Ramanujacharya – Biography - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree

of the huge boat as it moved slowly towards the distantshore.Suddenly, above the roar of the water and the soundof the wind, they heard a horrible cry of distress thatseemed to come from within the Kaveri itself. Then there wassilence, and the boat could be seen no more. In the roaringwaves of the Kaveri nothing else was noticed.After a short while one man walking with steadystrides over the water came near Tirumangai and bowed downat his feet. This man was none other than Nirmal Nadappan,the fourth disciple. Tirumangai raised him up and said, "Donot feel concerned for these men. After all the service theyhave rendered, surely Lord Ranganatha will protect them. Isit not better for them to leave the world at this time thanto continue living as robbers? Now let us all pass theremaining days of our lives in the service of LordRanganatha, for our purpose in adopting the robbers'lifestyle has been fulfilled."So Tirumangai and his four disciples then absorbedthemselves in rendering service to the Deity of Ranganatha.A few years later they passed from this world and returnedto the shelter of Lord Visnu's lotus feet.THE HIGH PRIEST OF THE TEMPLEIn this way the temple of Lord Ranganatha came to bebuilt and was famous as the largest temple in all of India.At the time of Ramanuja, however, the high priest of thetemple was not at all a devoted or pious man. He had usedhis position to amass a fortune for himself, and he waswilling to remove any person who became an obstacle to hisambition. Ramanujacarya now proved himself to be just suchan obstacle.The high priest-observed how people would offerrespect and veneration to Yatiraja and that his own positionwas now being overlooked. That envious person could nottolerate this threat to his prestige and status, and so heimmediately began to consider ways by which he might be ridof this dangerous rival. After formulating a plan, he wentto Ramanuja one day and invited him to take alms at hishouse. Then he quickly returned home and instructed hiswife, "Today I have invited Ramanuja to take alms here. Thisis our opportunity to be rid of the scoundrel once and forall. You know where the poison is to be found. Need I saymore?"The priest's wife was a woman of similar dispositionto her husband, and she gladly agreed to his proposal. Thehigh priest then went back to the temple, and at noonYatiraja arrived at the house to take alms as he had beeninvited. The wife of the priest received him with greatcourtesy, washing his feet and offering him a nice sittingplace. Although this woman was known to be hard-hearted by62