The Glories of Ramanujacarya

[Guest guest]

[Respected Harikatha Readers, This

year, 2009, Sri Ramanujacarya’s disappearance day is February 5th. In

order to serve you in observing this sacred day, we are sending you a

transcription of Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja’s

informal darsana, given in Hawaii in 2007, at which time Srila Maharaja

discussed his glories. That informal darsana took place with only the

few devotees in his traveling party, so we especially thank his

personal cook, Madhuvrata dasa brahmacari, for sending us the

sound-file. Srila Narayana Maharaja’s talk was brief, and therefore we

have included excerpts from his lecture given in Mathura in 2000, in

brackets, to fill out the history:]Sri

Ramanujacarya was born in South India. He is an incarnation of

Laksmana. The word ‘anuja’ means ‘younger brother’. Rama-anuja refers

to the younger brother of Lord Rama; therefore, he is Ramanuja. In

Kali-yuga, he is the acarya of the Sri (Laksmi) Sampradaya. He is the

disciple of Yamunacarya. As a boy, he was exceptionally

intelligent. At a very young age, he knew all Sanskrit grammar

(vyakarana), literature (sahitya), and all the deep conclusions of the

Vedic scriptures.[sri Ramanujacarya is an incarnation of

Laksmana (Lord Rama’s younger brother), and he accepted the Sri

Sampradaya. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada took

many teachings from him, such as the duties of the sannyasi, the duties

of the disciple, and the etiquette of the Vaisnava. He utilized

one-hundred eight teachings. We follow these teachings, and we have

also published them in our Bhagavata Patrika and Gaudiya Patrika (Hindi

and Bengali Magazines).] His

teacher, Yadavacarya, was a follower of the Mayavada (the theory that

all variety and individuality are illusion) and Advaitavada (the theory

that the only truth is impersonal undifferentiated oneness)

philosophies. One day, his teacher began to explain his understanding

of the beauty of Sri Krsna’s eyes. In this regard Chandogya Upanisad

uses the word ‘kapyasam.’ Yadavacarya explained that ‘kapi’ means

‘monkey’, and that the monkey’s rear-end (kapi-asam) is reddish on both

sides. He concluded that Krsna’s lotus eyes are like a monkey’s

rear-end. Hearing this, Ramanuja began to weep. Later, when

Ramanuja was massaging Yadavacarya, he told him, “The explanation you

have given for kapyasam is wrong. ‘Kapi’ can be understood to mean

‘that which takes water from everywhere’. Who takes water? The sun. The

word ‘asam’ also means ‘to blossom’, so the word ‘kapi-asam’ can be

understood as ‘that which blossoms under the sun,’ or, in other words,

‘the lotus flower’. Thus, we can understand the verse to mean that the

Lord’s eyes are as beautiful as the lotus flower.â€[sri

Ramanujacarya took birth in a simple family. His mother and father were

not very wealthy, but they were of a high brahmana caste and they were

very learned. Ramanuja was an outstanding boy from his childhood. While

under the guidance of a Mayavadi guru named Yadavacarya, he was very

careful in his studies. One day, when his guru was giving an impersonal

explanation of a verse that contained the word kapyasana, he compared

the lotus-eyes of the Lord to the hind part of a monkey which is

reddish near its tail. Hearing this from his Gurudeva’s mouth, Ramanuja

began to cry in great pain. He felt grief in his heart that his

Gurudeva had used such a bad analogy for describing the lotus-like eyes

of the Lord. After collecting himself, he very politely asked if he

could say something about the verse. Yadavacarya assented, and Ramanuja

very nicely gave many explanations according to Sanskrit grammar. He

said that the term kapyasana actually means one who brings water, and

that is the sun. The lotus blossoms by the potency of the sun, and

therefore the Lord’s eyes are compared to the lotus, not the monkey.]Ramanuja’s

teacher became astonished, thinking, “If this boy is so knowledgeable

at such a young age, what will he do when he is grown up? If he remains

alive, this Mayavada teaching will be finished.†His teacher then

planned to murder him.[When Yadavacarya heard this, he thought,

“This boy is dangerous. He is very expert and is giving such nice

explanations. In the future he might uproot all the impersonal

teachings from the Vedas, and so I must kill him.â€] Thinking

to trick Ramanuja, Yadavacarya told him that he was going to travel

with all his students to do some preaching, and that Ramanuja should

also accompany them. Ramanuja was a very sincere and innocent boy, so

he didn’t understand his teacher’s intentions. Then,

when they were all in a very deep forest, they decided that this would

be the time to murder him. Govinda, his cousin-brother, told him of

their plan, and urged him to quickly flee from there. Therefore, in the

middle of the night, Ramanuja told them that he was going to the

toilet, and he ran away. Now alone, he suddenly saw a hunter, along with his wife, holding a hurricane light. The man asked him, “Where are you going?†Ramanuja answered, “I am going to Kancipuram.†The man replied, “We are also going there, so come with us.†When

he arrived at Kancipuram, his own village, which was very far away,

those persons disappeared. Ramanuja then began to weep. He understood

that it was certainly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana

Himself, along with His eternal consort, Laksimi-devi, who had saved

his life. [Throughout

the day and night, he passed through the dense forest. It was difficult

for him to discern his way, especially at night. The Lord, seeing His

dear devotee in such a state, then appeared in the form of Bharadraja

and, holding a lantern in His hand, showed Ramanuja the way. Thus,

within no time at all, Sri Ramanuja crossed the entire distance of the

forest and found that he was standing outside his village.]Sometime

later, Ramanuja’s teacher returned to the village. He had been thinking

that perhaps a lion or tiger had eaten Ramanuja, and he was very happy.

However, when he arrived, he saw that Ramanuja was alive. He called him

and told him to forget everything that had happened, Ramanuja again

resumed his Sanskrit studies with Yadavacarya. [After some

days, out of compassion for Yadavacarya and with a desire to deliver

him, he again began studying under his guidance. After some years,

Ramanuja converted Yadavacarya to Vaisnava philosophy, whereupon his

teacher became his disciple. At one point thereafter, Ramanuja began

hearing of the qualities of a great Vaisnava guru in South India by the

name of Sri Yamunacarya, and he eventually became Sri Yamunacarya’s

disciple.] Later he married. After his marriage, he began to teach boys in a Sanskrit school, and all the students liked him. [Later

on he married, and his wife was very quarrelsome. Her behavior was

discourteous and uncooperative, and incidents would often take place

which he would somehow have to tolerate.]One day, a disciple of

Sri Yamunacarya named Kancipurna came to the house of Ramanuja. He was

from a very low-caste family, but he was a very high-class devotee. He

came there along with his wife by the order of his Gurudeva, and he now

began to give his association to Ramanujacarya. [A

disciple of Sri Yamunacarya and elder god-brother of Ramanuja named

Kancipurna came to Ramanuja’s village along with his wife. Ramanuja

accepted Kancipurna as a siksa-guru.]One day, when

Ramanujacarya’s wife was drawing water from the well, Kancipurna’s wife

was also there drawing water. Some water from the bucket of

Kancipurna’s wife fell into Ramanuja’s wife’s bucket. She immediately

became very angry and started to insult the wife of Kancipurna with

abusive language. When Kancipurna returned, his wife told him of the

incident at the well, and he immediately left the house of

Ramanujacarya. Upon hearing the reason why his siska-guru had departed,

Ramanujacarya began to think, “I should not be with this lady. Somehow,

I should give her up right away.†[One day, when Kancipurna’s

wife was taking some water from a well, she met Ramanuja’s wife, who

had also come to the well for drawing water. It so happened that while

taking the water out of the well, some water from the pot of

Kancipurna’s wife spilled into the pot of Ramanuja’s wife. Although

this was a small accident, Ramanuja’s wife became furious and insulted

Kancipurna’s wife with abusive language. Kancipurna became hurt when he

later on heard about this, and, without informing Ramanuja, he and his

wife left that place and went to Sri Rangam. When Sri Ramanuja came to

know that his wife’s behavior had offended a Vaisnava, he felt very bad

and thought, “She is committing vaisnava-aparadha; she has such an

offensive mentality. I must do something about this.â€]Later,

Sri Yamunacarya sent Purnacarya to bring Ramanuja to him in Sri Rangam.

However, Yamunacarya was very sick at that time, and, by the time

Ramanuja arrived in Sri Rangam, he had departed from the vision of the

world. Purnacarya, was sent there to bring him to Sri Rangam. Ramanuja

used to give him so much honor – always offering him obeisances and

treating him like his siksa-guru. While living with Ramanuja,

Purnacarya began to impart the instructions he had received from his

Gurudeva, Sri Yamunacarya. One

day, when Ramanuja was teaching at the school, a hungry brahmana came

there. Ramanuja told him, “If you go to my house to beg, my wife will

give you something.†However, when the brahmana went there, Ramanuja’s

very cruel wife said, “I can’t give you anything. Go! Get out of here!â€

The brahmana returned to Ramanuja, who then told him to go back to his

house and tell my wife, “I am coming from the house of your father. He

sent me to you, so please take this letter from him.†Ramanuja

personally wrote the letter he gave to the brahmana to deliver to his

wife. The letter stated, “Your brother will marry very soon, so you

must come to your father’s house.†After reading the letter, Ramanuja’s

wife began to honor that brahmana, and she gave him a large quantity of

delicious prasadam. [One

day, a hungry brahmana came to Ramanuja, asking for some food. Ramanuja

sent this brahmana to his wife, telling him, “Go to my home and tell my

wife that I sent you. She will give you some food.†When that brahmana

came to Ramanuja’s wife, she boldly insulted him again and again. She

told him he should get out of there, and that there was no food for

him. Returning to Ramanuja, the brahmana reported what had happened,

and Ramanuja replied, “Wait here for a few minutes.†He left and wrote

a letter to his wife, as though it was written by her father, stating,

“O my dear daughter, I am arranging the marriage of my son, your

brother. So you should come. Please bring your husband with you.†Writing

these words very nicely, he folded that letter and tied it with

colorful threads. And, along with that, he sent a coconut and other

auspicious items. He then gave that letter to the brahmana and said,

“Now go again to my wife. She will welcome you nicely this time. The

brahmana went again. After reading the letter, Ramanuja’s wife’s

behavior completely changed. This time she welcomed him warmly and

sweetly, and offered him all kinds of palatable food and sweets. When

Ramanuja came home, his wife told him about the marriage. She cited her

father’s request for both of them to come, and requested him to please

come along. Ramanuja said, “No, I cannot come, for I am very busy; you may go now with this brahmana. Don’t be late.â€] When

his wife left to go to the house of her father, Ramanuja also left that

house. He went to Sri Rangam to meet his Gurudeva, Sri Yamunacarya, but

Yamunacarya had left his body just before Ramanuja arrived. Ramanuja

saw that many devotees were walking with the transcendental body of

Yamunacarya. All of his disciples were weeping as they carried his body

to be placed in samadhi. [After

his wife left with that brahmana, Ramanuja locked the door of his house

and went to Sri Rangam to meet his Gurudeva, Sri Yamunacarya. He wanted

to take sannyasa from him, but when he reached Sri Rangam, he found

that Sri Yamunacarya had just passed away and his disciples were

walking in procession with his divine body. Ramanuja felt very

disheartened and sad.]He told them, “I have accepted

Yamunacarya as my Gurudeva. I want to see his face.†Yamunacarya’s

disciples stopped and lifted the cloth from his body. Ramanuja could

see that three of Yamunacarya’s fingers were folded. [He asked

them to stop for a moment. He wanted them to uncover the transcendental

body so that he could take darsana of his Gurudeva’s divine form. He

observed that all the fingers on one of his Gurudeva’s hands were open,

and on the other, three fingers were closed. He inquired from the

disciples all around as to why this was, and he wanted to know when it

happened. No one could answer. They said, “We didn’t notice it before;

it must have happened just now.â€]He

promised in front of all present, ‘I will write the Sri-bhasya

commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.†One of the fingers immediately became

straight. He then said, “I will take sannyasa,†and the second finger

relaxed. Lastly, he said, “I will preach the mission of my Gurudeva,

Yamunacaryaâ€, at which time the last finger relaxed and became

straight. Seeing this, everyone present became astonished. [Ramanuja

became silent, and after some time he spoke, addressing Sri

Yamunacarya’s transcendental body. He said, “Now, I will first of all

write a Vaisnava commentary on Vedanta, and I will preach that Vaisnava

commentary throughout India.†One finger opened, and Ramanuja spoke

further, “I will take tridandi-sannyasa right now, and I will preach

the message of vaisnava-dharma and your teachings.†When Sri

Yamunacarya heard that, his second finger opened. Ramanuja then said,

“I will systematically write about Vaisnava etiquette, explaining the

behavior required to execute pure devotional service, and what

precautions should be taken. I will also preach this throughout India.â€

After uttering this third statement, Sri Ramanujacarya observed, along

with all present, that three of Yamunacarya’s fingers had now opened.

Then and there, Sri Ramanujacarya formally accepted tridandi sannyasa

from Sri Yamunacarya.]After

Yamunacarya was given samadhi, Ramanujacarya was elected to become the

next acarya, as Yamunacarya’s successor. He immediately said, “I will

not become the next acarya right away. Give me time. Give me two

years.†He then spent some time with each of the prominent disciples of

Yamunacarya. He served them and heard from them what they had learned

from their Gurudeva. Only after hearing from them for two years did he

accept the post of acarya. [sri

Ramanujacarya had now formally taken sannyasa initiation from Sri

Yamunacarya. Afterwards, all the disciples of Sri Yamunacarya, who were

great scholars and who had served their Gurudeva for so many years,

came together. Having seen the extraordinary characteristics and

personality of Sri Ramanujacarya, they collectively decided that he

should be appointed as the next acarya after their Guru, and they

honored him with the acarya seat in Sri Rangam. Sri Ramanujacarya

accepted the orders of his god-brothers, but before sitting and acting

as the acarya, he went to each of his god-brothers, for two months,

four months, six months, or one year, and served each of them. He thus

formally endeavored to understand the teachings of Sri Yamunacarya,

since he had not gotten the opportunity to spend much time with him.

After serving and satisfying them, he commenced his role as acarya of

the Sri Sampradaya in Sri Rangam.] Later,

the ruler of that country, King Koluttunga II, heard that Ramanujacarya

was very strongly preaching his philosophy. Koluttunga II wanted him

killed, fearing that if he remained alive, the Saiva Sampradaya

(comprised of so-called devotees of Lord Siva) would be finished. He

sent a message telling Ramanujacarya to come at once for a debate. Ramanujacarya

and all his associates knew that the king wanted to kill him. His

disciple Kuresh told him, “Gurudeva, please do not go. I will go in

your place. Please give me your danda and sannyasa cloth.†Insisting,

Kuresh took them from him and gave him his own white cloth. He told

Ramanuja to leave that place at once. Then, having taken his Guru’s

sannyasa cloth and danda, Kuresh went to the palace of the king. In

the palace there was a great debate, during which Kuresh defeated all

the king’s pandits. However, Kuresh was alone, so the king’s pandits

told everyone that he had been defeated. They forcibly detained him,

and only released him after blinding him by plucking out both of his

eyes. He then began to search for his Gurudeva, who was now very far

away. Fortunately, after some time, he came to the same village where

Ramanujacarya was residing. Within

that village there were two disciples – one very rich and one very

poor. Ramanujacarya told his disciples to go to the house of the rich

devotee, because his group was more than fifty in total, and ask him to

prepare prasadam and a place to stay for all of them. Two of

Ramanuja’s disciples went to the rich man’s house and gave him this

message. The rich man felt extremely happy and became totally absorbed

in preparing for the arrival of Ramanujacarya and all of his devotees.

However, he didn’t come back out to share these plans with his two

god-brothers at the door. After waiting for some time, those disciples

went back to Ramanujacarya and told him that they had gone to the house

of that rich devotee, but he had left them waiting and had not come

back to them. Ramanujacarya replied, “Oh, then we will all go to the

house of that poor man.†That

very poor brahmana used to go and beg for ingredients so that his wife

could cook prasadam. He had only one piece of proper cloth, which his

wife used, so when he would go begging, he would take the cloth of his

wife. On that particular day, after midday, he could not

collect any more, and he decided to return home. In the meantime,

before his return, Sri Ramanujacarya, with all of his disciples,

suddenly came to his house. His wife was very happy to see her

Gurudeva, but she also felt very ashamed because she had no proper

cloth to wear. Sri Ramanuja understood this, and he gave her his own

chadar. She wrapped this around herself and came in his presence. After she gave a mat for her Gurudeva and his followers to sit

on, she began to wonder, “How shall I arrange prasadam for everyone?â€

She remembered that one of her neighbors, who was a rich businessman,

was very attracted to her and had lusty desires toward her. He had

previously told her of his desires, but she was very chaste and had

always rejected his proposals. However, in her current predicament, she

went to that man and told him that she would fulfill his desire.She

was thinking, “What is the use of my chastity if I cannot serve my

Gurudeva? For my Gurudeva, I should be prepared to do anything.†She

told that rich man, “I am ready to do what you want, but in return I

want you to arrange many ingredients so that I can cook and give

prasadam to my Gurudeva and all of his disciples.†Hearing this, the

rich man became very joyful and gave her more than what she wanted.

Taking all that he gave her, she prepared very good prasadam for all

the devotees, and everyone was happy. While

Ramanujacarya and all the devotees were resting after prasadam, her

husband returned home. He asked her, “Gurudeva and all his disciples

have come. How are we going to arrange for their needs?†She replied, “I have done everything. There is nothing to worry about. They have all taken prasadam and are resting now.†Her husband asked, “How did you make all those arrangements?†She

began to tell him the story about the lusty neighbor. She said, “I was

thinking that my Gurudeva has come; if I cannot serve him, then what is

the use of my chastity? So I went and told that lusty man that if he

would give me all the ingredients to make very nice prasadam, then I

would offer myself. He did as I asked, so now that it is night I must

go to him.†Her husband told her, “I will come with you.†It

was raining at that time, so they took an umbrella and went to the

house of that rich person along with the mahaprasadam. The wife entered

his home alone, and the man became very happy. The man asked her, “It

is raining heavily tonight, and it appears you have come all alone.

Didn’t anyone bring you?†She told him, “My husband came with me,†and

she gave him the prasadam remnants of Ramanujacarya. The lusty man took

those remnants and became totally transformed. He fell flat at the

lotus feet of that lady and begged her, “Excuse me. Excuse me.†The

lady and her husband then returned to their house. The next day, their

neighbor came to Ramanujacarya and prayed to him, “I want to be

initiated by you.†Ramanujacarya then initiated him. In the

meantime, Kuresh arrived in the village of the poor devotee couple

where Ramanujacarya was staying. Seeing Kuresh, Ramanujacarya called

out his name. Kuresh went to his Gurudeva and wanted to take his

darsana, but he had no eyes. Ramanujacarya put his hand over Kuresh’s

wounds and two eyes at once manifested. He could see again.Afterward,

Ramanujacarya went to North India. After traveling for a long time, he

eventually arrived in Kashmir. He went to Sarada-pith, the place of

Sarada-devi, where he came across the Bodhayana-bhasya (commentary) of

Vedanta-sutra. This Bodhayana commentary contained Vaisnava

philosophical conclusions, not Mayavada theories. In the library at

Sarada-pith he read that commentary, and in the night he took that book

and escaped with Kuresh They fled from there, but the Kashmiri

pandits followed them. Finally, the pandits took the book and returned

to their own place. Ramanujacarya was very unhappy, but Kuresh told

him, “Gurudeva, do not be unhappy. I have also read that book, and I

remember all its contents. I will write them down.†Later he did this,

and he gave the writings to Ramanujacarya. Ramanujacarya then wrote his

Sri-bhasya on Vedanta-sutra [*See Endnote] and fulfilled the three

desires of his Gurudeva, Yamunacarya. [When

Sri Ramanujacarya officially became the acarya, he began very strongly

preaching the cult of Sri Yamunacarya. In South India, two

impersonalist sects are very prominent: Saiva and Sankaracarya.

Sankaracarya’s followers to the Vedanta sutras like "sarvam

kalvidam brahma" and "tat tvam asi." They think themselves impersonal

brahma (God), and they think everything comes from brahma. The Saiva

School considers Lord Siva to be the ultimate truth, and they want to

merge into him. This is the basic difference between the two. Sri

Ramanujacarya refuted and defeated all impersonalism by his very strong

and effective preaching.]Gaura premanande[*Endnote: Sri

Ramanujacarya has also refuted the arguments of Sankara in his own

commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, which is known as the Sri-bhasya: "Sri

Sankaracarya has tried to equate the Pancaratras with the philosophy of

the atheist Kapila, and thus he has tried to prove that the Pancaratras

contradict the Vedic injunctions. The Pancaratras state that the

personality of jiva called Sankarsana has emerged from Vasudeva, the

supreme cause of all causes, that Pradyumna, the mind, has come from

Sankarsana, and that Aniruddha, the ego, has come from Pradyumna. But

one cannot say that the living entity (jiva) takes birth or is created,

for such a statement is against the injunction of the Vedas. As stated

in the Katha Upanisad (2.18), living entities, as individual spiritual

souls, can have neither birth nor death. All Vedic literature declares

that the living entities are eternal. Therefore when it is said that

Sankarsana is jiva, this indicates that He is the predominating Deity

of the living entities. Similarly, Pradyumna is the predominating Deity

of the mind, and Aniruddha is the predominating Deity of the ego."It

has been said that Pradyumna, the mind, was produced from Sankarsana.

But if Sankarsana were a living entity, this could not be accepted,

because a living entity cannot be the cause of the mind. The Vedic

injunctions state that everything-including life, mind and the

senses-comes from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is impossible

for the mind to be produced by a living entity, for the Vedas state

that everything comes from the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Lord."Sankarsana,

Pradyumna and Aniruddha have all the potent features of the absolute

Personality of Godhead, according to the revealed scriptures, which

contain undeniable facts that no one can refute. Therefore these

members of the quadruple manifestation are never to be considered

ordinary living beings. Each of Them is a plenary expansion of the

Absolute Godhead, and thus each is identical with the Supreme Lord in

knowledge, opulence, energy, influence, prowess and potencies. “The evidence of the Pancaratras cannot be neglected. Only

untrained persons who have not genuinely studied the Pancaratras think

that the Pancaratras contradict the srutis regarding the birth or

beginning of the living entity. In this connection, we must accept the

verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which says, `The absolute Personality of

Godhead, who is known as Vasudeva and who is very affectionate toward

His surrendered devotees, expands Himself in quadruple forms who are

subordinate to Him and at the same time identical with Him in all

respects.' The Pauskara-samhita states, `The scriptures that recommend

that brahmanas worship the quadruple forms of the Supreme Personality

of Godhead are called agamas .' In all Vaisnava literature it is said

that worshiping these quadruple forms is as good as worshiping the

Supreme Personality of Godhead Vasudeva, who in His different

expansions, complete in six opulences, can accept offerings from His

devotees of the results of their prescribed duties. “Worshiping

the expansions for pastimes, such as Nrsimha, Rama, Sesa and Kurma,

promotes one to the worship of the Sankarsana quadruple. From that

position one is raised to the platform of worshiping Vasudeva, the

Supreme Brahman. In the Pauskara-samhita it is said, `If one fully

worships according to the regulative principles, one can attain the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva.' It is to be accepted that

Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are as good as Lord Vasudeva, for

They all have inconceivable power and can accept transcendental forms

like Vasudeva. Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are never born, but

They can manifest Themselves in various incarnations before the eyes of

pure devotees. This is the conclusion of all Vedic literature. “That

the Lord can manifest Himself before His devotees by His inconceivable

power is not against the teaching of the Pancaratras. Since Sankarsana,

Pradyumna and Aniruddha are, respectively, the predominating Deities of

all living entities, the total mind and the total ego, the designation

of Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha as `jiva,' `mind' and `ego' are

never contradictory to the statements of the scriptures. These terms

identify these Deities, just as the terms `sky' and `light' sometimes

identify the Absolute Brahman."The

scriptures completely deny the birth or production of the living

entity. In the Parama-samhita it is described that material nature,

which is used for others' purposes, is factually inert and always

subject to transformation. The field of material nature is the arena of

the activities of fruitive actors, and since the material field is

externally related with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is also

eternal. In every samhita, the jiva (living entity) has been accepted

as eternal, and in the Pancaratras the birth of the jiva is completely

denied. Anything that is produced must also be annihilated. Therefore

if we accept the birth of the living entity, we also have to accept his

annihilation. But since the Vedic literatures say that the living

entity is eternal, one should not think the living being to be produced

at a certain time. In the beginning of the Parama-samhita it is

definitely stated that the face of material nature is constantly

changeable. Therefore `beginning,' `annihilation' and all such terms

are applicable only in the material nature."Considering

all these points, one should understand that Sankaracarya's statement

that Sankarsana is born as a jiva is completely against the Vedic

statements. His assertions are completely refuted by the above

arguments. In this connection the commentary of Sridhara Svami on

Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.1.34) is very helpful."For a detailed

refutation of Sankaracarya's arguments attempting to prove Sankarsana

an ordinary living being, one may refer to Srimat Sudarsanacarya's

commentary on the Sri-bhasya, which is known as the Sruta-prakasika.

(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila, 5.41 purport by Srila Prabhupada

Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja)]---Tridandi Svami Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja

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