Sripad Ramanujacharya - Part 2
When Ramanuja was only sixteen years old, his father, Asuri Kesavacarya, wanted to get him married. Accordingly, he selected a beautiful young girl to be his son's bride and made all the arrangements for the wedding celebration. The festivities lasted for an entire week and all the poor people of the neighborhood were satisfied by the distribution of large amounts of prasadam. After the couple had been married for only one month, however, tragedy struck the family—Kesavacarya left this world.
Kantimati was afflicted with terrible grief, and for Ramanuja also it was a time of great sorrow. Now that Kesavacarya had left them, Bhutapuri was no longer a happy place for the family, and they decided to move to the city of Kanchi. Ramanuja went first to construct a residence for them, and when it was completed they all moved there.
AT THE SCHOOL OF YADAVAPRAKASA
At that time a very learned scholar was living at Kanchi. His name was Yadavaprakasa, and the fame of scholarship had attracted a large group of disciples to him. Being desirous of understanding the Vedic literatures, Ramanuja also became his student, and his pleasant nature and quick intelligence soon endeared him to the great Pandita. However, this relationship did not last for very long, for despite his learning and knowledge of the scriptures, Yadavaprakasa was a firm adherent of the mayavada philosophy of absolute oneness. He taught that the all-pervading Brahman was the Absolute Truth and that the personal God, Lord Visnu, was illusory. Ramanuja was a pure devotee of the Lord, and so he was pained to hear the statements of Yadavaprakasa, that denied the supremacy of his beloved Lord. Out of humility and respect for his guru, Ramanuja would not point out the defects in these impersonalized teachings, but the situation gradually became impossible to tolerate.
THE FIRST CONFRONTATION
One day when the other students had gone home to take lunch, Yadavaprakasa asked Ramanuja to massage his body with oil. At that time one of the other students returned to the school to discuss with his teacher a passage from the Chandogya Upanisad they had been studying that morning. In particular, he inquired about the word kapyasam, which occurs in the first chapter, part six, verse even. There in it is stated, kapydsam pundarikam evam aksini.
Following Sankaracarya's interpretation, Yadavaprakasa began to explain that kapi'-asam referred to the rear end of a monkey and that the whole passage meant that the Supreme Lord had eyes like lotuses as red as a monkeys rear-end.
On hearing this horrible explanation of the appearance of his beloved Lord, Ramanuja, who was still massaging his guru, was filled with such intense grief that hot tears immediately began to pour from his eyes. When Yadavaprakasa felt the touch of these tears, he looked up in surprise. Seeing Ramanuja's distress, he asked what was causing him such pain. To this inquiry, Ramanuja replied, "0 masters, it causes me such suffering to hear this terrible explanation from a great soul like yourself. How sinful it is to compare the beautiful lotus eyes of the Lord to the posterior of a monkey. I never expected to hear such a thing from my teacher. Yadavaprakasa was angered by this challenge from one of his own students, and he replied sharply, "I also am very aggrieved. Impudent words from an inferior are never praiseworthy. If you have become so proud that you think yourself a better teacher than me, then let us hear your explanation of the passage. "By your mercy everything is possible," replied Ramanuja. Yadavaprakasa smiled derisively. "Now we are going to see this boy outdo the great Sankaracarya," he said. Ramanuja remained peaceful, and when he spoke it was in a very humble way. "Instead of understanding the posterior of a monkey from the word kapyasam," he said, "another meaning is possible. Kapi can be taken as kam jalam pibati, that which drinks up the water, or, in other words, the sun. The word asam also means to blossom, so the whole word kapi-asam can be understood as that which blossoms under the sun, or, in other words, the lotus flower. Thus we can understand the mantra of the Upanisad to mean that the Lord has eyes as beautiful as the lotus flower. Yadavaprakasa was very surprised to hear such a clever explanation from one of his own students and he realized that Ramanuja was a staunch adherent of the devotional philosophy of dualism. The devotees understand that the perfection of life is to worship Lord Visnu without any personal desire, and so they never aspire for oneness as the mayavadis do. This philosophy was directly opposed to the teachings of Yadavaprakasa and after this incident, his affection for Ramanuja began to wane.
THE FIRST CONFRONTATION
One day when the other students had gone home to take lunch, Yadavaprakasa asked Ramanuja to massage his body with oil. At that time one of the other students returned to the school to discuss with his teacher a passage from the Chandogya Upanisad they had been studying that morning. In particular, he inquired about the word kapyasam, which occurs in the first chapter, part six, verse even. There in it is stated, kapydsam pundarikam evam aksini.
Following Sankaracarya's interpretation, Yadavaprakasa began to explain that kapi'-asam referred to the rear end of a monkey and that the whole passage meant that the Supreme Lord had eyes like lotuses as red as a monkeys rear-end.
On hearing this horrible explanation of the appearance of his beloved Lord, Ramanuja, who was still massaging his guru, was filled with such intense grief that hot tears immediately began to pour from his eyes. When Yadavaprakasa felt the touch of these tears, he looked up in surprise. Seeing Ramanuja's distress, he asked what was causing him such pain. To this inquiry, Ramanuja replied, "0 masters, it causes me such suffering to hear this terrible explanation from a great soul like yourself. How sinful it is to compare the beautiful lotus eyes of the Lord to the posterior of a monkey. I never expected to hear such a thing from my teacher. Yadavaprakasa was angered by this challenge from one of his own students, and he replied sharply, "I also am very aggrieved. Impudent words from an inferior are never praiseworthy. If you have become so proud that you think yourself a better teacher than me, then let us hear your explanation of the passage. "By your mercy everything is possible," replied Ramanuja. Yadavaprakasa smiled derisively. "Now we are going to see this boy outdo the great Sankaracarya," he said. Ramanuja remained peaceful, and when he spoke it was in a very humble way. "Instead of understanding the posterior of a monkey from the word kapyasam," he said, "another meaning is possible. Kapi can be taken as kam jalam pibati, that which drinks up the water, or, in other words, the sun. The word asam also means to blossom, so the whole word kapi-asam can be understood as that which blossoms under the sun, or, in other words, the lotus flower. Thus we can understand the mantra of the Upanisad to mean that the Lord has eyes as beautiful as the lotus flower. Yadavaprakasa was very surprised to hear such a clever explanation from one of his own students and he realized that Ramanuja was a staunch adherent of the devotional philosophy of dualism. The devotees understand that the perfection of life is to worship Lord Visnu without any personal desire, and so they never aspire for oneness as the mayavadis do. This philosophy was directly opposed to the teachings of Yadavaprakasa and after this incident, his affection for Ramanuja began to wane.
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