Ramanuja (ca. 1077–ca. 1157)

The famous saint and philosopher Ramanuja, also known as Ramanujacharya, was born in India near Chennai at Perumbudur in 1017 CE and was the son of the Brahman Kesava Somayaji and Kantimath. Traditional accounts had given his lifespan as stretching to 120 years. This has not been accepted by modern scholars, who have attributed to him a lifespan from 1077 to 1157 CE. From an early age, he was attracted to the deeper realms of philosophy. Abandoning the life of a householder, Ramanuja became an ascetic. He was very well versed in the Vedic texts and soon fell out with his teacher, Yadavaprakasha, over matters of interpretation. Referred to as Yatiraja (King of Ascetics), he established a math (monastery) near the Vaishnavite temples at Srirangam. People belonging to all classes came to him. Ramanuja also undertook pilgrimages throughout India, preaching salvation through bhakti (devotion).

Ramanuja brought a rapprochement between the Vedanta philosophy based on metaphysics and the tradition of bhakti. One of the most prominent thinkers of devotional Hinduism, his fame spread all over India through his sermons and writings. A philosophical outline of resurgent Vaishnavism occurred. God was the highest reality, and within Him were the individual soul and the material world, which possessed qualified reality. Ramanuja differed from another great thinker preceding him, Sankaracharya (788–820 CE), who had propounded the Advaita Vedanta (the doctrine of nondualism). The latter believed in monoism and that perceived duality was due to maya (illusion). In contrast, Ramanuja's philosophy of Vishishtadvaita (qualified nondualism) emphasized spiritual experience of God through intuition. Salvation could be attained through devotion. The God of Ramanuja was full of devotion and love. His Bhakti Yoga was a form of sublime surrender to one divine being: Lord Vishnu or Narayana, the highest Brahman.

Ramanuja authored important texts, which formed the intellectual framework of his devotional worship. The Vedanta Sangraha (Resume of Vedanta) was the first work delineating theism and existence of realty. The commentary on the Brahma Sutra titled Sribhasya was his magnum opus. Lord Vishnu was the highest Supreme Being, protecting devotees who worshipped with full sincerity. The Vedanta Sara (essence of Vedanta) and Vedanta Deepa (Light of Vedanta) were the two other commentaries. He also wrote a treatise on the Bhagavad Gita called Bhagavad Gita Bhashya. Ramanuja also authored a book on the ritual of daily worship, Nityagrantha. His three prose works called Gadya Traya were the Sharanagati Gadya, Shriranga Gadya, and Vaikuntha Gadya.

Ramanuja had to leave Srirangam around 1098 during the reign of the Chola king Rajendra II (r. 1070–1120), who was an ardent worshipper of Siva. The tradition maintains that Ramanuja was [Page 1051]persecuted and left for Mysore. The Hoysala king became his patron, and Ramanuja set up a monastery in Melkote. He returned in 1122 to Sirangam. The intellectual tradition created by Ramanuja was carried to centers of learning and pilgrimage in India. His philosophy exerted a great deal of influence on successive bhakti movements down the centuries. Ramanuja's prescription of daily worship is followed in many of the Vaishnava temples of India, where he is worshipped as an avatar (incarnation).

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