The Millennium Year of Sri: Bhagavad Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya (1017 – 2017)
Bhagavad Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya was one of those great souls who descended upon earth to save the mankind from the consequences of not following Dha:rmic Precepts as shown by Lord Sri: Ra:ma in Thre:tha: Yuga and taught by Lord Sri: Krishna to Arjuna in Dwa:para Yuga. Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya arrived at a time when many individuals, groups, and communities attempted to annihilate Sri: Vaishnavism by promoting other traditions. He became an ardent advocate of Visishta:dvai:ta by upholding its principles in many places across India and in other countries as well. The main concept behind Visishta:dvai:ta is monism, means, there is only one God, who is omnipresent. Love is what unites Him and the universe because all that we see and experience in this world are from Him. He is the only source of everything and everyone. Even our bodies and souls are emanations from Him. Nothing and no one (both living and non-living) can exist alone without Him. We are not independent entities but a part of Him. The fact that he is real makes both living and non-living things real by automatic. Thus, he is the Supreme Being in whom all reality is understood. He is within everything and everyone, and vice versa, that is, everything and everyone is within him. This is exactly what our dear A:cha:rya believed in and taught to others. Many traditions during the period in which he was born believed that the world and ourselves were nothing but an illusion and had tried to make everyone believe that God was nonexistent. However, Sri: Ramanuja:cha:rya disproved them by establishing three realities: the world is true, we are all true, and most importantly, God is also true. Thus, he encouraged us to lead a life of reality in a real world, with real people around us, and with a real power (God) behind us. Sri: Ramanuja:cha:rya not only looked at the external world but also the internal and gave us Bhakthi Siddha:nta, which teaches us to love everybody, not hate everybody.
The Importance of a Guru
A Guru’s profession is like a doctor’s, because both identify whatever weaknesses we have, eliminate them through a process, and make us strong. Note that just as a doctor does not criticize a patient for possessing a weakness/disease, so does a Guru does not criticize/humiliate those who The Millennium Year of Sri: Bhagavad Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya (1017- 2017) 2 come to him for help. Instead, they understand the problem, treat it with a proper medication till the problem goes away completely, and warns us (kindly) to not practice/follow whatever it was that led to the problem in the first place but rather to treat the right path. An incident that occurred in Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya’s life beautifully illustrates the benevolence of a Guru and justifies the realness of the world, us, and God. Before becoming a disciple of Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya, Dhanurda:sa used to be a selfless lover of his wife, especially her eyes.Our Ra:ma:nuja admired his selflessness, loyalty, and protection towards his object of love that he decided to channel those qualities of Dhanurda:sa towards a new object, that is, Lord Rangana:tha:’s eyes. Since the moment he laid his eyes on the mesmerizing eyes of Lord Rangana:tha, Dhanurda:sa gave up his attachment to material affairs and became a pure hearted devotee of the Lord of Sri:Rangam. This is a Guru. He never creates something new out of thin air but simply elevates us and expands our horizon by showing the other side of the coin that we have not looked at till he came along. He makes us understand the object and its purpose. There are and were many Gurus in this world but only Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya became a mentor to not only human beings, but to Lord Sri Venkate:swara of Tirumala.
Crusader of Social Equality
An A:cha:rya must possess a sharp brain and a tender heart in order to become a leader. Only such people will be able to lead the society towards any kind of excellence and to make a mark of their own. Sri:Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya was such a person who was both compassionate and intelligent. Sometimes his own teachers get upset with him and they had a hard time to accept his wisdom and brilliance! He treated all human beings and creatures as children of God. Remember, according to Sri: Vaishnavism, there is only one God, right? He created the entire universe. Say, there were downtrodden and under privileged people, then God’s compassion falls first on them only, not on us. If you do something good for these people, then God feels happy. This is exactly what Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya did. He not only gave Ashta:kshari Mantra to them, but also allowed them in the temples and said that we are all equal before God.
Regardless of the differences amongst ourselves, we are all different parts of the same God for we are all His children. If at all they are in pain, fell it as your own. If at all there is something good, share it with all. This is what Sri:Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya said, not today but a thousand years ago. This is the greatness of our dear Ra:ma:nuja! How lucky we are to know him! His message was that we should all treat all the living and nonliving creatures equally, as different parts of one God. We (including trees, animals, mountains, etc.) constitute the different parts of a single body called the universe. Let us try to understand this universal body and be compassionate towards each other. Say, an organ in your body is hurt, do you think the other organs in your body will go out and celebrate? No! They share the joys and pains equally. Let us all live like that! That was the message of the great a:cha:rya, Sri: Ra:ma:nuja! Our ultimate goal should be to live for Him just as every single part in your body lives for your sake only! Your organs never live for themselves, they live for the sake of your happiness. Similarly, we are all his parts and so let us all live for Him. Let’s make Him happy! This is the type of equality that Bhagavad Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya spoke about a thousand years ago. We should all respect the nature and all the things that come with it. Let’s live with it and not against it. Let’s respect each other and not try to pollute the air, else we will not be able to survive because all these parts make up one entity called God. We should share the joys and pains of each other, which in turn makes the Earth a heaven. Let us not make our beautiful Earth a hell! Terrorism occurs when people fail to recognize this simple yet powerful fact that we are all equal despite our differences. An effective medication/treatment for terrorism is Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:’s Bhakti Siddha:ntham. Let us love each other! Spread love, not hatred. We should consider ourselves fortunate to be present and celebrating his millennium functions. People before us were not able to witness these, and same goes for people who will come after us. We are all blessed to be living in the same year. Let us pay our respects and try to live with gratitude towards such great Guru:s. We are all truly blessed to witness the performance of Sri: Ra:ma Katha: Saram, which is just one of the many different festivals that are happening worldwide to celebrate the millennium year of Bhagavad Sri: Ra:ma:nuja:cha:rya.
– Acharya Su:kti Mukta:vali