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delight
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36 THE LIFE OF KAMAXUJA. CH. V.
cried lie, astonished. " What country could this be ? Is there
any town close by ? " he asked himself.
The people gazed at him wonderiugly, saying :
" Art thou
mad, Brahmana ? Dost thou not see before thee the bright Punj-akoti-vimanam
?" At this Ramanuja looked up and saw the high
Gopuram (or cupola) of the Temple of Lord Varadaraja, the
worshipful Deity of K4nchipnram. He was struck dumb with
and astonishment. It now dawned upon him that He
who had directed his steps in the Vindhjan wilds was no other
than God himself, who not only guided him but miraculously
transported him over a distance of nearly 1,000 miles in a
night !! Like the joy that thiilled Sita when she heard of
Ravana's fall, like the joy that ravi.shed R&ma when he heard
Hanumdn say : "I have found Sita ", like the joy of Hanuman
when he entered the Madhuvana on his return from Lanka, was
RAm&nuja's joy after the wonderful adventures be had recently
passed through. He simply fainted away with delight, especially
when he reflected how God descends to the weak and
helpless, even as Saint Parsbnkusa fainted when he reflected
how Krishna, though God, submitted to be bound by a rope
by YaSoda ! Charmed into ecstasy, he cried :— "ToArjuna, O
God ! Thou revealedst Thy Beatific Form,' but to me Thou
hidst Thyself under the guise of a Fowler. I took Thee for a
mere Fowler and I beseach Thy pardon for taking Thee for an
ordinary creature. Even as Arjuna besought Thee, so do I :
" Krishna ! Y4dava ! Achyuta ! Overlook it, if taking Thee for
friend, I called Thee by names such as these, unmindful of
Thy Greatness as God ; remit, O God ! any slight I may have
unwarily shown Thee, while we moved together, sat together
and ate together and joked together, as equals." ^ Ramanuja
was thus drowned in rapturous delight after the wonderful
experiences he had. Out of sheer joy he fell prostrate, rose,
fell again, shed tears of joy, was bathed in perspiration—in
short, felt his whole being divinely transported beyond himself.
Prom that day on, he carried water daily from the holy
well {sdlai-k-hinar) to the Lord Varadaraja.
1 Bhagavadgita, Xltli Book. »
Bhagavadgill XI. 41, 42.