Philosophy of Ramanuja-INTERPRETATION OF SADVIDYA

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4. Sadvidya as interpreted by Ramanuja

 

The text of the Chandogya Upanishad 'sadheva soumya idham

agra aaseeth ekameve adhvitheeyam' and its sequel 'thatvamasi' are

considered by the advatins to mean that 'sat', Barhman is the only

reality and the world of diversity is not real. Ramnuja does not

agree with this view and according to him the chandogya text and

sadvidya envisaged in it supports only the visishtadvaita concept of

Brahman He says that the text ' sadeva idham agra aaseeth, Sat alone

existed in the beginning' does not negate the world as unreal

because the subsequent text which says,' thadhaikshatha bahusyaam

prajaayeya, it willed to become many,' disproves this.

 

The essence osf sadvidya is that by knowing 'sat ' , that

is, Brahman, the absolute reality, everything else becomes

known. 'ekavijnaanena sarvavijnaanam.' The context of the passage in

Chandogya is as follows:

 

The son, Svethakethu retuirns from his gurukula and the

father Uddhaalaka Aaruni asks him whether he has learnt everything

Svethakethu answers in the affirmative and seeing him conceited at

his knowledge the father asks him whether he asked his guru for

that teaching by which what is unheard becomes heard, what is

unthought becomes thought and what is unknown becomes known, ' yena

asrutham srutham bhavathi amatham matham, avijnaatham vijnaatham.'

Then the son, knowing not what is meant by the father asked him to

teach that by knowing which everything becomes known, ekavijnaanena

sarvavijnaanam.

 

Uddhaalaka Aaruni explains that knowledge through three

examples Just as all things made of clay are understood by the

knowledge of a single clod of clay, just as by knowing a single ingot

of gold all that is made of gold would become known, just as by a

single nail parer all that is made of iron would become known because

all are only modifications of the causal substance, knowing that

which is the cause of everything all become known. That is the

teaching .

 

Then the father starts imparting the knowledge to the

son. 'Sadheva soumya idhamagra aaseeth ekameva adhvitheeyam.' There

was only 'sat ' in the beginning, one only, without a second. Sat ,

Brahman is the cause and idham the world is the effect. By knowing

the cause all the effects become known as illustrated by the examples

of mud,gold and iron. This is the content of the text.quoted, says

Ramanuja.The knowledge of the one leading to the knowledge of the

many proclaimed in the sadvidya section of the Upanishad means that

the knowledge of 'one,' that is, kaarana Brahman leads to the

knowledge of 'many',that is, the kaarya Brahman, both being real. The

words 'ekameva' and 'adhvitheeyam denote that Brahman is the material

and efficient cause.

 

5.Brahman as the cause of the world

 

Based on the sadvidya section of the Chandogya, Ramanuja

demonstrates the unity of the cause and the effect. ' Sat alone

existed' before creation in the sense that this world, differentiated

into names and forms, existed as 'one' before creation, devoid of

names and forms.Brahman is the material cause as it existed alone

without a second. In the creation of a pot , the mud is the material

cause and the potter is the efficient cause . But Brahman being

omnipotent needed no external aid for creation and there was nothing

except Brahman in the beginning. Therefore Brahman is both material

and efficient cause of the universe. This is what is meant

by 'ekameva adhvitheeyam.'

 

The causal relationship between Brahman and the world is

explained by Ramanuja in Sribhashya based upon common experience.

The Chandogya text gives illustrations of mud etc. in order to show

that the effect is only a modification of the cause 'vaachaarambhanam

vikaarah naamadheyam mrthikethyeva satyam' and hence the knowledge of

the 'one' which is the cause leads to the knowledge of the

modificatons of nama and rupa, the effects. Ramanuja makes this more

explicit by another example. The childhood, youth and old age of

the same individual, say, Devadatta are only different modifications

in the sarira of Devadatta. Similarly the gross manifestations of the

world of cit and acit are only the modifications of the sarira of

Brahman, the sariri. Thus the cosmological theory of Ramanuja is

based on the sarira-sariri relationship between Brahman and the

universe. Thios leads to the concept of sarira-sariri bhava of

visishtadvaita.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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