Sri Ramanuja- Life & Philosophy

Preface Almost a thousand years ago the earth was graced by the brightest star in the philosophical firmament of India. This was none other than Acarya Ramanuja : preceptor par excellence, compassion incarnate, and foremost among social reformers. He was a perfect example of an Acarya who spared no effort to lift up the spiritually downtrodden who had no hopes of spiritual redemption.

Foremost among the Acaryas of the Srivaisnavism. Acarya lineage and the personification of matchless compassion, Acarya Ramanuja was able to understand and address the serious suffering of the masses that were outside the scheme of serious spiritual pursuits and practices like meditation or penance. His heart literally bled for the philosophically weak and for those born in the under-privileged classes. His predecessors belonging to other philosophical disciplines like Non-Dualism and Dualism-cum-Non- Dualism had denied the privilege of spiritual redemption for those who did not belong to the class of Brahmins.

Introduction When I first embarked upon writing a life history of the divine personality of Ramanuja, I knew that there were already quite a number of books on this topic, written by great stalwarts in the field. So I asked myself the question: "Should I really write a separate book on this topic? Might another book not be redundant?' I was familiar with three other works in particular. The first was the one by Sri Alkondavilli Govindacharya published in the 1920s and republished recently. The second one was published by the Ramakrishna Order, written by one of its members Sri Ramakrishnananda, originally from Bengal. Another text was by a Sri Naimisharanya Das belonging to the ISKCON tradition. Each book, had its own uniqueness, but I felt that none of them provided the general overview of Ramanuja 's life and philosophy.

**Contents and Sample Pages**