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Igg MARANERI-NAMBI. CO. XXVI.
high he may be spiritually, was a shock to the communal feeling
which it was not expedient to deliver.
RaingLnuja going to
MahElpurna, and making due obeisance, argued with him in
this manner and finished by saying :
" Sire, I am huilding a
system, but :— you are pulling it down." To wliich, Purna answered
thus " Ramanuja, I admit the force of your objections.
But I am for radical reforms, not half-measures, and then, we
ought to have a margin for signal exceptions like Maraneri.
Besides, have I not precedents to justify my present act ?
Am
I superior to Rama, the Hero of the Ikshv&ku race, ? Is
M&ran6ri infei'ior t,o the Bird Jat4yn, for whom Rama performed
tlie Brahmamedha ? ^ Am I greater than Dharma-putra ?
and is Mfl.ran6ri lower than Vidura, to whom the same Samskara
was administered ? And are the truths uttered by
St. Nammflizhv^r, in his Tiruvaymozhi :
" Payilnm " [iii-7]
and " Nedumftil " [viii-10], descanting on the greatness of godly
men, irrespective of caste and color, mei-e .senseless babble?."
On hearing this, Rlmd.nuja was silent. " But in my turn •
1 have to propose to you one question," began Pilrna " and
that is this. How is it that I found Maranferi, uttering neither :
'Ranga is myrefuge,' nor 'TS.muna is my i-efuge,' when he died?
You know this is what is enjoined on all the Faithful at time
of death," R&m§,nuja said "
: Such an omission is no ground of
accusation against him. For I know he had abandoned himself
entirely at that moment \a God, trusting Him in His promise
'
that : at the time of death, it is not for the dyinw nian to
remember or say anything, but for God to remember the dyinw
man and do the needful.' ^ " But " retorted Purna, " this
is a Pi'omise made by Varaha, when he when he was consumed
with love for His Consort Bhu. How can such a
Madman's Word be depended upon ? Rftmanuja answered
" Know you not, Sire, that our salvation is sure when our
Bamayana, 111-66.—
" Libations of the stream they ponrcd
In honor of
the vnlture lord,
V/ith solemn ritual to the slain,
As scripture's holy texts ordain."
^ [Vardha Pur&na]