Ramanuja and Desika

SRI RAMANUJA AND SRI VEDANTA DESIKA
(By Sri M.R. Rajagopala Iyengar Swami)
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Sri Ramanuja and Sri Vedanta Desika are held in the greatest honor
and reverence by all followers of the Visishtadvaita system of
religious philosophy, the former as its founder and the latter as its
stalwart champion against its critics.

Both of them had the greatest devotion and reverence to their Gurus.
Sri Ramanuja looked upon his Gurus like Tirukkachi Nambi and
Mahaapoorna as semi divine. To Alavandar with whom he had no personal
contact, his reverence was boundless. He thought that he was raised
from his state of insignificance by a contemplation of the feet of
Alavandar. Desika had similar devotion to his uncle Atreya Ramanuja
under whom he studied the Sastras. He considered himself as the
Sishya of Sri Ramanuja also and dedicated himself to the defence of
his system from the criticism of rival schools of philosophy. In
the "Sankalpa Suryodaya" Act II, he introduces a character called
Sishya as the disciple of Ramanuja. Though two centuries intervened
between them, Desika was proud to call himself Ramanuja's Sishya.

Desika was a more versatile and prolific writer than Ramanuja whose
works including Sri Bhashya are only nine in number. Desika's works
are more than a hundred in number. They are in Sanskrit, in Tamil,
and in Manipravalam, which is Sanskritized Tamil. To Desika, Sanskrit
verse was as it were his mother tongue and he was truly a "Kavi
Simha". Even his philosophical writings like "Tattvamuktakalapa"
and "Adhikarana Saravali" flow easily into lengthy Sanskrit meters.
He mastered Tamil prosody and composed verses in Tamil explaining the
doctrines of Visishtadvaita and defending them from its opponents.
Ramanuja was content with writing only in Sanskrit and even in
Sanskrit he seems to have preferred prose to verse. It was his object
to be easily understood by even the layman who did not know much
Sanskrit. Ramanuja's Slokas in Sanskrit may not number more than a
dozen.

The late Jawaharlal Nehru said in one of his writings that Sankara
was more intellectual than Ramanuja and that Ramanuja was emotional
rather than intellectual. This statement cannot be seriously
maintained. Anyone who has read Ramanuja's elaborate commentary of
Sri Bhashya will realize that he was as much a logician as Sankara.
Those who are acquainted with the seven reasons that he formulated
against Sankara's theory of "Maya" will have to admit that he was in
no way less intellectual than Sankara. But, there is much truth in
Nehru's remark that Ramanuja was emotional. Whenever he has to speak
of Bhagavan Narayana in his "Vedartha Sangraha", "Sri Bhashya and
prose writings, he rises to rapturous ecstasy.

With regard to Vedanta Desika, it is admitted on all hands that he
was a "Tarkika Simha, his mastery of logic and dialectic was profound
and unquestioned. His "Tattva mukta kalapam" and "Satadushani" bear
ample testimony to the keenness of his logic and dialectic. Desika
also wrote a large number of books and pamphlets in Tamil. He has
written eloquently in Tamil on "Divya Prabhanda" and has written
commentaries on it. Ramanuja on the other hand is scrupulously silent
in regard to Alwars and their views. This is because in his days
there was much prejudice against vernacular literature as being
inferior in quality and authority to Sanskrit works. As he was deeply
interested in Sri Bhashya making headway among scholars, he made no
reference to the Tamil writings of Alwars.

Ramanuja was a little more liberal in the matter of caste restriction
than Desika. We learn from "Guru Parampara" that in
his "grihasthasrama", he once invited to breakfast Tirukkachi Nambi
because he held him in great veneration. Nambi came earlier than
expected. Ramanuja was not in the house. The lady of the house served
the breakfast and after it was over, cleaned the house and all the
vessels and herself took a bath because Nambi was a Vaisya and not a
Brahmin. Ramanuja was greatly incensed when he returned to the house
and found no "uchishtam" (left overs) at all. Whether "uchishtam"
meant the leavings on the leaf or what remained in the vessels and
pots as Desika explains, it is clear that Ramanuja was for relaxing
caste restrictions in exceptional circumstances and in the case of
exceptional individuals. Desika, on the other hand, insisted on the
scrupulous observance of caste restrictions even in the case of
highly spiritual persons of the lower castes. "You may show them
great regard but not interdine or intermarry with them. As long as a
non-brahmin is in this body, his caste will remain. He
writes: "Surabhiyaanaalum Gotvam kazhiyaadhire" Even though Surabhi
is a temple cow whose milk serves as offering to the temple deity, on
that account its being a cow cannot be ignored" Similarly, *if the
Guruparampara may be relied upon*, Ramanuja proclaimed the Mulamantra
in the temple of Goshtipuram to all and sundry, so that everyone
might obtain salvation.

Ramanuja had what might be called personal magnetism and inspired his
countless followers not only with reverence but love and affection to
himself in their minds. Though scholar of Prathivadi Bhayankaram
Annangarachariar family who was a thenkalai Sishya of Desika tells us
that his master was full of generous kindness, Desika was perhaps
more reticent in outward manifestation of love to his disciples.
(Source: Swami Desika's 7th Centenary Commemoration Volume)