| Sages,Rushis & Saints |
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| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
RAMANUJACHARYA |
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Great Commentator It was then that Ramanuja remembered he had not fulfilled one of the promises he had made to his departed guru Yamuna. He was yet to write a commentary on the Brahma Sutras of Vyasa. He needed to consult the learned commentary written by Bodhayana, the immediate disciple of Vedavyasa. But that great work was in Kashmir. Ramanuja and his disciple Kooresha went on foot all the way to Kashmir. The King and his court-scholars were astounded by Ramanuja's profound knowledge. Ramanuja begged them to give him the work of Bodhayana. But the scholars refused. They did not even permit him to make a copy of the text. "At least, please let me glance through the work once," he begged of them. It was a very difficult text, and the scholars thought that there would be no harm if they allowed Ramanuja to merely thumb through the pages of the book. Kooresha read it aloud from cover to cover, and the teacher listened in silence. Kooresha understood his master's predicament. He had a prodigious memory and he was able to make a copy of the whole book by a mere cursory glance at it. The happy guru and his disciple returned to Sriranga. And then began the composition of Sribhashya, the commentary on Bramha Sutras. The guru dictated and the disciple wrote it down. Whenever doubts occurred he would stop and listen. Thus the writing went on. At one point the disciple grew a little uncertain about the meaning of a passage, and he paused. Seeing that Kooresha had stopped writing down, the teacher became angry; he abruptly got up and went out. But he soon realized his mistake and apologized to his student. He had clearly made a mistake and if the student had mechanically continued the writing, a serious mistake would have crept into the commentary. Thus the Sribhashya was concluded and Ramanuja came to be called 'Sribhashyakara.' The students of Ramanuja wanted what their teacher's mission should also include visits to pilgrim centers. The teacher agreed and they went on foot all the way. They toured the Chola and Pandya kingdoms and went to North India. They visited distant holy places like Dwaraka and Badari and reached Kashmir. They’e the Goddess of learning Sri Sharda appeared before him and blessed him by presenting an icon of Hayagreeva. Later he visited Varanasi. At Puri he established the Embar Math. He reorganized the temple service at Jagannath. He toured all over India and returned to Sriranga. |
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