Vedanta Deepa : Monograph by U.Ve. Dr. N.S.Ananatha Rangacharya

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SrI :

 

Dear Followers & AbhimAnis of SrI Bhagavad RaamAnuja SiddhAntham:

 

adiyEn is priveleged to recieve the first copy of "Vedanta Deepa"

monograph in USA from the hands of U.Ve. MahA Vidwan ,

Dr.N.S.Ananatha RangachArya (NSA) , the highly respected

doyen of VisishtAdhvaitham . He has sent the first volumes of

his monograph on VedAnta dEEPA through his son ,

Srimaan Narasimhan of Bangalore.

 

AdiyEn is extremely fortunate to share with you the contents of this excellent &

latest monograph by Dr.NSA Swamy . You can acquire copies of this outstanding

monograph noted for its Scholarship , clarity and fine format by contacting

Dr.NSA Swamy at his Bangalore address :

 

#780 V Main Road , Vijayanagar , Bangalore 560 040

 

His Home Phone Number is 23383755 .

 

Date of Publication : Feb 24 , 2005 ; Price: 250 Rs.

 

You can also send e-mail to Sriman Ananth Narasimhan ,

son of Dr.NSA Swamy at the above e-mail address to acquire

this copy .

 

A Humble Appreciation of the latest Monograph released by Dr. NSA Swamy

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What Dr. NSA Swamy has done for bringing aasthikAs at every level of

awareness of VisishtAdhvaitha doctrines to the beauty of source granthams

of Sri SampradhAyam can only be saluted with DaNDavath PraNAmams .

 

His contributions are many and varied and have been bequeathed to us

in an easy to understand language . It is mind boggling to take note of this

Mahaa VidwAn's productivity and Scholarship spanning many decades .

 

It is adiyEn's BhAgyam to share with you all the exquisite aanandhAnubhavam of

reading thru the First Volume of Dr.NSA's most recent monograph dealing with

the introduction to Vedanta Deepa by AchArya RaamAnuja and the Soothram

by Soothram translation of the first two chapters of Brahma Soothrams

as commented by AchArya Ramanuja in His VedAnta Deepa . Swamy plans

to complete the coverage of the 3rd and 4th Chapters of Brahma Soothram

in Volume II of Vedanta Deepa.

 

Vedanta deepa: Second of the Three Commentaries on Brahma SoothrAs

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The Sri Sookthi of VedAnta Deepa is one of the "monumental " nava ratnams

( nine gems) bequeathed to us by AchArya Ramanuja . It was written by

AchArya Ramanuja after completion of his magnum opus , Sri BhAshyam .

 

While Sri BhAshyam is a trend setting , all encompassing and exhaustive

commentary on Sage Badarayana"s ( Sage VyAsA's) Brahma Sutrams ,

VedAnta Deepa is a noble effort by AchArya Raamanuja to explain the meanings

of Brahma SutrAs without the serious dialectics housed in Sri BhAshyam .

In the construction of the Vedanta Deepa , AchArya RaamAnuja had the objective

of helping us understand the meaning of each of the Brahma SutrAs in

a succinct way without losing sight of the main issues addressed by

the individual Brahma SutrAs .

 

The Sequence of the commentaries on Brahma SutrAs

 

VedArtha Sangraha was the first of the commentary that includes

copious references to Brahma SoothrAs :

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/acharyas/Ramanuja/vedarthasangraha.html

 

AchArya Ramanuja composed it in front of Lord SrinivAsa and placed it at

the Lord's lotus feet at Thirumala . This Sri Sookthi was followed by Sri

BhAshyam ,

the crowning work of AchArya Ramanuja . VedAnta Deepa came next and after that

our compassionate AchAryan blessed us with Vedanta Sara , which is a much more

brief examination of the meanings of Brahma sutrAs than Vedanta Deepa .

 

Sri K.Bhashyam's comments on AchArya Ramanuja on Brahma Soothrams

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" Sri BhAshya is the well known commentary by Sri Ramanuja on the VedAnta

SoothrAs

of Sage BadarAyaNa , severely argumentative and controversial and also technical

and

terse . Therefore , SriRamanuja , in his infinite mercy , has himself

abbreviated Sri BhAshyam

in to VedAnta Deepa in which much of the controversy and elaborateness of the

arguments

are eschewed ; so that it may easily understood even by ordinary students of

philosophy .

There is yet another commentary by Sri Ramanuja , VedAnta Sara , which is very

brief and

consists of just a line or two giving the essential meaning and purport of the

Sutras .

To those , who have not had the time or scholarship to study the elaborate and

voluminous

Sri Bhashya (under the sacred feet of a SadAchAryan ) , Vedanta Deepa is most

useful as being

a compendious treatise on the SutrAs by Acharya Ramanuja himself " .

 

An Appreciation of Dr.NSA Swamy's Monograph

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Years of study and Teaching of Sri VaishNavite Sri Sookthis and the anugraham

of his SadAchAryan has blessed Dr.NSA Swamy with such intellectual rigor

and SampradhAyic Jn~Anam , which he has generously shared with

devotees at every level of awareness of Bhagavath RaamAnuja SiddhAntham .

 

The latest monograph folowing the earlier relaeases last year on the Prinicpal

Upanishads according to the VisishtAdhvaithic tradition is another major

achievement of Dr.NSA Swamy . He has now blessed us with a core of knowledge

both on Upanishads and the commentaries on the principal Upanishads as

housed in AchArya Ramanuja's VedAnta Deepa .

 

The first 33 pages entitled the Author's submission is a brilliant introduction

to

Vedanta (Brahma) Sutras and the 8 essential doctrines covered by these sutras :

 

1. The Essential Nature of Brahman , 2. The Doctrine of Individual Self (

JivAthman) ,

3. The Doctrine of Matter , 4. The Essential nature of PurushArta or the highest

object of attainment , 5. The Doctrine of Spiritual Discipline , 6. The Doctrine

of

the Creation of the World , 7.The Process of attainment of Brahman through

the ArchirAdi maargam , 8.The Infallibility of the Doctrine of VedAnta ,

when examined with the Doctrines of other Schools of thought .

 

>From thereon , Dr.NSA Swamy focuses on every one of the Sutras of

the First and second chapter of Brahma Sutras and gives us the majestic

commentary of AchArya Ramanuja in Sanskrit and provides clear translations

for them in English . One can follow sentence for sentence the insightful

commentary of the ParamAchAryan and study the English translation of Dr. NSA

Swamy to gain a full understanding of unique style that AchArya RaamAnuja

adopted in his Commentaries and Gadhyams . It is not an easy task for any one

to translate the meanings of the VedAntic texts in general and that of AchArya

Ramanuja in particular .Dr.NSA Swamy has succeded brilliantly in his efforts

and we are the most grateful beneficiaries of his monumental effort .

 

THE HEART OF THE MONOGRAPH IS THE ORIGINAL SANSKRIT COMMENTARY

OF ACHARYA RAMANUJA'S VEDANTA DEEPA AND ITS ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY

Dr.NSA.SWAMY . THE TRANSLATIONS ARE FOLLOWED BY AN ERUDITE

SUMMARY OF THE INDIVIDUAL ADHIKARANAS OF THE FIRST & SECOND

CHAPTERS OF BRAHMA SUTRAS . A VERY HELPFUL , ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF

THE INDIVIDUAL SUTRAS OF THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS OF BRAHMA SUTRAS

HAS ALOS BEEN PROVIDED FOR OUR EASY NAVIGATION AMIDST THE TEXT .

 

THIS SIDE BY SIDE ORIGINAL AND TRANSLATION OF VEDANTA DEEPA WILL HELP US

IMMENSELY TO UNDERSTAND THE GENIUS OF ACHARYA RAMANUJA AND HIS

PENETRATING INTELLECT . ACHARYA RAMANUJA'S COMMENTARY ON EACH OF

THESE SUTRAS HAVE TO BE READ AGAIN AND AGAIN WITH THE CLEAR TRANSLATIONS OF

Dr. NSA SAMY AS A PREPARATION TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT STAGE : THE STUDY OF

SRI BHASHYAM ITSLEF IN ALL ITS COMPLEXITY , TERSENESS AND DIALECTICS

AT THE SACRED FEET OF A SADAACHARYAN . THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE FOR

EVERY SRI VAISHNAVAN ACCORDING TO OUR POORVACHARYAS AND OUR PRESENT DAY

SADACHARYAS .

 

ADIYEN CONCLUDES THIS NOTE OF APPRECIATION WITH A PRAYER TO

THE SRIRANGAM DAMPATHYS TO BLESS Dr. NSA SWAMY WITH A LONG

AND HEALTHY LIFE TO BLESS US WITH MANY MORE MONOGRAPHS

TO HELP US GAIN THE NEEDED KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SRI SOOKTHIS OF

BHAGAVATH RAMANUJA AND HIS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS .

 

WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE VOLUME II OF VEDANTA DEEPA AND OFFER

OUR HUMBLE PRANAMS TO Dr.NSA SWAMY FOR HIS MAHOPAKARAMS.

 

DAASAN , OPPILIAPPAN KOIL VARADACHARI SADAGOPAN

SRIMATH AZHAGIYA SINGAR THIRUVADI .