Advaitin's Bhakti (Was Re:addr: M.S.Hari)

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SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmaNE namaha

SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaN -

SaThakOpa SrI nArAyaNa Yateenda mahAdESiKAya namaha

 

namO nArAyaNa!

 

Dear SrI Narasimhan,

 

Thanks for voicing your views.

 

As clarified by SrI Hari, he never questioned the efficacy of

nAdOpAsana as a very good means to achieve the performance

of either bhakti Or Prapatti. He only ascertained from SAstras

that only bhakti and prapatti are the direct means (sAdhyOpAya)

to attain SrIman nArAyaNa, which is what the teaching of

SrI VaishNava AchAryas. It would have been better to get it

clarified from him on his views. Please go through his mails

again.

> where is it stated in the srutis. well, saint

> tyagarajA, UthukkAdu venkatasubbier and the likes were

> born in advaiti families, but they were as much

> srivaishnavites as anyone of us can ever be. casting

> aspersions on their nAdOpAsanA is blasphemy to my

> mind. it is something even sriman nArAyaNA will not

> forgive and certainly tantamounts to bhAgavatha

> apachAram of the highest order. if somebody were to

> say that nAdOpAsanA will not lead to prapatti, adiyEn

> does not want that kind of prapatti. if someone were

> to say that tyAgarAjA or UthukkAdu or purandaradAsA's

> nAdOpAsanA will not lead to mOkshA, adiyEn does not

> aspire that kind of mOkshA.

 

First of all, none of the members to my knowledge have

cast aspersions on the nAdOpAsana of SrI TyAgarAja and

others. By the way, as you have written, SrI TyAgarAja

and many other such music-saints were advaitins, as far

as their philosophical conviction and practise is concerned.

They were very much immersed in the anubhava of the

SaguNa Brahman, as per their siddhAnta. This is the concept

of "bhakti" for advaitins. SrI Purandarar was a Dwaitin and

for that great music-saint, Lord NArAyaNa is certainly the

ultimate reality, unlike the advaitins.

 

In short, according to advaita, SaguNa Brahman viz.

SrIman nArAyaNa with all kalyANa guNas, knowledge etc is only

unreal ultimately and only the mere jn~yAna without any

attributes viz. the nirguNa Brahman is the *only* reality. All

other entities are actually unreal. Their concept of moksham is

the complete realization of oneself as that of "nirguNa Brahman"

with disappearene of dualities (ie.no other entity is being

perceived). The means to achieve it is through the "avidhEya

jn~yAnam" born out of understanding the profound meaning of the

statement "Tat-tvam-asi" in vEdas. "avidhEya jn~yAnam" implies

that, the moksham (nirguNa Brahma realization) is obtained through

the jn~yAnam obtained by understanding the meaning of

"Tat-tvam-asi" which is as though as a pratyaksha jn~yAna and

there is no "vidhi" Or injunction to do something more than that

as a means. But, advaitins do caution that "Only male SanyAsis

of BrAhmana caste" shall attain such "avidhEya jn~yAnam" (AJ).

To attain the "state" in which one becomes qualified for

receiving the meanings of Tat-tvam-asi and thereby attain AJ,

there are many rigorous practises that are stipulated to be

followed. Here comes the role of karma anushThAna, bhakti etc

as per vEdas and Smrutis. Specifically, extreme bhakti

towards "SaguNa Brahman" ie. "God" is a must for those who see

dualities and are aspiring for moksham, which is through AJ.

Once one is totally immersed in such contemplation on God, a

suitable state (pakkuvam) is attained so that one is fit to

learn advaita vEdAnta and the mysteries of mahAvAkyAs like

Tat-tvam-asi. If one is not a BrAhmana etc, by following the

SAstric injunctions according to one's VarNAshramadharma and

deeply immersed in God, they will attain the Male BrAhmana body

in their future births. They will then reach that pakkuvam/state

to hear on nirguNa-Brahman through the imports of mahAvAkyas and

attain AJ. Thus, bhakti is very very important for an advaitin,

since it is a must to achieve his goal viz. moksham.

 

All the great philosophers of advaita like SrI Adi Sankara

Bhagavad pAdAL, SrI MadhusUdana Saraswati and others were

great propagators of devotion to their concept of SaguNa

Brahman, which in general is known as "God". It is well

known as to how much they were well immersed in their

contemplation on SaguNa-Brahman, to attain the "pakkuvam"

for the birth of AJ. Many advaitins like SrI Sadguru SwAmigaL,

SrI BOdEndrAL and others spent all their lives spreading the

message of Bhagavan nAma sankeertanam and contemplation

on God (ie. SaguNa-Brahman for them). There is a large

following of SrI Sadguru SwAmigaL even to this day, who was

the champion-establisher of the "Bhajana sampradAyam" to

contemplate on God as an anga to advaita vEdAnta jn~yAna.

SrI KrishNa PrEmi, a great upanyAsakar, is a well known

follower of this bhajana sampradAyam. Since according to

advaita vEdAnta, lot of qualification is needed for the study of

their philosophy, only the aspects of devotion to God and other

related issues of SaguNa-Brahman are told for the general public.

SrI KrishNa PrEmi has explained in his books on this bhajana

sampradAya SrI KAnchi SankarAchArya in his article (as published

in SrI KrishNa Premi's book on Bhagavan/rAma nAma mahimai)

explains the origin of this bhajana sampradAya stressing upon

nAma sankeertana etc as an anga (accessory) to advaita vEdAnta.

There are also many other advaitins like SrI NArAyaNa BhattAdri

of NArAyaneeyam fame who were immersed in the contemplation

of their SaguNa-Brahman.

 

Few SrI VaishNavas well interested in Carnatic Music wish that

SrI TyAgaraja be a SrI VaishNava Or Prapanna. But, SrI TyAgarAja

is well recognized by all scholars (including SrI VaishNava

scholars) as a great music-saint who used nAdOpAsana in a very

effective manner as an anga to advaita vEdAnta. In the flag end

of his life, he took sanyAsa (ofcourse as per the advaita

sampradAya) in the hope of attaining AJ ie.moksham. The sishya

parampara of SrI TyAgarAja is also very much present and they

do not adhere to the doctrines of ViSishtAdvaita and SrI -

VaishNava practises.

 

According to SAstras Or SrI VaishNava AchAryas, advaitins

do not attain moksham directly, since they haven't exercised

either the "Bhakti-YOga in its completion, as per its actual

nature" Or "Prapatti" as sAdhyOpAyas. But, those advaitins

who were steeped in contemplating upon SaguNa-Brahman will

soon get a birth (Or a realization in that very birth itself)

with the obstacles being removed by SrIman nArAyaNa for their

actual understanding of Tatva-hita-purushArtha and practise

of either bhakti-yOga Or Prapatti in its actual nature. They

in due course of time will certainly attain SrI VaikuNTham.

 

For more info on Bhakti and Prapatti, kindly visit the archives

and the article in SrI Ahobila Mutt's Homepage

http://www.ahobilamutt.org in the link "About SrI VaishNavam".

 

To be cont ....

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

anantapadmanAbhan.

krishNArpaNam.