ABSTRACT
Visistadvaita Vedanta, the Vedanta in its aspect of qualified non-dualism, traces its origin to the period of the Upanisads. Yamuna and Ramanuja belong to the long line of Vaisnava saints recognized in southern India and generally known as Alvars. Alvar is a Tamil word which means ‘he who rules the world by his love of and devotion to God’. Many legends are told of these ancient Alvars, and all of them clearly express love of God and devotion and self-surrender to him. One of the Alvars was Nathamuni, grandfather of Yamuna. He was known to history as a great saint living in the early part of the tenth century. The ideals of all-consuming love for God, and self-surrender to him, Yamuna has expressed beautifully in a famous prayer: ‘God is beyond the realm of speech and mind.
