Page 74 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

transcendental form served by Sri, Bhu and Nila. Ramanuja thought himself fortunate
to obtain this darshan, but instantly the fi gure changed to that of Gaurasundara (Lord
Caitanya), the son of Jagannatha Misra. Ramanuja swooned at the brilliance of the form.
Gauranga put His lotus feet on Ramanuja’s head. Ramanuja, divinely inspired, recited
prayers of praise. “I must see Gaura’s actual lila on earth. I can never leave Navadvipa!”
Gauranga said, “Your wish will be fulfi lled, son of Kesava. When the Nadiya lila will be
revealed in the future, you will take birth here again.”
Gauranga disappeared. Ramanuja, contented, resumed his journey. After some days he
arrived at Kurma Sthana and with his disciples and continued his preaching. During his life
he preached dasya rasa throughout the South of India, while internally he was absorbed in
Gaura lila. By Gauranga’s mercy, he was later born in Navadvipa as the devotee Ananta.
These confi dential truths are revealed by the Vaisnava acaryas so that
devotees avoid quarrelling and making artifi cial boundaries based on incomplete
knowledge of the esoteric truths of spiritual life. Let us all glorify Ramanujacarya,
one of the greatest spiritual teachers of all time. We should learn from him
that all caste differences are irrelevant for spiritual advancement as long as
one listens to and follows the instructions of bona fi de representatives of Lord
Krishna. Nammalvar was born in a low caste family. Yet, he is considered the
most prominent Alvar saint. Ramanujacarya accepted two gurus who were born
in low caste families. We must stay glued to the instructions of the great acaryas
who are sincere and honest representatives of Lord Krishna, the original guru
and teacher who spoke the Bhagavad-gita over 5000 years ago. The Gita is the
best. This is confi rmed by Srila Prabhupada who writes:
“But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God
consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world
nor in the next.” (Bg 4.40)
“Out of many standard and authoritative revealed scriptures, the Bhagavad-gita is the
best. Persons who are almost like animals have no faith in, or knowledge of, the standard
revealed scriptures; and some, even though they have knowledge of, or can cite passages from,
the revealed scriptures, have actually no faith in these words. And even though others may
have faith in scriptures like Bhagavad-gita, they do not believe in or worship the Personality
of Godhead, Sri Krsna. Such persons cannot have any standing in Krsna consciousness.
They fall down. Out of all the above-mentioned persons, those who have no faith and are
always doubtful make no progress at all. Men without faith in God and His revealed word
find no good in this world, nor in the next. For them there is no happiness whatsoever. One
should therefore follow the principles of revealed scriptures with faith and thereby be raised
to the platform of knowledge. Only this knowledge will help one become promoted to the
transcendental platform of spiritual understanding. In other words, doubtful persons have
no status whatsoever in spiritual emancipation. One should therefore follow in the footsteps
of great acaryas who are in the disciplic succession and thereby attain success.” (Bg 4.40 -
Purport)

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