Sri Stotra-ratna

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Sri Yamunacarya was horn around 916 AD. He had resided within the temple at Sri Rangam and was the spiritual master of Ramanujacarya of the Sri-sampradaya.

In the first chapter of Gita-mala, entitled Yamuna-bhavavaIi, Bhaktivinoda Thakura based his songs on the verses of Yamunacarya's Stotra-ratna. Of the 62 verses in Stotra-ratna, he selected 27 upon which to base his songs.

In this short work we can vividly see the humility of a great devotee who has no other aspiration than to be reinstated in his original position as an eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

For those of us who lament that we do not have such pure determination in Krsna consciousness, these prayers will prove to be an inspiration.

Sri Yamunacarya was born around 916 AD. He had resided within the temple at Sri Rangam and was the spiritual master of Ramanujacarya of the Sri-sampradaya. Srila Prabhupada quoted Yamunacarya on numerous occasions. Many times he quoted verses from this book. Stotra-ratna, but the verse he most frequently referred to is one not from this literature.

Srila Prabhupada: "Sri Yamunacarya, a great devotee in Krsna consciousness, said:

yad-avadhi mama cetah: krsna-padaravinde nava-nava-rasa-dhamany udyatam rantum asit tad-avadhi bata nari-sangame smaryamane bhavati mukha-vikarah susthu nisthivanam ca 'Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service of Krsna, realizing ever-new pleasure in Him, whenever I think of sex pleasure I spit at the thought, and my lips curl with distaste.' A person in brahma-yoga, or Krsna consciousness, is so absorbed in the loving service of the Lord that he loses his taste for material sense pleasure altogether. The highest pleasure in terms of matter is sex pleasure. The whole world is moving under its spell, and a materialist cannot work at all without this motivation. But a person engaged in Krsna consciousness can work with greater vigor without sex pleasure, which he avoids. That is the test in spiritual realization. Spiritual realization and sex pleasure go ill together. A Krsna conscious person is not attracted to any kind of sense pleasure, due to his being a liberated soul."

Srila Prabhupada explained: "Yamnunacarya had formerly been a great king who enjoyed sexual happiness in various ways, but since he later engaged himself in the service of the Lord, he enjoyed spiritual bliss and hated to think of sex life. If sexual thoughts came to him, he would spit with disgust."

In the first chapter of Gita-mala, entitled Yamuna-bhavavali, Bhaktivinoda Thakura based his songs on the verses of Yamunacarya's Stotra-ratna. Of the 62 verses in Stotra-ratna, he selected 27 upon which to base his songs.

Srila Prabhupada sometimes related the following story about Yamunacarya: Once Yamunacarya gave Ramanuja a secret mantra. Ramanuja knew that his spiritual master wanted to deliver all fallen souls and so he preached the mantra to the public in the marketplace. Yamunacarya later reprimanded Ramanuja, saying, "Do you know that for disobeying my order and spreading the mantra I gave you, you could go to hell?" Ramanuja replied, "I am prepared to go to hell, but I wanted to spread your mission."

In this short work we can vividly see the humility of a great devotee who has no other aspiration than to be reinstated in his original position as an eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For those of us who lament that we do not have such pure determination in krsna consciousness, these prayers will prove to be an inspiration.