20170326 Talk on the 1000 Year Anniversary of Rāmānujya Ācārya.

Following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Maharaj on 26th March 2017 in Madurai, Tamilnadu, India. The talk was given on the 1000 year anniversary of appearance day of Rāmānujācārya:

We are here today to glorify Rāmānujācārya. I am very insignificant soul. We are very happy that you all attended here tonight. You know that our movement is based on books. Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa are the basic studies, and the ṭīkās of Rāmānujācārya are basis of many of the purports of our founder-ācārya. Prabhupāda once commented in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta that the great ācāryas have smashed the teeth of māyāvādī impersonalists, and he mentions Rāmānujācārya. So he says they can be called vedāntīs, because they have no teeth. They 'were' broken by Rāmānujācārya. Although we are technically in the chain of Madhvācārya, our saṁskāras are written by son of the head priest of Śrī Raṅgam. So many of our saṁskāras are very much similar to those of Śrī sampradāya.

I am sorry, I would first like to first offer respects to 'Jeeyars' (śrī sampradāya Sannyāsī) and Swamigals who are present. I was disturbed to hear so many praises of this humble soul.

So Lord Caitanya, he taught that He would take two things from each sampradāya. In Padma Purāṇa, it is given that four sampradāyas are bonafide. The Lakṣmī or Śrī sampradāya, Brahmā sampradāya, Rudra sampradāya and the four Kumāras. So the special worldwide observance is offered this year to Rāmānujācārya, and all over the world, in different cities, Rāmānujācārya will be glorified. Two items I think were the Deity worship and the importance of vaiṣṇava-sevā, both of which, Rāmānujācārya established.

He took the shelter of Yāmunācārya, and he was his special disciple. When he heard that his guru was sick, and at the point of leaving his body, he left immediately and went right to the spot of Śrī Raṅgam where Yāmunācārya was present. But he was there too late. Yāmunācārya had just left, and his left hand was in peace mudrā. The right hand was closed. So Rāmānujācārya said that there are three things that Yāmunācārya desired. One, he wanted that common people should be approached and explained how they should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and how the impersonal philosophy was very offensive. Then one finger opened on his right hand. Then he said, second thing is he wants vedānta sūtra ṭīkā. So he agreed to do that. I think that became known as śrī-bhāṣya. And second finger unfolded, of Yāmunācārya. Then he said how Parāśara Muni had glorified the relationship between the Supreme spirit and the living entity. So the third finger unfolded. And he said that he would like to name one of his advanced philosophical disciples after Parāśara muni. So like this, Rāmānujācārya knew the mind of his guru. And he became accepted as the senior most and advanced disciple of Yāmunācārya.

So we are also following in his footsteps. We are trying to save the common people from the playing of impersonalism. People are bewildered by impersonalism. The majestic form of the Lord is Nārāyaṇa. The accessible and more sweet form is Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Some say the majestic form is first. Some say the accessible form is first. But everybody agrees that there is only one Supreme person and he has unlimited forms. So it's just the detail - Who is first?

Rāmānujācārya came down from the spiritual world. And he came to preach the message of vaikuṇṭha. In this age of kali, it is particularly recommended that we chant the names of Krishna. In the siva-purana, Rudra tells Pārvatī that, "sahastranāma tat-tulyaṁ rāma nāma varānane", "One time chanting Rāma is equal to a thousand times chanting Viṣṇu". In the same śāstra it is said that chanting one time name of Kṛṣṇa is equal to three thousand names of Viṣṇu. So Ānḍāl the other ālvārs were chanting the name of the Lord. And Rāmānujācārya also recommended chanting the holy names. In māyāvādī school, they say that unless you take sannyāsa, you can't get liberation. But in the vaiṣṇava school, one can be sannyāsī or be a gṛhastha. The question is, are you able to always hear, remember, speak glories of the Lord. So now if we can have our gṛhasthas stay as they are but always remember Kṛṣṇa and Nārāyaṇa, then their life will be perfect.

In the each yuga, there is a different sacrifice. In the Kṛta-yuga, it was meditation. In the tretā-yuga it was homa - yajña, that means fire sacrifice. In the dvāpara-yuga, the Lord came Himself and there was temple worship. In Kali-yuga there is Harināma. Kalau tat hari-kīrtanāt. So Lord Caitanya said, My guru told me that, “I am a fool.” And he told Me, don't study ṭīkās, just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So although as Nimāi Paṇḍita, He was the greatest scholar, He presented that everyone should chant. In Tirupati - Tirumala, we hear how the mantra, "Oṁ Namo Nārāyaṇāya" is playing constantly. And all people say, "Govinda! Govinda!" "Govinda! Govinda!" So the Lord has unlimited names. And we didn't know anything about the Lord's names, His great service, if it was not from the great ācāryas like Rāmānujācārya. We are very grateful to Rāmānujācārya for his giving us devotion to the Lord. We hope that all people will take inspiration from the great life of Rāmānujācārya.

We heard how the people were criticizing that the secretary of Rāmānujācārya was a gṛhastha. And Rāmānujācārya sent out two disciples to steal. He told them to steal gold ornaments from the wife of his secretary. They entered through the roof, and they descended down. The wife noticed, "Oh! These are the servants of my guru. So let them take whatever they want, maybe the guru needs something." So they took the earring from one side and bangle from one side. Then she thought, "They must need the gold but I am lying on the other side". So then she turned over. But they thought, "Oh! We have been discovered". So they quickly escaped. Then the secretary, he came. And the wife was greeting him with a smile. "Why you are having ornaments only on one side of the body?" And she told him what happened. "You are non-sense. You are thinking it's yours to give. Whatever you have is the guru's. Why my wife, she doesn't understand?" So the two disciples heard everything from the forest. They went back and reported to Ramanujavcarya. Then Rāmānujācārya said, "Go to the sannyāsī āśrama and simply take the sannyāsī clothes and move it around." On that day, all the sannyāsīs came late for the guru-darśana. "Hey, you took my kaupīna (loincloth). Why did you take it?" Big fight, "I didn't take it, you took it!", "No you took it, you took it..." Sannyāsīs don't have anything. Just a lioncloth, but they were fighting. And the secretary who was gṛhastha, he had gold. But he said, all is guru's property. So then Rāmānujācārya had the disciples sent as thieves report. So who is more detached and who is more attached? So real test is one who is are we more attached to guru and Krishna, guru and Lord or are we more attached to what we think is ours.

So I don't want to speak longer. But Rāmānujācārya's activities have given us immense spiritual inspiration. So we are very happy that we could unite today, in the glorification of Rāmānujācārya. Rāmānujācārya, he went to the Kūrma-deśa in Andhra Pradesh and the people thought that Kūrma-deva was Śiva-liṅga. But Rāmānujācārya showed how the Deity had legs, and how He was Kūrmadeva. So Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu went there, and he heard the story and history of Rāmānujācārya and Kūrma-deva. There he gave the instruction, "yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa". Whoever you meet, tell them the instructions of Lord Krishna, become a guru and deliver your countrymen. So our sampradāyas are linked together. And with our full respect we would like to bow down to bow down before Rāmānujācārya.