Ramanujacharya – Biography - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree

"Sir, surely you could just forbid him from coming tothe school," suggested one student."But then our master's worst fears would berealized," responded another, "for he would open his ownschool and go on propagating his falsehoods all the more.Already he has written a commentary on the mantra: satyamjnanam anantam brahma, which contradicts everything we havelearned from our teacher." This was true, for Ramanuja hadeffectively refuted Sankara's explanations: and his writinghad been widely read and appreciated by Vaisnavas in southIndia, including Yamunacarya at Rangaksetra.After discussing the matter for some time, they allagreed the only way to stop Ramanuja was to kill him. Theythen began to consider how this could be done secretlywithout anyone discovering their crime. EventuallyYadavaprakasa made a proposal, "Let us all go on pilgrimageto bathe in the Ganges. On the way there are many remoteareas, where we can put an end to this heretic withoutanyone knowing anything about it. By bathing in the sacredGanges we will free ourselves from the sin of killing abrahmana and when we return we will simply say he felt sickand died on the journey."All the disciples readily accepted their teacher'ssuggestion and set out to induce Ramanuja to accompany themon their journey. Ramanuja was delighted at the idea ofbathing in the Ganges and happily accepted their invitation.Govinda, Ramanuja's cousin, was living with his aunt inKancipuram at this time, and he also studied at the schoolof Yadavaprakasa. When Ramanuja announced that he was goingon pilgrimage to North India, Govinda immediately decided togo with his beloved friend and relative.DANGER IN THE FORESTKantimati was unhappy at the prospect of beingseparated from her son for so many months, but,understanding the meritorious nature of such a venture, shegave him her permission to go. So it was that, at anauspicious moment, the band of disciples, headed byYadavaprakasa, started out on the pilgrimage. After a fewdays traveling they came to a desolate region near theVindhya Hills. Yadavaprakasa considered that this would be asuitable place to put his evil plan into operation, and hetold his disciples to prepare themselves. However, whilethey were discussing the final preparations, Govinda was inthe forest nearby, and he heard everything they said. Assoon as he had the opportunity, he informed Ramanuja of thegreat danger he was in.When he understood the wicked intentions of histeacher and fellow students, Ramanuja left the party andfled into the forest. When his absence was noticed,Yadavaprakasa sent some of the boys into the forest to24