Ramanuja's Interpretations

Some time passed. Goshthipurna came on a visit to Srirangam, where he met his college friend Tirumalai-Andan (Maladhara). He took him along to see Ramanuja in his retreat. Ramanuja rose when his guru arrived, welcomed him with due respect, and entered into conversation.

"Ramanuja," said Goshthipurna, "you are now to hear the utterances of our holy saints — beginning with the Tiruvaymozhi of Saint Nammazhvar. I commend you to the care of my friend Maladhara, who has been thoroughly instructed in that lore by Yamunacharya." So saying, he placed Ramanuja's hands in Maladhara's, asked his friend to take the new disciple through a course of the Prabandhas, and left for his own town.

They began the new course of studies. But as Maladhara gave out the explanations of each verse as he had received them from Yamuna, Ramanuja expanded or improved them. Maladhara used to say he did not remember such explanations from Yamuna. "But they are right, Sire! That is truly Yamuna's mind," Ramanuja would reply.

In due course they came to the verse Ariya-k-kalattu (Tiruvaymozhi II. 3. 3). Maladhara explained it thus: "O God, when I was ignorant, You gave me the knowledge of my relation to You — and yet You have confined me in this body, which destroys that knowledge."

"This cannot be, Sire!" Ramanuja protested. "If you consider the flow of the whole decad — Tiruvaymozhi II. 3 — it is an acknowledgement of the manifold good God has done for the saint. One verse in the middle of the decad cannot be an accusation against God. By a transposition of its terms, the meaning becomes: 'While I was still confined in this body which destroys knowledge, You were pleased to bestow the knowledge of my relation to You, O God.'"

"I do not remember Yamuna explaining it that way to me," said Maladhara. "I do not care for such interpretations from you." He stopped teaching.

News of this interruption reached Goshthipurna, who came to Srirangam to enquire. Meeting Maladhara, he asked for an explanation.

"Friend," began Maladhara, "our studies never go smoothly. Ramanuja is too much for me. He has an endless store of new interpretations. For example, we were reading Saint Nammazhvar's verse Ariya (II. 3. 3). I read it as a complaint against God for His ways with souls; Ramanuja read it as an expression of gratitude, so as to harmonise that verse with the rest of the decad. Such a disputing spirit seemed to me a violation of a disciple's decorum, and his readings seemed contrary to Yamuna's mind. So I stopped teaching such an eccentric pupil."

"Pardon me," Goshthipurna interrupted, "Ramanuja is right. I remember our Yamuna explaining it that way. You seem to have forgotten. Friend, Ramanuja is incapable of going wrong. If anyone knows Yamuna's mind, it is he. Look upon him as another Krishna who once went to Sandipani for instruction. You are only a pretext. He knows everything. Do not labour under the illusion that you are teaching him truths he does not already know. So, as a friend, let me lay upon you henceforth the sacred duty of resuming the Tiruvaymozhi from where you left off — even if it requires you to wait upon Ramanuja instead of his waiting on you. He is such a disciple that his gurus must come to him."

Goshthipurna then went to Ramanuja's monastery with Maladhara and Mahapurna. Seeing them, Ramanuja rose joyfully, prostrated, and welcomed them. Peace was made, and the Prabandha studies began again in earnest.

Under these reconciling terms they resumed. Maladhara was again explaining a passage. "Not so, Sire!" Ramanuja interrupted. "Yamuna meant it another way."

"How do you know Yamuna?" Maladhara asked in surprise. "You never conversed with him once in your life. You only saw him after his death. And yet you dare to interpret his mind to me!"

"With your leave, Master," Ramanuja submitted, "look upon me as Ekalavya was to Yamuna. That will explain how I understand him."

"I understand you now, holy Ramanuja. My friend Goshthipurna's words are confirmed by my own experience. You are an avatara. It is you who are my teacher, not I yours. I have learned many things from you that I had not learned from Yamuna." So saying, Maladhara rose and made obeisance to Ramanuja.

Without further obstacle, the course of Prabandha study was completed in time.

Mahapurna now suggested to Ramanuja that there were still other mysteries which, if he wished, he might learn from the venerable Tiruvaranga-p-Perumal Araiyar. Ramanuja caught the hint at once. From that day onward he daily offered milk to Araiyar for six months as a premium for instruction. In addition, when the Adhyayana festival came round, Ramanuja prepared for Araiyar a turmeric-paste (manjal-kuppu) for his ablutions.

One day the preparation was not quite to Araiyar's liking. Ramanuja threw it out and prepared it afresh at once. Araiyar noticed this solicitude. "He loves me as one may love God. He loves me, a son of God, as God Himself incarnate," Araiyar thought.

"Come, noble disciple," he said. "You are fit to know the highest mystery. By your service you have earned it. You may lay claim to all I have. Know then that God's apostles and representatives on earth are God Himself visible in that form. Our Sastras proclaim:

"Know that God asleep is the guru awake. God invisible is the guru visible and moving. The gurus bring God's messages. They are God's mouthpieces. Through them God chooses to teach humankind. Look upon the guru — the saviour — as God Himself on earth. Look upon him as Saint Madhurakavi looked upon Saint Nammazhvar; as Lakshmana upon Rama; as Satrughna upon Bharata. This is the Panchamopaya — the fifth and ultimate means of reaching God."

Araiyar went on: "They are appointed and sent by God to carry out the work of salvation. They are empowered mediators between man and God. Those who reject them reject God, and their own salvation is imperilled. This is a hard truth for humanity, which is apt to deny a saviour by the very fact that he walks, lives, and shares joys and sorrows with them. Familiarity breeds contempt. Only those steer clear of this danger who can pierce through the visible symbol of the guru to what lies beyond it. Ramanuja — reflect seriously on this truth and be blessed."

Ramanuja received this teaching and became supremely happy.

One may ask: how can a single disciple have more than one guru? Mahapurna had been Ramanuja's first sacramental guru at Madhurantakam, as already narrated, and yet we find him learning from many teachers. There is no serious spiritual objection to this. A king may entrust more than one minister with portions of his realm's wealth, each to hand over his charge to the heir when he comes of age. Each minister discharges his particular trust in its own season. Such was the case with Ramanuja.

Yamuna had distributed certain spiritual truths among his disciples, each to be imparted in turn. Ramanuja was to have received them directly from Yamuna, but fate had ordained otherwise. His hopes, dashed when Yamuna suddenly passed away, were now fulfilled. Yamuna had signified to his disciples that Ramanuja was to be the High Pontiff of their revived ancient church, and the deposit of spiritual truths left with them was to be placed in his hands.

The gurus of Ramanuja were therefore bound to discharge their sacred trust. When they did so — each in his time — they were relieved and happy. Whether teacher or disciple, the canon holds: whoever is qualified to receive spiritual truths must be told them, regardless of prescribed formalities. A teacher, it is even said, becomes a teacher only when he has found a fit pupil and transferred his wisdom to him. So Ramanuja's teachers truly became teachers only after teaching him, and his disciples truly became disciples only after becoming his. Ramanuja is therefore described as the central gem in the precious necklace strung from the gems of the teachers and disciples of the Vaishnava apostolic tradition.