Please Accept My Humble Obeisances & Dandavats.
All Glories to Sri Sri Guru & Gauranga.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada & Vaisnava's world-wide.
Hare Krishna
I know that followers of both Sri Ramanujacarya & Sri Sankaracarya had many heated debates on God Philosophy.
Knowing the secret mission of Sri Sankaracarya [who is none other than Lord Siva], did Sri Sankaracarya and Sri Ramanujacarya ever meet each other personally? Both of them were Tridandi Sanyasi, so I suspect they would have paid each other obeisances.
Have these great personalities ever met each other?
Please forgive me for my curiosity. This is one of the questions that have been lingering in my mind for some time.
Hari Bol
Your Servant,
David
Replies
As someone in the school of Ramanuja, I think I can answer this question. The answer is NO, they did not meet. Ramanuja appeared in 1027CE while Shankara appeared in 800CE. Their philosophies were totally different. While Sankara was more of a philosopher, Ramanuja was a theist. Putting in plain terms, Ramanuja propounded Bhakti yoga while Sankara propounded Gyana yoga (in a way, asking us to realize that everything is illusion and only Brahman is real). So Ramanuja can be considered as the Caitanya of the 10th century.
And both of them are NOT tridandi sanyasis. This is a fundamental difference which has deep philosophical underpinnings. Sankara and his followers are Ekadandi sanyasis (one stick), while Ramanuja and his followers are tridandi sanyasis (three sticks). Ekadandi signified that only Brahman was real and everything else is illusion, while Tridanda signnifies that Brahman, Jiva and Acit all are real (thus three). If you have anymore questions feel free to ask
Hare Krishna
Thank You Ranga Prabhu for this information! and for David Prabhuji for putting this question! very nice to get clearance in knowledge.
Your servant,
If anyone has any insight on this, please go ahead.