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Agreed. The _philosophy_ of Ramanuja is not relevant
to the average, non-alienated Hindu. It is, however,
more relevant than Vivekananda's to the traditional
Vedanta scholars of the country, Vaishnava or otherwise.
> > Where would we be if it were not for the great influence of
> > Ramanuja on successive saints, such as Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa,
> > Ramananda, and Chaitanya? Would Vaishnavism be the same?
>
> To each guy his own. Ramanuja is hardly relevant even for the Madhva-s
> who are next door.
>
If you read the nyAya-sudhA of Jayatirtha, the ablest
sub-commentator of Madhva, you will clearly see the influence
of Ramanuja's philosophy. The same can be said for other
Vaishnava scholars, such as Jiva Goswami, who explicitly
quotes and praises Ramanuja, and Ramananda and his followers,
who was in the direct spiritual descendant of Ramanuja.
It is important to note that Ramananda was one of the
prime movers of the Rama-bhakti movement so prominent
in North India today.
You have successfully converted a discussion of Vivekananda's
irrelevance into a discussion of Ramanuja's relevance.
I will take it as an opportunity to discuss the legacy
of this great philosopher.
Regarding popular bhakti, scholars generally opine based
on historical evidence that without Ramanuja, bhakti would
not be the religion of the masses the same way it is
today. Some of the reasons have been stated above.
You are correct that only a few people know of the Divya
Prabandham; the legacy of the Alvars' bhakti by virtue
of Ramanuja, however, is immense. Kanaka Dasa, one of the
movers and shakers of popular Kannada bhakti, directly
claims Ramanuja as his inspiration in one of his songs.
Purandara Dasa, another star of Kannada bhakti, sings
time and time again of Srirangam, the temple that
Ramanuja brought to prominence.
Tirupati, it is historically proven, was only
a small temple until Ramanuja established a temple at
lower Tirupati and appointed his disciple Tirumalai
Anandan Pillai to help with the worship on the hill.
We now know Tirupati to be the largest temple in India;
it is essentially a Ramanujite shrine.
The statement from the Puranas that bhakti was born
in Tamil Nadu, reared in Karnataka, grew up in Maharashtra,
and thrived in Bengal is not merely myth. It has a
great deal of truth to it.
Saivism has had its own long history, which is for the
most part distinct from Vaishnavism. [Though Ramanuja
has had a great impact on the philosophy of Saivism as
well -- see the SivArka maNi dIpikA of Appayya Dikshita.]
However, the question is not one of dominance, but of
relevance -- and questioning the relevance of Ramanuja's
_legacy_ (not _philosophy_) is silly. Comparing the
relevance of Ramanuja, Sankara, or Madhva to Vivekananda
is even sillier.
I understand that you are emotionally attached to Vivekananda.
Don't let that emotion cloud your judgment.
Mani
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