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Great visionary

CHENNAI: A person who is popular among the laity will not appeal to the intelligentsia, while an intellectual will be appreciated only by a few. This is a common phenomenon one can observe in the world but Ramanuja was an exception to this. He had a mass following and also a broad spectrum of disciples ranging from an exceptional logician to a dumb person. His compassion for suffering humanity made him consolidate the system of Visishtadvaita into an inclusive philosophy, which is apparent from a perusal of many incidents in his life.

In his discourse, Sri V.S.Karunakaran said it was evident that Ramanuja was a visionary even in his youth. One oft-quoted example of his ingenuity was the manner in which he interpreted a scriptural verse when his teacher Yadavaprakasa’s explanation hurt his sentiments. Ramanuja provided many meanings much to the astonishment of Yadavaprakasa, an acclaimed scholar who had a dictionary to his credit. This made the teacher jealous and Ramanuja had to part ways with him, but in his old age Yadavaprakasa acknowledged Ramanuja’s greatness and became his disciple.

Ramanuja’s prowess as a commentator has to be appreciated from the insight he brings to bear on every verse. In his commentary on the concluding verse of the Bhagavad Gita, “Wherever there is Sri Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, and wherever there is Arjuna, the wielder of the Gandiva bow, goodness, victory, glory and unfailing righteousness are there: such is my conviction,” he states that this is Sanjaya’s reply to Dhritarashtra’s question to him in the beginning: “Gathered on the sacred soil of Kurukshetra, eager to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?”

Desika points out that the description of Arjuna as the wielder of the bow is elucidated in the commentary as his surrender to the Lord after listening to His teaching. So a total transformation took place in Arjuna. He who had thrown down his bow and arrow refusing to fight when confronted with the reality of fighting with his kith and kin when the two armies had assembled at Kurukshetra, in total obeisance to Krishna prepared to do his duty (took up arms) after listening to His teaching.

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