[sri ramanuja] Iraamaanusa nooRRanthAthi- 46th verse- Ramanuja chased away the six avaidika religions! [what are the six?]

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:

 

Dearest all,

 

Amudhanaar’s enjoyment of Ramanuja’s immersing himself

in Thiruvaymozhi and says we are blessed to have taken

refuge at His Feet.

 

kooRum chamayangaL aaRum kulaiyak kuvalayaththE

maaRan paNiththa maraiyuNarn^ thOnai mathiyiliyEn

thERum patiyen manamputhun^ thaanaith

thichaiyanaiththum

ERum kuNanai iraamaa Nnuchanai iRainchinamE. 46

 

Emperumaanaar- Sri Ramanujacharya studied

Thiruvaaymozhi of NammAzhwAr, which by its rich and

deep narration of Vedic truths, chased away and

destroyed completely the other six religions, (that

could survive only by a mere play of words and logic

with no examples or proofs, pramaaNams and

clarifications of their contradictions).

 

What Sri Ramanuja did to me is this: Since I do not

have the required jn~Anam nor the capacity to grasp

the same, He simply resided in my heart as the means

and the end for me to take refuge at His Lotus feet

and be saved. I simply lost to His greatest KalyANa

guNAs of such merciful Nature of YathirAjar, and my

obeisance to Him.

 

Saankhyam, Yogam, tharkkam, bhouddha, Jainam,

pAsupatham are the six religions as enlisted and

rejected by Vyasa as non-vedic in Brhamasoothram.

Reference to these six religions are mentioned in

Nammaazhwaar Thiruvaymozhi as well.

 

What are these six religions mentioned in

Thiruvaaymozhi? [extract from Sri Satakopan Swami’s

write up:] ThiruvAimozhi Paasuram : 4.10.5]

 

viLampumARu samayumum avaiyAhium maRRUm tanpAl

aLanthu kaaNdaRkariyanAhiya Aadhip pirAnamarum

vaLamkoLL taNNpaNai soozhnthu azhahAya Thirukkukuranai

uLamkoLL jn~Anathtu vaimin ummai uyyak koNDu pORilE

 

(meaning): There are six systems religion ranging from

totally Vedic to those with different degrees of

connection to the VedAs. He became these religions and

others, which declare themselves to be based on the

VedAs, but are misguided (Kudhrushti mathams).

They shout in shrill tones of logic and get hoarse.

None of them can however surpass the greatness of Lord

AdhippirAn, who presides over ThirukkuruhUr known for

its shady groves. Hold Him (AadhippirAn) deep in Your

heart before the external senses ambush you and make

you go astray. Holding Him tightly would be the only

way to secure your salvation.

 

The six darsanams that NammAzhwAr refers to here have

been counted in number of ways to add up to a total of

Six :

 

(1) The six religionslisted by AchArya RaamAnujA are

Bhouddham, ChArvAkam, NaiyAyka-VaisEshikams of

GouthamA, Jainam , Saankhyam and Yogam .These six are

also known as Saakhya, ulUkhya, AkshapAtha ,KshapaNa ,

Kapila and Pathanjali darsanams based on the people ,

who developed them or wrote commentaries .

 

(2) In another counting , these six are recognized as

Saankhyam , Yogam ,Bhouddham ,VaisEshikam ,Jainam

and Paasupatham .

 

(3) In yet another counting , these six are :

ChArvAkam , Jainam and four types of Bhouddham (

VaibhAshikam and SautrAntikam of HeenayAnam and

yOgAchAram and nihilism of MahAyAnam sects).

 

The various darsanams listed above fall into the

categories of Naasthika and Aasthika darsanams . The

Naasthika darsanams like ChArvAkam ( materialistic

atheism), Buddhism and Jainism are systems of thought

that do not accept the authority of the VedAs and deny

the tattvams such as Soul (Jevan ) and God (Isvaran ),

which Aasthika mathams accept as fundamental to their

beliefs .Naasthika mathams are called Veda Baahya

mathams and the Aasthika Mathams are saluted as

Vaidhika Mathams.

 

The six Aasthika mathams are: NyAya, VaisEshika

,Saankhya, Yoga, MimAmsa and VEDHAANTHA darsanams .

Around 1000 CE, the NyAyA and vaisEshikA systems came

together and became amalgamated into one system.There

is not much of a difference between them now.

 

Even among the set of six Aasthika mathams , there are

 

different degrees of acceptance of the VedAs . NyAya ,

 

VaisEshika , Saankhya and YogA have admitted the

validity of the VedAs in a tangential way , while

staking their claims to be aasthika mathams.The

MimAmsA and the VedAnthA are the truly Aasthika

mathams .

 

Swami Desikan describes at great length these

darsanams and their deficencies and sufficencies in

His Paramatha Bhangam, Tattva muktha kalApam and its

commentary , SarvArtha siddhi.

 

Swami Desikan thoroughly evaluates these darsanams to

establish the unimpeachable doctrines of Sri

VisihtAdvaidham over all the other darsanams .

 

Among the mathams rooted in VedAntham, there are many

such as

Adhvaitham of SankarA,

Dhvaitham of MaadhvAchArya, VisishtAdhvaitham of

Naathamuni- AalavandhAr - RaamAnujA,

SuddhAdhvaitham of VallabhAchAryA,

BhEdhAbhEdham , DhvaidhAdhvaitham of Nimbarkar

et al.

Among these VedAthantha darsanams , VisishtAdhvaitham

,

Dhvaitham , SuddhAdhvaitham and dhvaithAdhvaitham

accept a personal God in the form of VISHNU .

 

In his SathadhUshaNi, Swami Desikan has severely

criticized the deficiencies of Adhvaitham with clarity

and precision. Swami Desikan dealt in great detail

about the untenability of key doctrines of Adhvaitham

in one of his magnum opus, Tattva Muktha kalApA and

focused on proving the untenability of these

Adhvaithic concepts:

(1) NirguNa nirvisEsha Brahmam (2) nature of nescience

(avidhyA) (3) anivarchanIyakhyAti (4) AkhaNDArtha

Vaadham and (5) Illusory nature of the world.

 

Swami used the teachings of AchArya RaamAnujA in Sri

Bhaashyam and its commentary , Srutha PrakAsikA in

constructing his irrefutable arguments .

 

Swami Desikan went on to correct the misreading of

the NyAya and MeemAmsa darsanams that were prevalent

and established their compatibility with

VisishtAdhvaic

doctrines in his Sri Sookthis known as NyAya

parisudhdi , NyAya SiddhAnkjanam, SEsvara MeemAmsA. In

the first two Sri Sookthis , Swami travelled on the

path pointed out by AchArya Naathamuni in his Sri

Sookthi, NyAya tattvam. In that classic Sri Sookthi ,

AchArya Naathamuni recast the NyAyA darsanam to suit

the needs of VisishtAdhvaitham.

 

Swami Desikan refined the presentation of the NyAyA

system by AkshapAdhA ;in NyAya SiddhAnjanam , Swami

Desikan clarified the metaphysical concepts of

VaisEshikA system in the light of VisishtAdhvaitham .

In SEsvara MimAmsA, Swami Desikan showed that the

Poorva MimAmsa SoothrAs of Jaimini is in harmony with

the Brahma soothrAs of BaadarAyaNA. He rejected

the view that PoorvamimAmsA was opposed to Uttara

MimAmsA or VedAnthA.

 

Swami established that MimAmsA is a unitary Saasthram

(Yeka Saasthram ) in two parts (Poorva and Uttara ).

The greatness of the Swami Desikan’s contributions

is very evident in the Para matha Bhangam created

in front of Sri DevanAtha PerumAL on the banks of

Garuda nathi in the environs of ThiriuvahIdhrapuram

to defend Sri VisishtAdhvaitham as the soundest

among all VedAntha darsanams.

 

EmperumAnAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan