Apr 02, 2015 — INDIA (SUN) — A response to Ravindra Svarupa's article:
I find your statements about the position of Srila Ramanujacarya to be very disturbing, as if the acaryas of the Sri Sampradaya are not qualified to know his real position and have greatly embellished his hagiography. The implication is that the former acaryas in the Sri Sampradaya are dishonest and exaggerated the position of Srila Ramanujacarya. The same accusation could be made about the Gaudiyas.
You are making provocative statements that could create irreparable damage to the extremely good relations that we have with the Sri Sampradaya.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta said this about Ramanujacarya:
"During that period, Bharata-varsa, which is a land where saniitana-dharma is meant to be practiced, was flooded with people opposed to devotional service to the Lord. Desiring to deliver the people of Bharata-varsa from the great danger of misusing the valuable human form oflife, Lord Hari empowered a suitable living entity with His potency of Sankarshana to stem the tide of anti-Visnu sentiment. By the will of the Supreme Lord, this empowered incarnation appeared in the village of Mahabhuta Puri at midday on a Thursday, during the period of Adra naksatra, on the fifth day of the fortnight of the waxing moon in the month of Caitra in the year 938 Saka era, from the womb of Sri Kantimati, who was a devotee of the Supreme Lord, fathered by her pious devotee-husband, Kesavacarya."
(Life and Teachings of the Four Acaryas, p. 47)
So this suggests that he considered Ramanuja to be at the least a saktyavesha avatara of Sankarshana – Sesha Naga. In the Sri Sampradaya (both Vadagali and Tenkali sects) he is considered a dual appearance of both Sesha naga and Laksmana, the younger brother of Rama.
Bhaktisiddhanta also wrote that Ramanujacarya was an incarnation of Lord Nityananda:
"Once tridandi -sannyasi Sri Ramanuja Svami of South India, who was an avatar of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, delivered the Vaiñëavas of this world from the talons of the worshipers of five gods."
(Brahmana and Vaisnava, pp. 192-3)
And you wondered who this "Atmatattva Dasa" is? He is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, a very learned and humorous South Indian from a brahmana family. He was co-founder of the main gurukula in Mayapura. He left ISKCON a few years ago because of some problems. But that does not negate his research.
