Sribhashyam of Ramanuja-A lucid commentary

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The principles of the philosophy of visishtadvaita are

expounded in the interpretation of the Brahmasuthra by Ramanuja. His

commentary on Brahmasuthra, otherwise known as Vedanta suthra, is

his monumental work, the Sribhaashya. Ramanuja establishes the

tenets of visishtadvaita firmly in Sribhaashya while refuting the

views of other schools of philosophy effectively.

 

 

 

Ramanuja opens Sribhashya his commentary on the Brahmasuthra

with an invocational verse, Akhilabhuvanajanmasthembhangaadhileele

vinathavidhithabhoothavratharakshaikadheekshe sruthisirasi vidheepthe

brahmani sreenivaase bhavathu mama parasmin semushee bhakthirupaa.

 

'May my intellect, semushi, be engrossed in devotion, bhakthirupa

bhavathu, on Lord Srinivasa , the Supreme Brahman, brahmani

srinivase, who is shining on the crown of the vedas,sruthisirasi

vidheepthe, who has vowed to protect all beings who bow down to Him

and follow His path vinathavidhitha bhothavraatha rakshaika

dhikshe,and for whom the acts like creation sustenance and

annihilation are mere sport,

akhilabhuvanajanmasthemabhangaadhileele.'

 

As in vedharthasangraha here also Ramanuja uses the name

Srinivasa as a synonym for Parabrahman. Srinivasa could be taken to

have reference to the Lord of Thirumala, but considering the subject

matter dealt with in this work Srinivasa can be construed as sriyah

nivasah , the abode of Sri, that is Lord Narayana, Paravasudeva, the

Brahman of visishtadvaita.

 

Bhavathu mama semushi bhakthirupa implies that bhakthi is the

sole means of salvation. Jnana as a result of bhakthi is stressed in

visishtadvaita. Srinivasa, or Brahman crowns the sruthi, veda, as

its chief import Srutisirasividheepte. Veda is the only source of

knowledge about Brahman and Brahman is the only purport of the veda.

Brahman or Narayana is described as having taken the diksha, vow of

protecting His bhakthas,vinatha vidhitha

bhoothavraatharakshaikadheekshe. Bhootha, all beings, who are

Vinatha,surrender to Him and vidhitha, follow the path of devotion.,

may it be man bird or beast, as can be seen in the case of

Vibheeshana, Gajendhra and Jatayu. It is His only vow as Rama says

when Vibheeshana surrenders to Him, sakrdheva prapannaanaam thavaasmi

ithi vadhinaam abhayam sarvabhoothaanaam dhadhaami ithi vratham

mama. 'It is my vow to give protection to all beings whoever

surrenders to me saying, "I am yours." ' As SudharsanaSuri puts it

His vow to protect is, to give them Mukthi ultimately.

The reason for this vow is denoted by akhila

bhuvanjanmasthemabhangaadhileele. The creation, janma, the

sustenance, sthema and the annihilation, bhanga all are His leela,

done without effort, and hence He feels responsible for the beings He

Himself created when they turn to Him for protection. He not only

creates sustains and annihilates but also enters into the beings as

their Self. This is implied by aadhi padha, bhangaadhi, annihilation

and so on. the word akhila is used instead of any other word of the

same meaning, like sarva or nikhila because the letter 'a,' akaara

denotes auspiciousness and represents the Lord Himself. Khila means

sesha, remnant, while akhila is asesha, all inclusive.

Saroja Ramanujam