Alavandar's Siddhitrayam - Part 3

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Dear Members,

 

In this post the Introduction to Atma Siddhi by Sri R. Ramanujachari is

continued.

 

Atma Siddhi - Introduction (continued)

By Sri R. Ramanujachari

 

The pramanas by which the self is known are not considered. The Nyaya

and Sankhya doctrines

that the soul is known through inference come in for scrutiny. The

fallacies lurking in their proofs

for the existance of the soul are relentlessly exposed. The Nyaya

arguments could, at best,

prove the existance of 'some entity' as the substrate of qualities such

as effort and desire; but it

would be difficult to call it the 'self'. Likewise, the arguments

advanced by the Sankhya are

shown to fail of their purpose. Yamuna also exposes the deficiencies of

the Nyaya and the

Sankhya conceptions of the soul.

 

Then he demonstrates the untenability of the view that the self is

directly perceived. Bhatta maintains

that the self becomes aware of itself and this must only be trough

manasa-pratyaksha, sicne the

external senses cannot cognise itself., which is subtle and formless.

Bhatta understands aham-pratyaya

(self-consciousness) literally. The I it is said, can be perceived

directly. So the self according to hom,

is both subject and object of knowledge. Prabhakara objects to this and

contends that the self is

always subject and that it is revealed as such (grahaka eva), as subject

only is all kowledge. In

other words, it is revealed simulateously with the object. Whenever an

objec, say a pot, is known,

there is, in addition, self awareness. But the self so known is cognised

as knower, not as object

of knowledge. Either school of Mimamsa criticises the other; and Yamuna

shows that neither

position stands logical scrutiny. He says the self cannot be revealed by

that for which he stands

witness, any more that he who witnesses the pot can be revealed by the

pot. Yamuna states that

persons well versed in the vedas, have no faith in the power of reason

to prove the existence of

atman, assert that this proof is furnished by the vedas alone.

 

Aumaniki mapyatmasiddhim asradd adhanah srautimeva tam srortriyah

sankiranti. Thus it is concluded

that teh self is known only through sruti and srutyarthapatti. What the

scriptures teach has to be properly

understood and for this unclouded reasoning is a pre-requisite.

 

Then Yamuna establishes that the soul is self-luminous counsciousness in

itself and possessess knowledge

as its attribute. In its very essence (svarupa) the soul is

consciousness; and it has consciousness as

attribute (dharma). To distinguish consciousness, which is of the nature

of dharma or attribute from that

which is the svarupa of the soul, it has come to be called

dharmabhutajnana (attributive consciousness).

Attributive consciousness is eternal and natural to the soul ass

luminosity is to the sun. This doctrine, special

to visistadvaita vedanta, offers a satisfactory solution for many a

knotty problems.

 

-To be continued ................

 

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