Sri Ramanujacharya Appearance
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In the year 1017 A.D., Ramanuja was born in the village of Perumbudur, about twenty-five miles west of Chennai. His father was Kesava Somayaji and his mother was Kantimathi, a very pious and virtuous lady. Quite early in life, Ramanuja lost his father. Then he came to Kancheepuram to prosecute his study of the Vedas under one Yadavaprakasha, a teacher of Advaita philosophy.

Ramanuja was a very brilliant student. Yadavaprakasha’s interpretations of Vedic texts were not quite up to his satisfaction. Ramanuja pointed out many mistakes in the exposition of his master. Sometimes he gave his own interpretations which were much liked by all the co-students. This made Yadavaprakasha very jealous of Ramanuja.

Yadavaprakasha made a plan to take away the life of Ramanuja. He arranged for Ramanuja and his cousin Govinda Bhatta–a fellow student–a pilgrimage to Varanasi. Govinda Bhatta, being a favourite student of Yadavaprakasha, came to know of the latter’s plan while they were travelling. He at once apprised Ramanuja of the danger and helped him to escape. By the grace of God, Ramanuja escaped with the help of a hunter and his wife whom he accidentally met on the way.

After the death of Yamuna, his disciples at Sri Rangam and other places wanted Ramanuja to take Yamuna’s place as the head of the Math at Sri Rangam. This was also the expressed wish of Yamuna. Accordingly, Ramanuja took his place and was duly installed with all the attendant ceremonies and celebrations as the head of the Visishtadvaita Math at Sri Rangam.

Ramanuja travelled throughout the length and breadth of India to disseminate the path of devotion. He visited all the sacred places throughout India including Kashi, Kashmir and Badrinath. On his way back he visited the Tirupati hills.

Ramanuja then visited all the Vaishnavite shrines in South India and again finally reached Sri Rangam. Here he settled himself permanently and continued his labours of preaching the Visishtadvaita philosophy and writing books. Thousands of people flocked to him everyday to hear his lectures.

He cleansed the temples, settled the rituals to be observed in them, and rectified many social evils which had crept into the community. He had a congregation of 700 Sannyasins, 74 dignitaries who held special offices of ministry, and thousands of holy men and women, who revered him.

He converted lakhs of people to the path of Bhakti. He gave initiation even to washermen. He was now seventy years old, but was destined to live many more years, establish more Maths, construct more temples and convert many more thousands of people.

Ramanuja was the exponent of the Visishtadvaita philosophy or qualified non-dualism. Ramanuja’s Brahman is Sa-visesha Brahman, i.e., Brahman with attributes. According to Ramanuja’s teachings, Lord Narayana or Bhagavan is the Supreme Being; the individual soul is Chit; matter is Achit.

Ramanuja regards the attributes as real and permanent, but subject to the control of Brahman. The attributes are called Prakaras or modes. Lord Narayana is the Ruler and Lord of the universe. The Jiva is His servant and worshipper. The Jiva should completely surrender himself to the Lord. The oneness of God is quite consistent with the existence of attributes, as the attributes or Shaktis depend upon God for their existence.

VOLUME ONE OF “CHASING RHINOS WITH THE SWAMI” IS NOW AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIOBOOK!
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Months in the making, my AUDIOBOOK version of VOLUME ONE of CRWTS is finally here! Reading “Chasing Rhinos With The Swami” is a great experience, but hearing it spoken (in my Tom Waits/Peter Coyote/Sam Elliot voice, a little gruff sometimes after a long session), with personal intonations and heartfelt emotions really brings this book ALIVE!
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We are surrounded by unlimited sins…
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The performance of sankirtana-yajna is a special concession for human society to save people from being affected by known or unknown sinful activities. We are surrounded by unlimited sins, and therefore it is compulsory that one take to Krishna consciousness and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 9.16.23 Purport)
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Our Whole Philosophy Is Love
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Without love, nothing can sustain. If I do not love Krishna, I cannot surrender—it is not possible. Just like a small child—he is naturally surrendered to the parents because there is love. The child loves the parents. So without the basic principle of love—the more you love, the more the surrender is perfect. Just like a small child—you slap the child, he’s crying, yet crying with the words, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,” because there is love. Even in distress the child cannot forget. That is natural. Similarly, when you remain fully surrendered to the supreme will, either in distress or in happiness, that is your happiness, that is real happiness.


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Internal Prayer Should Be a 24 Hour Process (4 min. video)
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Prayer is one of the nine items of bhakti. Prabhupada said we can pray to Krishna to protect us so we don’t fall down. Even great sages sometimes are in compromised positions and fall down. In our conditioned state, we’re actually praying to Krishna to protect us from ourselves so we don’t give in to our weaknesses. That should be our internal mood of prayer.


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Career, Kids, Krishna: Striving for Balance
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Radha Dasi (Rebecca Cornia, JD) is a successful, Harvard-graduate lawyer, also one of the few female members of the leadership of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Her journey has been a delicate dance of balance between her career, spiritual practice and motherhood. Career, Kids, Krishna: Striving for Balance
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The sankirtana movement is not a new movement
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The Hare Krishna movement is present in every millennium of Lord Brahma’s life, and the holy name is chanted in all the higher planetary systems, including Brahmaloka and Candraloka, not to speak of Gandharvaloka and Apsaroloka. The sankirtana movement that was started in this world five hundred years ago by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is therefore
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