Ramanujacharya mocked the tradition of receiving secret mantras from gurus in the ear.

HIS TEACHINGS

Ramanujacharya propagated the philosophy of Vishishtadvaita or qualified non-dualism. According to this school, God possess a form and attributes, that are all Divine and beyond Maya. Lord Narayan is the Supreme Lord of the universe, and the jeev (soul) is a servant of God. The goal of the soul is to surrender to God.

HIS WORKS

Ramanujacharya wrote a commentary on the Brahma sutras called the Shree Bhashya. It is one of the most scholarly commentaries on the scriptures ever written. Ramanuja’s other works include the Vedant Saar (essence of Vedant), Vedant Sangraha (a resume of Vedant) and Vedant Deep (the light of Vedant).

LAST YEARS

Ramanuja preached the philosophy of devotion to Lord Vishnu far and wide. He visited all the sacred places in India including Kashi, Kashmir and Badrinath. Ramanuja travelled extensively in South India and helped to cleanse temples there of the unnecessary rituals that had crept into practice. He standardized the worship in these temples. He visited the Tirupathi hills, and endorsed the worship of Shree Vishnu in the temple there. He built several temples in the city of Mysore, and established it as the centre of his school of Vedant. As desired by his followers, he built a temple at Srirangam and installed his own image for worship. His physical body is preserved to this day in the sanctum sanctorum at the temple.

Ramanujacharya continued his ceaseless service towards spread of his philosophy until the age of 120 years, when he entered maha samadhi.

Saints of India

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