In Praise ofrRmnuj

This year is the 1,000th birth anniversary of the famous Bhakti saint r Rmnuj. He lived for 120 years. He travelled the length and breadth of our vast country to preach his simple philosophy of loving God and surrendering to Him to attain liberation (moksha). This was not to be a preserve of the upper classes or the affluent. He touched every human being with whom he empathised and wanted all of them to be liberated.

Swami Vivekananda referred to r Rmnuj as a saint of the heart, as his heart went out to the downtrodden. His philosophy was practical and not abstract. It recognised the existential reality of the world. Referred to as Vishishtadvaita, the philosophy was woven around a personal God with all auspicious qualities and attributes. It combined the revelations of the Vedas and the outpourings of the Vaishnavite saints from South India called zhwrs (those who dug deep into the love of God). God was not only the end to strive for, but the means as well.

r Rmnuj composed totally nine works in Sanskrit, his magnum opus being the interpretation of Sage Vyasa's Brahmastra titled r Bhshy. His extensive early training in Nammzhwr's Thiruvimozhi was the foundation for his philosophy, r Rmnuj Daran.

r Rmnuj was a leader par excellence and compassion personified. Amudanr who composed the poem of 108 verses translated in this book, says that r Rmnuj succeeded where the Supreme Lord failed. The Lord was unhappy that in spite of his descending to earth in various incarnations, the people by and large lived in deep misery without any sense of purpose. He, therefore, chose to incarnate as r Rmnuj. The Lord succeeded in His mission during this incarnation.

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