Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
204deity by action, knowledge and devotion are not separate but successive stages of
the same way. In this c ontext Ramanuja sees surrender (prapatti) as a part of the
path of bhakt i and whenever the grace of Narayana is mentioned, the efforts of the
worshipper are also stressed.
More of Ramanuja’s understanding of prapatti is found in the three devotional
works, whic h are the most popular of his works with modern Srivaisnavas. The
first, in the form of a dialogue between Ramanuja and Narayana with Sri, his
c onsort, is seen as the rec ord of Ramanuja’s own taking refuge at the feet of the
deit y in surrender t o his merc y: t he sec ond is a briefer prayer of surrender
addressed to Ramanuja (the form of Visnu worshipped at Srirangam), asking for
acceptance as the perpetual servant of the Lord; the third consist s mainly of
detailed desc ription of Visnu’s heaven, to be regularly meditated on in c onnec tion
with one’s surrender to the deity. Whether or not these more devotional works are
by Ramanuja himself, they present an understanding of the prac tic e of bhakt i by
repeated meditation on the deity’s perfections which is in close agreement with his
views more concisely expressed elsewhere and which are in fact an echo of the
wording used in his other works.
Together with the manual of daily worship, based on the Pancaratra tradition,
the three devotional works serve to emphasise the devotional element of
Ramanuja’s religion; his philosophic al views are c learly dic t at ed by his personal
faith. Even more than Sankara, he endeavoured to give an organisational
expression t o his beliefs and t radit ionally also engaged in t he same lengt hy t ours t o
propagat e his ideas. His posit ion as not only t he acarya of the Srivaisnava
c ommunity but also the superintendent or general manager of the Srirangam
t emple gave him unrivalled influence; indeed the temple chronicles, supported by
general Vaisnava tradition, declare that Ramanuja was the first great organiser of
the temple administration. He replac ed the Vaikhanasa pattern of worship with the
more liberal Pancaratra pattern, and expanded t he fivefold division of t emple
servants, whic h had existed from the time of Tirumankai Alvar or before, into a
tenfold one, with in addition ten groups of sudra servant s: an import ant rit ual role
was assigned to a group of sudra ascetics. This code for the ritual and management
of the temple was in force until the temple was desecrated by the Muslims in A.D.
1323 and thus the important ritual roles of sudras were maintained throughout that
period. The increased participation of worshippers from all soc ial levels wit h t he
establishment of the more liberal Pancaratra tradition spread from Srirangam to
other Vaisnava centres and is one of Ramanuja’s main legacies to the Vaisnava
fait h as a whole, giving rit ualised expression t o t he Alvars’ disregard of and even
opposit ion t o c ast e rest ric t ion, arising from t he equalit y of all men before t he deit y.
Ramanuja’s ritual handbook lays down the daily routine for an orthodox
Srivaisnava in t he five daily ac t s of t he Panc arat ra t radit ion, while t he five
sacraments of the sec t begin with the branding of Visnu’s symbols or weapons and
also inc lude the applic ation of the sec tarian mark on the forehead, the taking of a
religious name, rec eiving a mantra and presenting an image for worship; among
the mantras of the sec t is one drawn from the c onc lusion of the Bhagavadgita. The
images of the deity are important in the c ult, although Ramanuja plac es more
stress on the inner aspec t, making it c lear that the worshipper must c ontinue to
keep in mind a ment al pic t ure of t he deit y and his ac t ivit ies.