Ramanujacharya â Biography - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree

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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
DISCOVERY OF SRI YADAVADRI-PATIAfter the conversion of Visnu-vardhana and hispriests to Vaisnavism, Yatiraja remained in that city forseveral months in order to properly instruct his newdisciples. Then, accompanied only by the followers who hadcome with him from Sri Rangam, he travelled on to the townof Yadavadri.One morning, a few days after their arrival, Ramanujawas walking through a tulasi grove when he saw somethingunusual sticking out a tittle way from underneath ananthill. Calling for his followers, he had them dig in thatplace, and it quickly became apparent that what Yatiraja haddiscovered was a beautiful Deity of Lord Narayana. The Deitywas cleansed and then installed upon an altar.The older inhabitants of the town recalled theirfathers speaking of a Deity known as Yadavadri-pati, who hadpreviously been worshipped there. "When a party of fierceMuslims attacked this country," they continued, "all theinhabitants of the town fled in terror. The brahmanas hidthe Deity somewhere to prevent the invaders from seizingHim. Since that time nobody has seen Lord Yadavadri-pati.Because of the greatness of your devotion, it seems the Lordhas decided to make Himself visible once more"Ramanuja then confirmed the words of the elders bysaying, "This is certainly Lord Yadavadri-pati, for lastnight He appeared to me in a dream and requested that Hisservice be reestablished in this place. Now all of you mustwork together to construct a beautiful temple for theworship of the Lord.Following the order of the acarya, Yatiraja'sdisciples and all of the townspeople set to work. That sameday they constructed a spacious straw cottage in which LordYadavadri-pati might be worshipped.In less than one year, by dedicated performance ofdevotional service, a beautifully decorated stone temple wasbuilt in the town of Yadavadri, and with great pomp, theLord was moved to His new residence. A nice lake was dugoutside the entrance to the temple, and the water was usedfor the daily bathing of the Lord. Around the shores of thelake the white clay used by Vaisnavas for marking theirbodies with tilaka was discovered. Previously they had tobring all of their tilaka clay from the village ofBhaktagrama, and so this discovery saved them considerableinconvenience.RECOVERY OF SRI RAMA-PRIYAIt is the custom in south India for two Deities to beworshipped in each temple. One Deity is worshipped daily bythe temple priests, while the other, generally smaller insize, is carried out of the temple for processions on98
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The Life ofRamanujacaryaTABLE OF CO
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egan to learn the wonderfully instr
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Ramanuja. Despite some minor philos
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For the devotees, Hi manifests His
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YAMUNACARYAIn the south of India ma
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furious rage to inform his teacher
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and faithful to her husband as was
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that there was little chance of his
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all the pleasures of my worldly lif
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with his wife to the temple of Sri
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THE FIRSTCONFRONTATIONOne day when
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"Sir, surely you could just forbid
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quickly dispelled all the misgiving
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shrine of the Saivites and dedicate
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was on everyone's lips. Yadavapraka
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Having given this advice to the you
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ahmanas were from Kancipuram, he im
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"My master wishes to see you, and i
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long periods he would remain alone,
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KANCIPURNA'S VISIT TO TIRUPATIMeanw
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‘All of you may recall how, just
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departed for Sri Rangam. While Maha
Page 45 and 46: RAMANUJA BEGINS HIS TEACHINGAll the
Page 47 and 48: Seeing the devotional sentiments in
Page 49 and 50: When the discourse was completed an
Page 51 and 52: To this the priest replied, "You do
Page 53 and 54: to your words, so many people are n
Page 55 and 56: DASARATHI'S HUMILITYDasarathi then
Page 57 and 58: great attention. When he heard Rama
Page 59 and 60: ADOPTING THE WAYS OF ROBBERSBeing a
Page 61 and 62: of the huge boat as it moved slowly
Page 63 and 64: THE PRIEST'S REPENTENCEHowever, in
Page 65 and 66: he walked over to the monastery whe
Page 67 and 68: make a flower garden and serve Lord
Page 69 and 70: However, when he heard about the wo
Page 71 and 72: offense, they all submitted a petit
Page 73 and 74: RETURNING TO KANCIAfter thus passin
Page 75 and 76: "That woman was singing the tales o
Page 77 and 78: However, that night as he was lying
Page 79 and 80: challenged by some of the local sch
Page 81 and 82: the birthplace of Nathamuni, Yamuna
Page 83 and 84: and so he and his wife were fasting
Page 85 and 86: from His temple, the throng of peop
Page 87: enclosed by walls on all sides, as
Page 90 and 91: considering him fallen, and that he
Page 92 and 93: and the other devotees also left th
Page 94 and 95: However, the atrocities that Kulott
Page 98 and 99: festival days. This form of the Lor
Page 100 and 101: up her body. Being immersed in cont
Page 102 and 103: heard Lord Varadaraja speak to him
Page 104 and 105: take part in the festivities. Many
Page 106 and 107: At about the same time the devotees
Page 108: When Ramanuja had finished speaking
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