Sribhashya of RAMANUJA-aTHAtho brahmajijnAsA (1-1-1-) continued

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Ramanuja outlines the basic concept of visishtadvaita by his

explanation of the word 'brahma.' He says 'brahmasabdhEnacha

svabhAvathah nirasthanikhiladhoshah anavadhika athisaya asankhyEya

kalyANagunaganah Purushotthamah abhidheeyathE.' The word 'brahma'

refers to the supreme Purusha, NArAyaNa, who is naturally devoid of

all defects, (this eliminates other relalised,muktha, everfree,

nitya, souls), and possesses infinite,wonderful, inconceivable

auspicious qualities. These words serve to deny the concept of

nirguNabrahman. By this statement he declares without any ambiguity

that the word brahma is synonymous with NArAyaNa, removing any doubt

to the contrary.(devathAntharavyAvrtthyarTHah-Sudarsanasuri.)

 

The adjectives anavadhika and asankhyeya with reference to

His wonderful, athisaya and infinite,anantha kalyANa gunagana,

auspicious qualities, show that they are inconceivable by vAk and

manas. Avadhi is limit and sankhya is number. His qualities are

anavadhika ,not limited by words or thought and asankhyEya ,

countless, as Desika says in YadhvAbhyudhaya, 'yadhEkaikaguNaprAnthE

shrAnthAh nigamavandhinah yathAvath VarNanE asya,' The vedas

proceeding to describe Him as He is,become exhausted by the time they finish relating about even one of His qualities.

 

Ramanuja then proceeds to show that the word brahman can only

mean nothing but sarvesvara . Brahma sabda is derived from the

root 'brh' to mean greatness and though it can be applied to anything which is great, the mukhyArTha of the word can only be, that which is by nature possesses the greatness to an infinite degree, as in the case of the word 'bhagavat' which denotes only

the Lord. The implication here is that the word, great being, brahma, is not meant in the adjectival sense but as the mukhyArTHa, in its denotation of something which is great by nature.

 

Another reason for the word 'brahma' denoting sarvesvara is

given by Ramanuja as 'thApathrayAthuraih amrthathvAya sa Eva

jijnAsyah.' As the Lord is the sole resort for those who are affected by thApathraya, the three afflictions of samsara, namely

Adhibhouthika, Adhidhaivika and AdhyaAthmika, He alone becomes the

object of jijnAsA. The ills of samsara are due to the three thApaas,

suffering due to fate due to no reason, Adhidhaivika, due to other

beings and natural elements,, Adhiboutika and due to our own physical and mental conflicts for which our own actions are responsible, AdhyAthmika. Even though these maybe remedied by other means they are not permanent and permanent remedy is possible only by the grace of the Lord, who alone can release us from the samsara. So 'sa EvA JIJNaSYAH,' He alone has has to be inquired.

 

After examining the implications of the word 'brahma' and

explaining it to mean Narayana the last word of the suthra jijnAsA is examined. The word is a compound meaning jnAthum icchA, desire to

know. The one who has studied the PurvamimaAmsA comes to know of its

alpa asTHira phalathva and turns to Utthara mimAmsA with the desire

to attain the permanent bliss of moksha.