Ramanuja — Controversies and Miracles

Yadavaprakasa resumed his Vedanta classes as before. It happened that the princess of the king whose dominions included Kanchi became obsessed by an evil spirit — a brahmarakshas (the ghost of a fallen Brahmin). The king sought an able exorcist. He was told that Yadava was well versed in such matters and sent men to invite him.

The messengers told Yadava what had happened. Yadava replied, "Go back and tell the spirit: 'Yadava commands him to leave the princess.'" They returned and delivered the message. "Go back," roared the rakshas, "and tell Yadava from me to leave this country."

The king's men ran to Yadava again with this reply. Yadava now went himself with a troop of disciples. Standing before the possessed princess, he began muttering potent magical formulas and, shaking his fist, ordered the demon to depart. But the demon — speaking through the princess — stretched out her legs and pointed them at Yadava in utter contempt, saying, "Do you think, Yadava, that I do not know your magic and your mantras (sacred chants)? I know you. Neither your mantra nor your person has any power over me. You have no knowledge of me, nor of yourself. Be gone."

"But," Yadava retorted, "you claim to know me and yourself. Speak then."

"Learn from me," the rakshas replied. "In your past birth you were an iguana, living in the holes of the bank of the Madhurantaka tank. A party of Sri Vaishnavas traveling on pilgrimage to Tirumalai (Tirupati) stopped at the tank, cooked, ate, and departed. They left the remnants of their food and spilled some water. You scampered to the place and ate the leavings and drank the water. That chance merit has brought you to this present janma (birth) as a learned Brahmin.

"As for me, I was a Brahmin in my past birth. I began to perform a Yaga (a Vedic sacrificial ritual), but I made omissions in the chanting and in the actions required. And so I fell into this rakshasa birth. Now you see who has knowledge, and who does not."

"Very well," said Yadava. "Then tell me — who can make you leave the princess?"

The demon pointed, its hands folded in fear and worship. "There — in your own ranks — is that angel from heaven incarnate among men, whom you have the glory of counting as your student. His name is Ramanuja. At his bidding I must flee."

Yadava turned to Ramanuja and begged him to command the spirit to leave. Ramanuja did so. "But I will not," it said, "unless, O holy soul, you place your sacred feet upon my head." Ramanuja did so.

"I salute you, holy Ramanuja," said the spirit loudly. "I am leaving the princess."

"Wait," said Ramanuja, "how shall we know you have truly left?"

"By this sign," replied the spirit. "I shall enter that asvattha (sacred fig) tree over there. You shall see a branch break as the proof."

And so it happened. The king was overjoyed and loaded them with presents and honors. Yadavaprakasa showered praise on Ramanuja, glad that his own prestige had been saved by his noble disciple, and returned to his hermitage.

One day Yadava was explaining two Vedanta-texts:

Yadava taught that the first passage meant "all this cosmos is God" — identifying soul and God as one — and the second meant that all the diversity seen in the cosmos is illusory.

Ramanuja objected. The cosmos, he said, can never be identical with Brahman, nor can it be proven unreal.

The first passage — "All this indeed is Brahman" — means that the cosmos is permeated by God's spirit, full of God. In other words, the cosmos has no existence independent of God. It exists by His will. He is its Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer. He is its Ruler, and rules by His indwelling presence.

The second passage means that the diversity in the cosmos is real because it is sustained by the unity of God. One who sees the diverse cosmos as severed from God does not see rightly. There is but one God — not two, not many. In Him is all.

Thus the passage is not a denial of the cosmos. The cosmos is eternally real in its substance, though outwardly it undergoes change in its attributes. It is an axiom that nothing can come out of nothing. The cosmos is real. It is in God — who alone is one, not many. This text is an assertion, not a negation, of the cosmos.

As stubbornly as Yadava preached his pantheism, so stubbornly did Ramanuja refute him. At last Yadava became enraged. "You can read with me no longer, sir," he cried. "Go and find yourself a more congenial teacher."

Ramanuja was glad to leave this teacher of impossible and absurd philosophy. He went straight home and told his mother, Sri Devi, all that had happened.

"Enough of your studies, son!" she said. "Tirukkacchi Nambi is in great favor with Lord Varadaraja. Seek his advice and his service, and abide by his will. That will bring you every good."

Ramanuja at once sought out Tirukkacchi Nambi and asked him for some service in the temple of Lord Varadaraja — even as Lakshmana once said to Rama:

Nambi replied, "Lord Varadaraja much enjoyed the water from the Salai well that you once brought Him. Fetch it daily and serve Him." And so Ramanuja devoted himself to this service.

Jai Srimannarayana.