Ramanujacharya – Biography - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree

However, that night as he was lying down the goddess Sarada(Durga) appeared before him with the book, saying, "Mychild, take this book and return immediately to your owncountry." Straight away, having hidden the book amongsttheir belongings, Ramanuja and Kuresa took leave of thepanditas of Sarada-pitha and departed from that place.A few days later the scholars were rearranging thebooks in their library and checking to see if any were inneed of repair. When they discovered that the Bodhayanavrttiwas missing, they at once concluded that the twoVaisnavas from south India must be responsible for itsdisappearance and sent a party of men in pursuit of them torecover the book. After travelling day and night for almosta month, they at last caught up with Ramanuja and Kuresa andlearned on inquiring from them that they were indeed inpossession of the Bodhayana-vrttii. Without another wordthey took the book from them and returned with it to theirhome in Kashmir.Yatiraja was distressed at the loss, wondering how itwould now be possible for him to write the Sri-bhasya.Kuresa, on the other hand, did not seem in the leastdisturbed and said cheerfully, "0 Master, there is no needfor you to feel unhappy about what has happened. Every nightof our journey, while you were sleeping, I was studying thatvrtti, and now I know the whole book by heart. If we stayhere for a few days, I will be able to write it all downfrom memory."Ramanuja was surprised to learn of his disciple'sprodigious powers of memory and also delighted to hear thathe would be able to retain a copy of the book he had soeagerly sought. Embracing Kuresa, he said, "From this day Iam eternally indebted to you."WRITING THE SRI BHASYAWhen Kuresa had finished transcribing the book, theycontinued on their way and reached Sri Rangam withoutfurther incident. Back at the asrama, Ramanuja called allhis disciples together and recounted to them what hadbefallen himself and Kuresa on their journey.Finally he said, "0 devotees, by the strength of yourdevotion and the wonderful power of Kuresa's memory, theBodhayana-vrtti has been procured. Now I will be able torefute the foolish ideas of persons who consider that a mereintellectual understanding of the Vedic statements, tat tvamasi and aham brahmasmi can bring one to a state of fullperfection. By falsely staling that the individual souls arethemselves God, these scholars have misled the mass ofpeople away from the true goal of life, devotion to LordVisnu."Therefore I shall now commence writing the Sribhasya,which will reveal the true verdict of the Vedas,78