$this->render('/layouts/start/start', array('featured'=>$featured));
Here, you are sending array(association array) of values to the View. You can access these values by calling the array Key
.
So, your code should be
<?php echo print_r($featured); ?>
Another example.
$this->render('myView', array('myName'=>'Hearaman','myAge'=>25));
I'm sending my name and age to View. To show my name and age, i should call the keys
echo $myName;
echo $myAge;