Ramanujacharya – Biography - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree

and so he and his wife were fasting for the day. Kuresa wascompletely undisturbed by hunger, but Andal, who was alwaysabsorbed in serving her husband, was very unhappy to see himwithout food. Within her mind she began to pray to LordRanganatha that He might provide something for His devoteeKuresa. A short while later there was a knock at the door,and one of the priests from the temple was admitted carryinga plate of maha-prasada that he had brought as a gift forthem.When the priest had left, Kuresa inquired from hiswife, "Did you ask Lord Ranganatha to provide for us? Whyelse would he send such opulent foodstuffs, the taste ofwhich may reawaken our material desires?"After Andal had sorrowfully confessed what she haddone, Kuresa instructed her, "It is not our business to makethe Lord our servant. What has already been done cannot behelped, but please never do such a thing again." Having saidthis, he ate a small portion of the maha-prasada and askedhis wife to honor the rest.BIRTH OF KURESA'S SONSAbout a year later Andal gave birth to twin sons.Yatiraja was delighted to hear of this and sent Govinda toperform the jata-karma, or birth ceremony. After theceremony was completed, Govinda whispered two mantras intothe ears of both babies - sriman-narayana-caranau saranamprapadye, ' I take shelter at the feet of Lord Narayana' andsrimate narayanaya namah, ‘I offer my obeisances to LordNarayana'.As gifts for the children, Ramanuja had made out ofgold the five weapons of Lord Visnu - the conch, disc, club,sword and bow - so that by wearing them the babies might beprotected from ghosts and evil spirits. After six monthsYatiraja performed a name-giving ceremony both for Kuresa'stwin sons, whom he named Parasara and Vyasa, and for the sonof Govinda's younger brother, whom he named Parankusa-purna.When Ramanuja had stood before the body ofYamunacarya, he had made three vows: to write a Vaisnavacommentary on the Vedanta-sutras, to preach the philosophyof devotional service all over India, and to name onedisciple Parasara, in honor of the speaker of the VisnuPurana. Now all three of these vows were fulfilled.PARASARA AND THE PANDITAFrom an early age the child Parasara gave evidence ofhis genius and extraordinary character. When he was onlyfive years old, a renowned pandita known as Sarvajna Bhattapassed along the road by Kuresa's house, accompanied by many84