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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