pAncarAtra and srI bhAsya/brahma sUtrAs

[Guest guest]

srImathE ramAnujAya namah

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

some of the discussions recently on the list raise an issue

regarding whether rAmAnuja talks about archa worship in srIbhAshya.

This raises an intersting question. If rAmAnuja did not explictly

support the archa form of worship in srIbhAsya, how did it become

so prevalent, and how did he succeed in convincing others that

it is valid? The answer lies in srIbhAsya itself. It turns out

that rAmAnuja did talk about pAncarAtra, and defends pAncarAtra

as faultless in srIbhAshya.

 

The adhikaraNa is known as "utpatti asambhava adhikaraNa". It is

the eighth adhikaraNa in the second part of the second chapter.

The following is a brief summary of what is present in that

adhikaraNa {based on the translation of srIbhAshya by srI.

M B VaradarAja Aiyangar}.

 

The adhikaraNa first presents the pUrvapaksha opinion that the

pAncarAtra system of worship is not in accordance with the

vEdAs for the following reason. It teaches that

" the jIva known as SamkarshaNa is born out

of vAsudEva, who is the Supreme Cause and is the Supreme Brahman:

out of SamkarshaNa is born the manas called pradhyumna: out of

which the principle of egoity known as anirudhdha is born".

 

The argument of the pUrvapakshins is that here,in contradiction

to the vEda, it is seen that the jIva has birth. The vEda speaks

of the beginninglessness of the jIva in many passages.

 

Also, out of the agent (i.e. the jIva), the instrument (namely,

the manas/mind) cannot be produced. The teaching in pAncarAtra

that "Out of SamkarshaNa is born the mind called pradhyumna"

is contrary to the teaching in vEdAs "From Him is born the

prANa, the mind and all the sensory organs" [Mund. Up].

 

Since this system deals with things opposed to the vEda,

the authoratitiveness of the system is also negatived.

 

rAmAnuja argues in the sidhdhAntha portion of this

adhikaraNa that the system is indeed valid. His main thesis

is that SamkarshaNa and others all all of the same nature as

what is intelligent and the source (i.e. Brahman). If they all

have the same characteristics as the Brahman, then the system

which is devoted to teaching about them cannot be denied

authoritativeness. He also quotes several passages from

pAncarAtra where the "birth" of a jIva is negated.

In a long argument, rAmAnuja brings up several arguments

as to why it should not interpreted as those opposed to it

do, and how it is indeed authentic, strongly concluding that

the pAncarAtra system of worship is in accordance with the

vEdAs and faultless.

 

--

 

It is clear that srI rAmAnuja clearly defends the pAncarAtra

system of worship (as opposed to srI sankara and srI vallabha)

as free from *any* defect. {Sri Sankara and srI vallabha

appear to accept the pAncarAtra except in regard to the

doctrine of origination of the individual self}.

 

Since rAmAnuja accepts and defends pAncarAtra as "faultless"

in this adhikaraNa, it is clear that the he also defends

the archa form of the Lord as propounded in the pAncarAtra.

In fact, there is a quote from the paushkAra samhita that

he uses - "Wherever indeed the fourfold Self is, as a matter

of duty, worshipped by the BrahmaNas, under His names in the

proper order, as an object of devotion, that is the Agama",

which can be taken as alluding to the archa form of worship.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

varadhan