geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-11

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

When we say ramanuja darshanam, it refers to the VishistAdvaitic

philosophy (tattvatraya vAdham) propagated by Swamy ramanuja. There

is a wrong idea prevalent in our society that Swamy Ramanuja invented

this philosophy whereas actually the VishistAdvaitic philosophy is a

parama vaidika matham (a very ancient philosophy prescribed by the

Vedas). Mamunikal in his upadesa ratina mAlai says, “EmperumAnAr

darisana mendrE edharkku namperumal pErittu nAttivaiththAr” (Only the

already existing system was named EmperumAnAr darisanam due to the

marvelous work done by EmperumAnAr for the upliftment of the system).

The second wrong thought commonly seen is that the advaitins are all

saivaites. Here one

thing has to be strongly kept in mind. Whether it is advaitam,

VishistAdvaitam or dvaitam all are vaishnavic philosophies only (All

of them believe Narayanan to be the supreme without any doubt). The

philosophy difference arises only in the interpretation of some Vedic

verses. So the advaitins and the saivaites differ in their belief.

The saivaites believe in the supremacy of Siva. One interesting

fact is that two things very near to the saivaites are not accepted

by the advaitins. The advaitins do not accept lingam and vibhoothi.

 

But our sampradayam talks about both lingam and vibhoothi though we

give a different meaning to both of them. Vibhoothi in our

sampradayam refers to the two vibhoothi’s of emperuman, leela

vibhoothi and the nithya vibhoothi (emperuman is ubhayavibhoothi

nAthan). Further the word lingam means proof/symbol (adayAlam).

Emperuman has some kalyana gunas like akilaheya prathyaneekathvam,

Sriya:pathithvam etc which belong only to nArAyanan. This has been

expressed by swamy nammazhvar in his very first paasuram in

thiruvaimozhi as “uyar nalam udayavan” where the nalam refers to the

kalyana gunas of emperuman and in the very same paasuram, “amarargal

adhipathi” refers to the vibhoothi of emperuman

(He is the leader of the devas/Nithya sooris).

 

So to get a proper knowledge of our philosophy, it is very essential

to know about the qualities of the chit, achit and paramatma.

GeethAcharyan gave the bhagavat geetha in order to remove the sorrow

of arjuna and invoke him in doing his duty. For that arjuna had to

first understand the nature of the body and soul. After knowing

about the atma, arjuna should understand the importance of karma yoga

(his karma was to fight the war-kshatriya dharmam) which will lead him

to chitta suddhi (clear mind) which will in turn lead him into jnana

yoga which will give him atma sAkshAtkAram (realization of the atma).

Here it has to be kept in mind that this atma sAkshAtkaram is

different from kaivalyam,

which we will explain in detail later. This is the essence of the

first six chapters of Srimad Bhagavat geetha in which the first

chapter and till the 11th sloka in the second chapter was just the

introduction (avathArikai) for whatever Krishna is going to talk

further. Then as a token of preparing arjuna for the session

geethAcharyan gave him the tattvatrayam jnanam (called as the tattva

vivEkam). We saw about these in the last posting. To recall,

Thirumangai azhwar has also started his prabhandam with the same

tattva vivEkam referring to the three tattvas by the words,

“munnuru”, “pinnuru” and “ponnuru”.

 

Before going into the in-depth meaning of the thirunedunthAndaka

paasuram, let adiyen first let you all know the essence of the first

six chapters of bhagavat geetha, in order to have a clear vision of

the concepts. Swamy Aalavandaar in his geethArtha sangraham

summarises this as follows:

 

“jnAnakarmAthmikE nishtE yOgalakshyE susamskruthE I

AthmAnubhoothi sidyarthE poorvashatkEna shOdhithE II”

 

SusamskrutE – Nicely decorated (with the knowledge of seshatvam and

vairakyam in other things or otherwise doing the upaya without

thinking about the result along with sAtvika tyAgam).

JnAnakarmAthmikE nishtE – jnana yoga and karma yoga,

YOgalakshyE – in order to attain the yoga (Atma sAkshAtkAram)

AthmAnubhoothi sidyarththE – (after that) in order to attain AtmAnubhavam

PoorvashatkE – the first six chapters

ShOdhithE – prescribes

 

The first six chapters of the geethA sAstram, prescribes the jnana

yoga and karma yoga in order to attain the atma sAkshAtkaram and in

turn the pleasure of enjoying once own atma says aalavandaar in the

above sloka. To repeat,

 

Karma yoga --à chitta suddhi--à jnana yoga-

symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings">à temporary atma

sAksAtkAram-àPermanent Atma sAksAtkAram (atmAnubhavam).

 

We will see how this has been expressed by thirumangai mannan in his

paasuram in the forth-coming postings.

 

(To be continued)

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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