The Visishtadvaita Philosophy of Sri Ramanuja

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The Visishtadvaita Philosophy Of Sri Ramanuja

(Ramanuja was born in the year 1017 A.D.)

 

Introduction

The Visishtadvaita is so called because it inculcates the Advaita or

oneness of God, with visesha or attributes. It is, therefore,

qualified monism. God alone exists. All else that is seen are His

manifestations or attributes. God or Lord Narayana of Sri Ramanuja is

a complex organic whole – Visishta – though it is one. Hence the name

Visishtadvaita.

 

According to Sri Sankara, all qualities or manifestations are unreal

or temporary. They are a result of Avidya or ignorance. According to

Sri Ramanuja, the attributes are real and permanent. But they are

subject to the control of the one Brahman (the Supreme Reality). God

can be one despite the existence of attributes, because they cannot

exist alone: they are not independent entities. They are Prakaras or

the modes, Sesha or accessories, and Niyamas or controlled aspects,

of the one Brahman.

 

Ramanuja's celebrated system of philosophy known as Visishtadvaita or

qualified monism is Advaita or non-dualism with a qualification or

Visesha. It admits plurality. Sri Ramanuja's Brahman or Lord Narayana

subsists in a plurality of forms as souls (Chit) and matter (Achit).

Hence it is called Visishtadvaita or qualified non-dualism.

Visishtadvaita philosophy is Vaishnavism. The Sampradaya (sect) of

Ramanuja's creed is known as Sri Sampradaya. His followers are

Vaishnavas. Ramanuja systemized the philosophy of Vaishnavism,

because `Sri' or the Goddess Lakshmi is made to have an important

function to perform in the salvation of the soul.

 

Sri Sankara's philosophy is too high, subtle and abstract for the

vast majority of persons. But Sri Ramanuja's philosophy is suitable

for those in whom the devotional (Bhakti) element preponderates. In

Sri Ramanuja's system of philosophy, the Lord (Narayana) has two

inseparable Prakaras or modes, viz., the world and the souls. These

are related to Him as the body is related to the soul. They have no

existence apart from Him. They inhere in Him as attributes in a

substance. Matter and souls constitute the body of the Lord. The Lord

is their indweller. He is the controlling Reality. Matter and souls

are the subordinate elements. They are termed Viseshanas, attributes.

God is the Viseshya or that which is qualified.

 

The Visishtadvaita System – The Story Of Its Evolution

 

The Visishtadvaita system is an ancient one. It was originally

expounded by Bodhayana in his Vritti, written about 400 B.C. It is

the same as that expounded by Ramanuja. Ramanuja followed Bodhayana

in his interpretation of the Brahma-Sutras.

 

The Bhakti (devotion) school worships a Personal God. The devotees

develop devotion to Narayana or Vasudeva. Those who worship the

Personal God are called Bhagavatas. They have their own scriptures

called the Pancharatra Agamas which are regarded by them as equal to

the Upanishads. The Bhakti movement was further strengthened in South

India by the work of the twelve Alvar saints. The hymns composed by

the Alvar saints were collectively called by the name Nalayira-

Prabandham, a series of four thousand poems.

 

Afterwards came the Vaishnava Acharyas – Natha Muni, Yamunacharya and

Ramanujacharya. They were great scholars. They gave a philosophical

basis and colouring to their beliefs and practices. The Alvars solely

relied on Bhakti, but these Acharyas combined Jnana (knowledge) and

Karma (action) with it for the realisation of God. They regarded

Jnana and Karma as means for realising God. Their object was to

reconcile the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Gita, with the Tamil

Prabandha. They interpreted the Tamil Prabandha in terms of the

Upanishads and the Gita. Therefore, they were called by the name

Ubhaya-Vedantins (ubhaya = both). Ramanuja accepts the Vedas, the

Upanishads and the Tamil works of the Alvars for his philosophy.

Therefore, his system is known as Ubhaya-Vedanta.

 

Natha Muni raised the Prabandha to the level of the Vedas.

Yamunacharya laid the foundations on which Ramanuja, his successor,

built his philosophy. Ramanuja wrote the commentaries on the Brahma

Sutras known as the Sri Bhashya. He wrote a commentary on the

Bhagavad Gita also. He wrote also three other books – Vedanta

Sara,Vedartha Sangraha and Vedanta Dipa. These are the chief texts of

the Visishtadvaita system of philosophy.

 

Ramanuja accepts perception, inference and scriptures as valid

sources of knowledge. The Vedas and the Smritis are the sole and

independent authority for the knowledge of Brahman. He adopts the

theories of Satkarya-Vada (satkaryavada = the doctrine which holds

that the effect is inherent in the cause and that the effect is only

a change of the cause) and Parinama-Vada, i.e., the doctrine of the

real effect proceeding from a cause.

 

Ramanuja's Brahman – A Personal God with Attributes

 

According to Ramanuja, whatever is, is Brahman; but Brahman is not of

a homogeneous nature. It contains within Itself elements of plurality

on account of which It truly manifests Itself in a diversified world.

Ramanuja's Brahman is essentially a Personal God, the all-powerful

Ruler of a real world, permeated and animated by His spirit . There

is thus no room for the distinction between Param Nirguna (formless,

without attributes) and an Aparam Saguna (with attributes) Brahman,

between Brahman and Isvara. [for explanations of the terms `Brahman'

and `Isvara', see Page `Nature of Reality']. Ramanuja's Brahman is

Savisesha Brahman, i.e., Brahman with attributes.

 

Ramanuja's Brahman is not the Impersonal Absolute, but He is a

Personal God with the qualities of omnipotence, omniscience and

infinite love. God is Saguna (with attributes). When the Vedic texts

declare that He is Nirguna, it means that there are no base or lower

qualities such as sorrow, pain, mortality, change and old age in Him.

 

The Lord is interpenetrating everything. He is the essence of the

soul. He is the Antaryamin or the Innner Ruler. He is one with the

soul. He is all-pervading (Vibhu). He is the Supreme Being. He is

full of auspicious attributes. He is of the nature of Satya (Truth),

Jnana (Knowledge, intelligence), and Ananda (Bliss). Matter and soul

depend on Him. He is the Adhar or support for this world and all

souls. God is the governor or Controller (Niyanta or Seshin) of the

world. Jiva or soul is Niyama or Sesha (one who is being controlled).

 

The Lord is immanent. He is also transcendent. He is unchanging. The

entire universe is latent in Him during Pralaya (dissolution). The

world is projected during creation, but this does not touch His

essence. Ramanuja's Brahman has internal difference (Svagata Bheda).

It is a synthetic whole, with souls and matter as Its modes (Chit-

Achit-Visishta). Para, Vyuha, Vibhava, Archa and Antaryamin, i.e.,

the transcendent, the group, the incarnation, the image and the

immanent are the five forms of the Lord.

 

Ramanuja identifies God with Narayana who dwells in Vaikuntha with

His Sakti or consort, Lakshmi. Lakshmi is the Goddess of prosperity.

She is the Divine Mother. She pleads with Her Husband (Lord narayana)

on behalf of man. She introduces the devotee to Her Lord and obtains

for him salvation. Lakshmi occupies a pre-eminent place in

Vaishnavism.

 

The World – A Real Part Of Brahman's Nature

 

The world, with its variety of material forms of existence and

individual souls, is not an unreal Maya, but a real part of Brahman's

nature. It is the body of the Lord. Matter is real. It is Achit or

non-conscious substance. It undergoes a real Parinama or evolution.

Matter exists in a subtle state as the Prakara of God during Pralaya

(dissolution). Hence it is eternal, but ever dependent. It is

controlled by the will of God. It is neither good nor bad. It becomes

a source of pleasure or of pain according to the nature of the Karma

of souls. It forms the object of experience for the souls.

 

Prakriti has three Gunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas [for explanations

see Page `Sattva, Rajas, Tamas']; but, Suddha Tattva has only Sattva.

It is pure matter. Suddha Tattva is the substance which constitutes

the body of God and is called His Nitya-Vibhuti. The manifested world

is His Lila-Vibhuti.

 

The Soul – A Distinct Individual Entity

 

The soul is a higher Prakara of God than matter, because it is a

conscious entity. It is of the essence of God. According to Ramanuja,

God, soul and Nature are three eternal entities. The soul is self-

conscious, unchanging, partless and atomic (Anu). The souls are

infinite in number. The individual soul of Ramanuja is really

individual. It is absolutely real and eternally distinct from God. It

has, indeed, sprung from Brahman, and is never outside Brahman;

nevertheless, it enjoys a separate personal existence and will remain

a personality forever.

 

Three Classes Of Souls

 

According to Ramanuja, there are three classes of souls, viz., Nitya

(eternal), Mukta (free) and Baddha (Bound). The eternal souls have

never been in bondage. They are eternally free. They live with God in

Vaikuntha. The freed souls were once subject to Samsara (samsara =

life through repeated births and deaths; the process of worldly

life), but have attained salvation now and live with God. The bound

souls are caught up in the meshes of Samsara and are striving to be

released. They wander from life to life till they are redeemed.

 

Man or the individual soul is a particle of which God is the whole.

The individual soul is like a spark of that mass of fire. The whole

pomegranate fruit represents the Brahman of Ramanuja, each seed

corresponding to the individual soul.

 

The Evolution Of The Soul And Its Final Emancipation

 

When the individual soul is immersed in worldliness or Samsara, its

knowledge is contracted. It gets its body according to its past Karma

(actions), and goes from birth to death and from death to birth, till

it attains Moksha or the final emancipation. When it attains Moksha,

its knowledge expands. It knows everything. "Every action that

contracts the heart of the soul is bad, and every action that expands

the heart of the soul is good" – this is the statement of Ramanuja.

The soul is marching on in this Samsara, expanding or contracting

through its good and evil actions, till it attains the final

emancipation through the grace of Lord Narayana. The grace descends

on those souls who are pure and struggling for the divine grace.

 

Emancipation Or Passing Into Paradise

 

According to Ramanuja, Moksha means the soul's passing from the

troubles of mundane life into a kind of heaven or paradise

(Vaikuntha) where it will remain forever in undisturbed personal

bliss in the presence of God. The liberated soul attains to the

nature of God. It never becomes identical with Him. It lives in

fellowship with the Lord, either serving Him or meditating on Him. It

never loses its individuality. There is no such thing as Jivan-mukti

(liberated in this life, while yet living), according to Ramanuja.

Salvation comes when the soul leaves the body.

 

Bhakti (devotion, love of God) - The Means To Emancipation

 

The final emancipation can be obtained only through Bhakti and the

grace of the Lord. The grace of the Lord comes through devotion and

Prapatti or absolute self-surrender. Karma and Jnana are only the

means to Bhakti (devotion, love of God).