis to compare the beautiful lotus eyes of the Lord to theposterior of a monkey. I never expected to hear such a thingfrom my teacher."Yadavaprakasa was angered by this challenge from oneof his own students, and he replied sharply, "I also am veryaggrieved. Impudent words from an inferior are neverpraiseworthy. If you have become so proud that you thinkyourself a better teacher than me, then let us hear yourexplanation of the passage.""By your mercy everything is possible" repliedRamanuja.Yadavaprakasa smiled derisively. "Now we are going tosee this boy outdo the great Sankaracarya," he said.Ramanuja remained peaceful, and when he spoke it wasin a very humble way. "Instead of understanding theposterior of a monkey from the word kapyasam, " he said,"another meaning is possible. Ka-pi can be taken as kamjalam pibati, that which drinks up the water, or, in otherwords, the sun. The word asam also means to blossom, so thewhole word kapi-asam can be understood as that whichblossoms under the sun, or, in other words, the lotusflower. Thus we can understand the mantra of the Upanisad tomean that the Lord has eyes as beautiful as the lotusflower."Yadavaprakasa was very surprised to hear such aclever explanation from one of his own students and herealized that Ramanuja was a staunch adherent of thedevotional philosophy of dualism. The devotees understandthat the perfection of life is to worship Lord Visnu without22