Life Of Sri Ramanujacharya - Part 7

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Goshtipurna was wild with rage when he came to know of the incident. When Ramanuja returned to take leave of him before leaving for Srirangam, the enraged guru cursed his disciple with harsh words of condemnation. Ramanuja replied with great humility that he would be happy to suffer in hell in return for these hundreds of souls who were now blessed with the mantra.

Goshtipurna's anger melted into stunned silence and he realised that this was no ordinary disciple. He remembered the divine voice at Srirangam, which revealed to him that Sri Ramanuja was the divine saviour born to liberate mankind from the darkness of ignorance. He embraced Ramanuja with great respect and sought forgiveness for his narrow thinking. Following this incident, people began thronging to seek refuge at the feet of this magnanimous soul.

In January 2006, I had the good fortune of visiting the Tirukoshtiyur Sowmya Narayana temple in the holy company of some monks of the Ramakrishna Order. Climbing to the top of the temple-tower, I could see Ramanuja standing there proclaiming the mantra of liberation to humanity. The beautiful temple-tank filled with lotuses and the serene atmosphere of the temple-town is etched deeply in my mind.

Ramanuja emphasised his faith in the divine nature of humanity and ushered in a revolution by throwing open the gates of higher knowledge to one and all, irrespective of social status. To this day, many great spiritual leaders of our times follow his example and have been giving mantra initiation to all spiritual seekers without discrimination. For instance, Swami Vivekananda initiated many foreigners into mantra diksha, the Gayatri Parivar today teaches the sacred Gayatri mantra to all its followers and Mata Amritanandamayi Devi gives mantra to thousands of her followers worldwide.

Let us all hope that a day will come soon when the whole of humanity realises its divine nature as Sri Ramanuja yearned and that man-made barriers of caste & creed will gradually dissolve into a bond of spiritual unity.