Ramanujacharya – Biography - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree

just by looking at the girl's face. King Vitthaladeva wasdelighted and amazed to see how easily this devotee of LordVisnu had cured his daughter, and at once he became greatlydevoted to Yatiraja. Desiring to understand the teachings ofthe Vaisnavas, he bowed down at the feet of the acarya andbegged him to reveal the true conclusion of the Vedas.As Ramanuja spoke about the glories of devotionalservice and pure love of God, the heart of the king wasmoved. He began to regret his adherence to the Jainphilosophy, which is completely devoid of the spirit of loveof God. He called for all the Jain priests and panditas tocome into the assembly so that they might hear from thisgreat devotee and philosopher. When Yatiraja beganaddressing the Jains, clearly explaining the position of thePersonality of Godhead as the Absolute Truth, some of theaudience began to jeer and make a disturbance, until theywere ejected from the assembly on the order of the king.When Ramanuja had finished speaking, the leader ofthe Jains arose to attempt to refute the statements that hadbeen presented there. However, being unable to find any wayto contradict the flawless logic of the Vaisnava philosophy,the Jain immediately launched into a blasphemous attack onthe followers of sanatana-dharma, ignoring all the pointsthat Ramanuja had put to him.King Vitthaladeva, a man of keen intelligence, was inno way taken in by the Jain's diversionary ploy and he spokeout, "There is nothing so simple as speaking ill of others.You are a great scholar. Refute if you can, with precisearguments, the doctrine expounded by your opponent.Otherwise you must give up your false teachings and beinitiated intoVaisnavism"The Jain could find no words to counteract Ramanuja'spresentation and was forced to shamefacedly resume his seatin the assembly. Several other Jain philosophers thenattempted to establish their own opinions, but all to noavail.Then the king stood up and addressed the assemblyonce more. "Today you have all seen the most learned of ourJain scholars utterly defeated by this Vaisnava acarya. Whatthen is our present duty? To stubbornly adhere to doctrineswhich have been proven to be faulty or to accept and embracethe sublime teachings of loving devotion that we have heardso wonderfully presented? Any sane man will admit that blissis preferable to affliction and knowledge to ignorance.Therefore let all of us this day be initiated into the truefaith by this great devotee and thus become blessed."All but a few of the Jains accepted this proposal andwere initiated as Vaisnavas. The king also accepted Yatirajaas his spiritual master and was given the name Visnuvardhana.From that time on this was the name by which hewas always known.97