01Three folded fingers
He first studied Vedanta at Kanchi under Yadavaprakasha, and the two parted over the meaning of the Upanishads. The great acharya Yamunacharya of Srirangam had heard of the young man and sent for him, but died before Ramanuja arrived. The Guruparampara accounts say three fingers of the dead acharya's hand stayed folded. Ramanuja vowed aloud to write a commentary on the Brahma Sutras, to honour Parashara and Vyasa, and to spread the hymns of Nammalvar, and the fingers opened. The Sri Bhashya, the Vedartha Sangraha and the Gita Bhashya fulfilled the first vow.
02The mantra from the tower
At Tirukoshtiyur, Nambi gave him the eight-syllable Narayana mantra after making him come back many times, and told him to keep it secret. Ramanuja climbed the temple tower and called it out to everyone gathered below, saying he would gladly suffer if all of them could be saved. When a Chola king turned hostile, he went to Hoysala country and lived some twelve years at Melukote, where the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana took him as guru. He returned to Srirangam, where his body is kept to this day in a shrine within the temple.
