YADAVAPRAKASHA – SWAMY RAMANUJA’S GURU BECOMES DISCIPLE OF SWAMY RAMANUJA

Yadavaprakasha  one of the great vedantee  of  Kancheepuram was  childhood   Guru  for Swami Ramanuja .

After the unfortunate incident  that took place on the way to kashi           ( Yadava Prakasa made a plot to kill Swamy Ramanuja on a pilgrimage tour and Sri Ramanuja escaped by slipping out into the forest as per his cousin  sri Embaars  advise  ) ,  

LORD  VARADAR rescued  Swamy Ramanuja in reaching Kancheepuram safely .

( Refer to the  below linked post about this divine pastime  )

https://kazhiyurvaradanblog.in/2015/04/05/lord-arrives-in-the-guise-of-hunter-couple-to-save-his-ardent-devotee-swamy-ramanuja/

 Swamy Ramanuja serving the Lordships attracted many disciples for his philosophical thoughts  and   beliefs    Swamy Ramanujas objective  was to reconcile the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Gita with the Tamil  Divya Prabandha. This new school of thought attracted many of them .

Yadavaprakasha was upset with the  turn of events . Once it so happened   Yadava Prakasa’s mother came to have darshan of Lord Varadaraja. She saw Swamy Ramanuja coming  along his disciples inside the huge temple . Impressed with his divine  thejas she offered obeisance’s instantly .  She  strongly wanted her son to  take shelter of Swami Ramanuja  and be of some use to the great personality .Praying Lord profusely she marched home to advise her son . She told her frank opinion of  Swamy Ramanuja’s greatness and  wanted him to become his disciple for his own up liftment .

Yadava Prakasa  bluntly  refused  and told his mother that it was not possible for him to become disciple of his very own disciple who was much younger to him in all ways . He felt it was below his dignity to accept him as  is guru as swamy Ramanuja himself was his disciple for a long time. Though he refused his mother’s suggestion initially ,  Yadava Prakasa  became restless  .

He was forced to recollect the incidents  how Ramanuja used to contradict him when his definitions were wrong to some of the scriptures. ( Many occasions arose when the  he used to  clash  with Swamy  Ramanuja on vedantic statements. Swamy  Ramanuja  used to fearlessly point  out the errors  and corrected him.  The  ego in him was slowly shying away  .

He also remembered that only  Swamy Ramanuja was successful in curing the princess and driving away the evil spirit.  His heart  agreed to his mothers advise . But the mind was rigid .  He was in a dilemma and was not sure what to do. He  rushed to meet the great devotee Swamy Thirukachi Nambikal and solicited his advice. Thirukachi Nambikal  advised him to  to accept  Swamy Ramanuja as his guru for he would  progress spiritually to higher levels very soon  .  The tussel between his mind and heart went on . Yet Yadava Prakasa was not convinced.

That night he had a dream in which a saint appeared and told him to follow the advice of Thirukachi Nambikal for his own good. Next morning Yadava Prakasa decided to  listen to his heart . He  went to the mutt where  Swamy  Ramanuja was staying. 

Swamy  was very much pleased to see his guru and offered him a seat with great reverence. Observing the  kashaya robes ,   the Urdhvapundram  on  his forehead , the shanku charka mudras on his shoulders swamy Ramanuja  was glowing with divine thejas . Yadava Prakasa’s ego got shattered and he looked at Ramanuja with  total surrender and  admiration. Yet his mind  wanted to clarify some of his doubts.

 

He asked Swamy Ramanuja whether there was any convincing evidence in sastras for wearing  the Urdhvapundram  and for initiating the insignia of sanku chakram at the shoulders. Swamy Ramanuja turned to Kurathazhvar  one of his disciple and  advised  him to answer Yadava Prakasa’s question. Kurathazhvar  replied to  Yadava Prakasa, “ Sama veda is supposed to be the best of the Chatur Vedas. Even Lord Krishna announces  that among Vedas he is Samaveda!

It is depicted in Sama Veda that Brahmins should initiate Thirushanku and Thiruchakram on the shoulders other than wearing sacred thread. They would attain Brahma lok through the blessings of Brahma.

In  Urdhvapundram (Thiruman kappu)  the thiruman symbolize the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu and the red Srisurnam symbolizes Goddess  Laksmi. Lord Sriman Narayan showers His Blessings on those who surrender to him and He is the one who could give moksha to all who surrender to Him.”

Swamy further elucidates the importance of the scriptures  in the subject  Kurathazhvar  explanations makes Yadava Prakasa  spell bound. Instantly he  submits to the revered saint apologising for his foolish acts . He falls  at the  lotus feet of  Swamy Ramanuja and pleads him to forgive him for all the sins he had committed.

He  pleads him  to accept him as his disciple and  uplift  him the right path.

 

Swamy Ramanuja with abundant compassion gives a warm  hug  and  with affection initiates him to Sanyasa ashram after performing the Pancha samskaras .  He rechristens his  name  as Govinda Jeeyar .

Swamy Ramanuja advises him to  write a book on the  subject , “The duty of sanyasis.” Becoming his disciple  and following the guidelines of Swamy Ramanuja Govinda Jeeyar at  the age of eighty Yadava submitted a  book “ Yathi Dharma Samuchayam,” and dedicated it at the feet of  Swamy Ramanuja.

It was really a cherish able event as a Guru became a disciple ..

All glories to Jagath Acharyar Swamy Ramanuja
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan

Pics credits : Advanced devotees of Lord posted in google images