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A humble disciple of Ramanuja

CHENNAI MAY 9. Usually persons claim themselves to be superior to others and display their arrogance, due to their academic distinctions or intellectual acumen or by possessing wealth or holding a coveted position or by their birth in a noble family. Each of these traits by itself will make him turn haughty but imagine some one who retains all of them.

There has been an extraordinary instance of one who was gifted with all of them but yet remained absolutely humble and at one stage threw away his belongings and power to take to religious pursuits. But for him, the philosophy of Ramanuja would not have taken deep root. His outstanding merit can be seen by the manner in which, when he was asked to seek from God any of his desires, he wanted that a minister who earlier ordered that he be tortured, should also be excused and he be granted an exalted place in the Divine Kingdom. To forgive one who was totally antagonistic to him is indeed a trait that has no parallel. This apostle was none other than Kurathazhwan, who was the shadow and soul of Ramanuja

When on his rounds as a ruler, Kuresa (as he was also known) was told that a girl was being barred from marrying anyone, as the wedlock would end in the bridegroom's death. He chose her as his partner, unmindful of his status as well as the consequences on a strict understanding that they would reside together but remain aloof. Later seeing their devotion, God Himself blessed her with two children by making her partake the food offered to Him.

While being at the service of his master, Ramanuja, Kuresa got the information that the ruler planned to insult his Acharya, met the king posing as his master, argued with him about the sovereignty of Lord Narayana and defied the royal order. The king, egged on by his minister, ordered that Kuresa's eyes be gouged but the latter removed them saying that he did not want to see the king and his men anymore. The 27 questions raised by him during this episode, when annotated, will bring out the essence of the Srivaishnava philosophy, said Sri M. Vedanta Ramanuja Dasar in a discourse. Kurathazhwan's life symbolises the pinnacle of sacrifice for the sake of his preceptor. Kuresa accompanied his Acharya to Kashmir and later assisted him in writing the "Sribashya".

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