Ramanuja's Call to Srirangam

Leaving Ramanuja for a while at Kanchi, let us turn back to Srirangam. The devotees of that holy city felt a great emptiness after the passing of their spiritual guide, Alavandar. How was this vacancy to be filled? They went to Mahapurna and asked him to find a worthy successor.

Mahapurna looked at them and said, "Have you forgotten the signs already given? When Alavandar was in Kanchi, did he not point to Ramanuja as his successor? Do you not remember how the sage's closed fingers opened at the mention of that young man? Ramanuja is our successor. Our acharya (preceptor) could not have been mistaken in his choice."

"Well said, well said!" cried the whole community. "We beg you, Sir, to reflect seriously on this matter. Kindly seek out Ramanuja, prepare him for his high office, and bring him here to Srirangam." Mahapurna gladly agreed and began preparations to leave with his wife. He sought permission from Sri Ranganatha, left Srirangam, and by steady marches reached Madhurantakam near Kanchi. There he stopped for the day at the shrine of Eri-Katta-Perumal (the Lord who guards the tank).

Meanwhile Ramanuja had himself resolved to travel to Srirangam and formally accept Mahapurna as his acharya, as Lord Varada had commanded. After taking leave of the Lord and of Kanchipurna, he reached Madhurantakam. There the two men met.

Ramanuja was overcome with joy and surprise. "O my heart!" he exclaimed. "See how your desire has come to meet you!" and prostrated before Mahapurna. Mahapurna was equally overjoyed to find his mission so quickly fulfilled. He lifted Ramanuja up and held him close.

"Here and now," Ramanuja prayed, "accept me as your disciple and teach me all that is good for my soul."

"We are so near holy Hastigiri (the elephant-hill shrine of Lord Varada)," Mahapurna replied, "let us go there for the initiation you seek."

"No, Sire, not a moment is to be lost," Ramanuja answered. "Remember how Yamunacharya breathed his last just when I was about to meet him. That is a warning against wasting time. Are not our lives here as brief as a flash of lightning?" So saying, he fell again at Mahapurna's feet. Mahapurna raised him up lovingly.

"What zeal!" said Mahapurna. "It shall be as you wish." He led Ramanuja to the holy vakula tree near the tank-guard temple, placed him on his right, and performed all the sacraments of initiation laid down in the Pancharatra Shastra. In outline:

The preparatory discipline for mantra initiation requires that the marks of the discus and conch (Chakra and Sankha) — or the five weapons of Vishnu (Chakra, Sankha, Gada, Khadga and Chapa) — be stamped upon the appropriate parts of the body with the proper mantras. This makes the imparted mantras effective. The wearing of these marks signifies that the soul has been wedded to God, just as a bride wears bangles to mark her union with her husband. The disciple sits before the guru with folded hands, humble. The guru meditates on his own teacher and on all who came before him, impresses the chakra upon the disciple's right shoulder and the sankha upon the left, and, looking at him with grace-filled eyes, recites the Gem of Mantras (mantra-ratna), asking the disciple to repeat it with him along with its chhandas (metre) and rishi (seer).

In this way Mahapurna, placing Ramanuja on his right, called to mind the feet of his guru Alavandar and, speaking into Ramanuja's right ear, imparted the Mantra-Gem, the Dvaya-mantra, with all its supporting teachings.

He then solemnly charged Ramanuja: "Holy son, I direct you most solemnly to consider yourself the appointed successor of Yamuna. He departed, you know, placing his holy feet upon your head, consecrating you to fulfil his mission on earth — just as Rama placed his sandals on Bharata's head and left to carry on the work of his kingdom." Thus Ramanuja succeeded Yamunacharya, with Mahapurna serving as the instrument of that succession. Pillai Amudanar recorded this in his Ramanuja-Nutt-Andadi.

Ramanuja then reverently asked Mahapurna to explain the triad of pramana, prameya and pramata — literally, the measure, the measured, and the measurer. Mahapurna replied:

"This measurer is yourself," said Mahapurna. Both then bowed to Rama, the Tank-Guard, saying, "You are truly Rama — He who delights the world. By your blessing, may there be one undivided faith, so that all people may love one another and live in peace. This is Rama."

They then left for Kanchi to visit Lord Varada. Kanchipurna met them on the way with due humility and escorted them to the Hastigiri shrine. He called upon Lord Varada to manifest Himself to these worthy visitors, as Rama-Misra had once summoned Sri Ranganatha to manifest Himself to Alavandar. They were blessed with the beatific vision of God, which they enjoyed in rapture.

Ramanuja then led Mahapurna and his consort to his own home and accommodated them in the upper story with every comfort. For six months, Ramanuja sat at his guru's feet, receiving from him deep lessons on the Dravida (Tamil) scriptures and the mystery-lore of the Sri Vaishnava faith.

One morning two Sri Vaishnavas came to Ramanuja and served him by anointing him with oil. Being hungry, they asked for food. Ramanuja asked his wife whether any food remained from the previous night. "Not so much as a grain," she replied. Ramanuja, suspecting otherwise, sent her off on some errand, entered the kitchen, inspected the vessels, and found food hidden away. He called his wife and spoke to her sternly: "Can you really do this? When hungry souls are waiting at the door, you hesitate? Is there any meanness worse than refusing food to those in need? And a lie added to the meanness! Oh, what a sin!"

On another day, while Ramanuja was out for his morning ablutions, his wife and Mahapurna's wife met at a well. An argument broke out between them over the comparative purity of their water-pots. Mahapurna observed the quarrel. As soon as his wife returned, he decided to pack up at once and leave for Srirangam, rebuking her for the incident. Ramanuja returned home, went as usual to visit his guru, and found him gone. He asked the neighbours what had happened. "Sir, your lady and your guru's lady quarrelled at the well over a pot. Your guru took his wife to task and, fearing that further unpleasantness might arise if he remained under your roof, thought it best to leave at once."

Ramanuja turned white with anger. Recovering himself, he addressed his wife: "Three times you have sinned. First, when my guru Kanchipurna ate in my house in my absence, you treated the leaf from which he had eaten as polluting. That was your first offence. Second, when hungry souls came begging for food, you denied it and you lied. That was your second offence. And now you have had the audacity to pick a most unseemly quarrel with my venerable teacher's consort. That is your third and crowning offence. You are no longer fit to remain with me. You are a worldly woman, blind to spiritual interests. Take this money — that is the stuff that suits such a nature. Return to where you came from." He sent her back to her parents' house.

"This world is hateful," Ramanuja reflected. "I must renounce all concern with it." It is said, "Bathe in the holy pond called Anantasaras, shadowed by the cupola of the holy temple, resolving that nothing in the world bestows real bliss. All sins shall depart. Seek Lord Varada as your refuge, and you shall gain the blessed regions of Vishnu." So Ramanuja bathed in the Ananta-saras pond and resolved to become a sannyasin (renunciate). The scriptures say, "One shall receive the holy order of sannyasa either from a mendicant sannyasin or from God directly."

Ramanuja went to Lord Varada, prostrated, and prayed: "O Granter of boons! Warder against death! Bestower of the Land of the Angels! I have seen enough of the many illusions of worldly life — fathers and mothers, wives and children, and all worldly goods. I am certain these ties block one's way to You and to spiritual preceptors. I do not value them; I value only You and Your holy feet. Grant me release from those and service to these. Invest me with all the insignia of the Vaishnava ascetic: the triple-staff, the holy thread, the under-cloth, the loin-cloth, the upper-cloth, and the begging hoop."

So Ramanuja prayed. Lord Varada was pleased, and through his official priest (archaka) granted the prayer, bestowing on him from that day the name Ramanuja-muni. "My own Ramanuja, you shall wear the robe of the sannyasin and serve Me" — so came the command through Kanchipurna. Receiving it with humility, Ramanuja retired and from that day onward lived as a sannyasin.