Govinda Reclaimed from Kalahasti

As related earlier, a Sri Vaishnava had been sent to Sri-Saila-Purna (Tirumalai Nambi) to plan how Govinda might be won back. Govinda had become a Saiva and been made director of the Kalahasti Temple. In time the messenger returned with a joyful face. Before he could speak, Ramanuja saw from his expression that he had succeeded and bade him recount all that had taken place. The Sri Vaishnava began:

"Holy Sire, with your blessing I reached Tirupati, made obeisance to Purna, and delivered your message. Purna rejoiced to find that what he had himself been contemplating regarding Govinda was also your wish. At once he set out with a group of followers, myself included. We reached Kalahasti, and Purna sat under a tree near the temple-pond.

"Ullangai-Konaranda-Nayanar — that is, Govinda — came to the pond with vessels to fetch water for Siva's ablutions, all the while singing hymns to Him. Purna said aloud, 'What fruit will you get by bathing cold water upon the kouraidecked thing?' Govinda heard, looked up into Purna's face, smiled, and went on his way. 'This will do for today. Let God work upon his heart,' Purna said to himself, and returned to Tirupati to attend to his usual studies and teachings.

"Purna tried a second approach. He came to the same tree and pond at Kalahasti. Nayanar — Govinda — was coming as usual with his vessels. Purna thought he would try a plan like God's own, working unseen. He wrote his guru Yamuna's verse — Svabhavikanavadhika (on God's innate, boundless perfection) — on a strip of palm-leaf, and let it fall across Nayanar's path.

"Govinda came along. The strip caught his eye. Out of curiosity he picked it up, read it, then threw it away and went about his errand. But as he returned with his pots full, he felt an impulse to pick it up again and read it carefully. He did so, looked around, and saw us seated under the tree. He approached and said, 'The wail turned into verse, said Valmiki. Like him reflecting over his spontaneous utterance, I have been reflecting over the meaning of this strip I found by chance. Did you, Sire, throw it? Is this your property?' — addressing Purna. A cryptic exchange followed:"

Nayanar: Have you lost your property?

Purna: We cannot lose our property. Only others lose theirs. (Meaning: we cannot lose our God. You have lost yours.)

N: Never mind that. How is it you are all gathered in one body? (That is, you seem to belong to one cult, pursuing a peculiar path.)

P: We have been brought together as various roads meet in one. (The path to God we follow is the one path into which all other paths open.)

N: But is there a path for those who stand aloof, as you do? (Kaivalya, aloofness — the state of souls who have escaped material bondage but have not yet recognised God — is what is sometimes called the aeonic suspension of souls, equivalent to eternal damnation.)

P: We are not aloof in that sense. The aloof are those who have discarded their real property, which is God; we hold our property firmly in our hands. We are God-sided, if you please — God's partisans.

N: Never mind that. Have you come here to leave your relatives?

P: No. We have come here to buy cattle.

N: Never mind. What is the difference between horizontal and vertical? (Is it not immaterial whether we paint our foreheads horizontally or vertically?)

P: There is as much difference as between beast (horizontal) and man (vertical).

N: I suppose this is the language of a new style — a new dispensation?

P: Nothing we have is new. It is as old as time, sanctioned by the Veda. Our Vaishnavism was not born today; it is as old as the Vedas.

N: But when we look into sacred authorities, we find they seem to support all sorts of cults.

P: Exactly. And that is why you should enquire deeply into the very depths of knowledge, to find what the highest truth is — and, diving, bring up the pearl of truth from the mud and ooze, that is, find Narayana in the tangled skein of the Vedas.

"Nayanar was struck silent. He simply nodded, scanning Purna from head to foot, and walked away, visibly thoughtful. 'His heart has been quickened,' Purna said to himself. 'The rest is God's own work. I entrust that troubled soul to Him.' And he returned to the holy hill of Tirupati."

On hearing this account, Ramanuja went into a paroxysm of joy. Turning to Dasarathi and the other disciples, he said: "Look at how our great guru Yamuna's holy voice has found its way into Govinda's heart, and how Govinda indulged in burlesque sarcasm with Sri-Saila-Purna — and how Purna matched him in the same clever style. Being well versed in Sastric lore, Govinda understood Purna's sharp hints and was beaten into silence. What a polemical victory! Let me now expound the meaning of their cypher dialogue, citing authorities:

"And if it is asked who is this Sat, this Atma, this Brahman:

"The Smritis, Puranas, and Itihasas support all this — see Bhagavad-Gita X. 2, XI. 37, IX. 10; Manu Smriti I. 8, XII. 132; Vishnu-Purana I. 1. 32, I. 2. 20, IV. 1. 39, I. 22. 64 and 78, VI. 4. 10; Mahabharata, Santi-Moksha 168. 78–79, 169. 19, 30, 31; Udyoga 67; Harivamsa 32, 223. 39, 279. 47, and so on.

"When Sri-Saila-Purna answered Nayanar in his own riddles, Nayanar, a master of the Sastras, was convinced. Feeling sure that Govinda was now well on the way to conversion, Purna returned to Tirumalai. How clever of Purna!"

Ramanuja then congratulated the Sri Vaishnava. "And what next?" he asked.

"Sire," the Vaishnava continued, "hear now the result of Purna's third attempt. He made obeisance to Lord Srinivasa at Tirupati, entered the outskirts of Kalahasti, camped in a grove, and spent his time teaching his disciples the commentaries on the Tiruvaymozhi — that is, the Bhagavad-Vishayam. Nayanar came that way and climbed a trumpet-flower tree nearby.

"Purna had taken up Tinnan-vidu — the second decad of the second centum of Saint Nammazhvar's Tiruvaymozhi — for exposition. As he recited and explained, Nayanar above listened attentively. Purna came to the fourth verse, which ends, 'Except the one God (Krishna), what other deserves flower or worship?' At those words, Nayanar leapt down from the tree, flung away his flower-basket, fell at Purna's feet overcome with emotion, and cried:

"'No, no — no other can deserve. Holy Sire! I am an ignoramus and an apostate, unclean, wallowing in the mire of worldliness. Save me, save me. Alas, that when the God of the two universes, Narayana, has been with us — when we have had the Love-beaming Lotus-Eyed (Vishnu) — when we have had Krishna, the Swallower of sea and land — when we have had the Kalpaka tree that saved the herds and herdsmen from Indra's storm — when we have had the Sri-breasted (Vishnu), the Silk-mantled, the Ganga-toed, the God of the fragrant Tulasi — I wasted my strength, energy, and time...'

"So Nayanar — now truly Govinda once more — begged Purna to save his soul from the wilderness of false faiths. Purna looked at his disciples and said, 'Repentance has washed this soul clean. Alavandar will now accept the purged heart.' He lifted Govinda up with loving hands, patted him on the back, soothed him, drank him in with gracious eyes, and folded him to his heart.

"The Saivite residents of Kalahasti learned of Nayanar's remorse and return, and gathered around Purna, protesting: 'Sir, how can you entice our Nayanar by mesmerising him with charmed dust?'

"'Why ask me?' Purna replied. 'Ask him. Know that our ways are hidden from you, and we never stoop to the ways of others.' They then turned to Nayanar and seized his hand. 'Come,' they said. Govinda snatched his hand away and said angrily, 'Here — take back the temple keys, the signet ring, and the other articles of your cult. From this moment my connection with you is cut. I am entirely free of the old shackles.' He clapped his hands, suiting action to word, and turned his face away.

"Beaten, they said to Purna, 'Sire, we knew all this yesterday, and yet we thought we would come to you and try to force or persuade Nayanar back. It is hopeless, we see. But hear our dream. Our God of Kalahasti, Siva, appeared to us and said: Listen, my faithful. In old days the Vedas and Sastras suffered at the hands of the Pashandins, the Bauddhas and the Charvakas, and were restored by the three-staffed sannyasin Dattatreya. Again now, as of old, the Vedas have suffered at the hands of heretical vandalism. To re-establish them, the celestials Vishvaksena, Ananta, and Vainateya have taken birth on earth as Yamuna, Ramanuja, and Govinda. To help them, the divine symbols of Vishnu — the conch and discus — have appeared as Dasarathi and Kuresa. The Vedic Vaishnavism that is to revive under these masters is a system after my own heart. Govinda once wished to live in Kasi, and I fulfilled that wish by appearing as a linga in his palm, giving him a chapter of Saivism so that he might himself demonstrate to others the comparative merits of the two systems — something best done after personal experience. Vaishnavas are a free people. Do not interfere. Let them alone.

"'Such was our dream,' the Saivas said, 'and so, Sirs, you are free — and we return.' Thus Purna's plans were fulfilled.

"Purna took Govinda home with him to Tirupati. On the shore of the holy pond, the Svami-Pushkarani, he had the tonsure and other expiations performed, and the five-fold sacraments (Pancha-samskara) of the Vaishnavas duly administered. Then the holy teachings in the Prabandhas of the saints (Azhvars) were imparted, and the five fundamental truths of religion were explained to him, making Govinda an all-round Vaishnava ready for evangelistic work with Ramanuja.

"Govinda looked upon Purna his master as God Himself. He knew no other God than his saviour Purna, to whom he was a servant in thought, word, and deed — as Lakshmana was to Ramachandra. And I, master, remained with them all this time, enjoying their company and their studies." So ended the Vaishnava's report.

Ramanuja gazed on the Sri Vaishnava with rapture and blessed him. The first successful evangelistic work of Ramanuja had thus been accomplished — the recovery of Govinda from his apostasy.