Guest guest Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 VedharTha sangraha of Ramanuja The Vedhartha sangraha of Ramanuja is the work of Sri Ramanuja in which he examines the different kinds of texts of the Upanishads and establishes the philosophy of Visishtadvaita by interpreting these texts in a manner so as they are not contradicting but form one whole theory of Brahman, world and the jeeva, all three being real as per the visishtadvaita doctrine. There are three kinds of sruthi texts, namely those which proclaim identity of individual soul, jeeva with Brahman, abhedha sruthi, which are the basis for advaita philosophy, those which declare that Brahman , jeeva and jagath are different from each other , the bhedhasruti, which is quoted by the dvaitins and those which speak of the Brahman being the inner self of all both sentient and insentient, which Ramanuja terms as ghatakasruti. In his opinion the veda texts must be interpreted in such a manner that there is harmony among them. The visishtadvaita bridges the two variants of abhedha and bhedha srutis by means of the ghataka sruti passages to show the unity and not identity with Brahman. Ramanuja interprets even the so called abhedha srutis to establish the visishtasya advaitam or visishtayoH advaitam, which means that the relationship between Brahman and the universe of sentient and insentient beings is one of body and soul. We shall see how the great acharya establishes the philosophy of visishtadvaita on the tripod of Esvara, jagath and jeeva, the Lord, the world and the individual soul, all the three of them being real. 1. Mangalasloka aseshachidhachithvasthuSeshiNe SeshaSaayine nirmalaananthakalyaNaniDhaye vishNave namaH Salutations to the Lord Vishnu who is the real owner , Seshi, of all beings sentient and insentient, who reclines on the bed of Adhisesha and who is pure and infinite and the repository of auspicious qualities. By this mangala sloka Ramanuja establishes the visishtadvaita doctrine as well as refuting that of others. The Sesha Seshibhava is one of the main tenets of Visishtadvaita. Seshin is the one who is the owner and the sesha is the owned. As the inner self of all, the whole universe of sentient and in sentient beings is controlled by Him and supported by Him in the same way as a king controls and supports his kingdom and his subjects. Only difference is that all beings are inseparable from Him as they form His body. Similar to the relationship between the soul and the body of an individual, the former controlling and supporting the latter which exists for its use and enjoyment, the relationship between the individual self and the Lord is one of sesha and seshi. The sesha – seshi sambandha is one of absolute dependence on the Lord and that of service to the Lord. This relationship arises from the fact that the whole universe forms a part of the Supreme Reality. aSesha chith achith vasthu includes all beings , the word aSesha meaning without anything remaining, chith referring to all the sentient beings and achith to the prakrthi and its evolutes which are insentient. By saying that the Lord is the Seshin to which everything is the Sesha, the sankhya theory of prakrthi or primordial matter being the cause of the universe is rejected. He is also the Sesha Saayee, reclines on the bed of Sesha, who represents the eternal souls who exist for the service of the Lord and among those Sesha is a special servant of the Lord as he is always in service and inseparable from the Lord even in His incarnations. Nirmala means pure, without blemishes. This answers the opposition for the Lord being the inner self of all in which case the imperfections of His creations will adhere to Him. The word anantha means eternal which is explained as desakalavasthu paricchinna rahithathvam, that is, not conditioned by place , time and entity since He is all pervading, ever existing and is transcendent and immanent. kalyaaNa nidhaye means to one who is the repositary of all auspiciousness. The word anantha can also be combined with kalyaaNa nidhaye to mean that the Lord possesses infinite auspicious qualities. This refutes the theory of nirrgunabrahman of advaita, that Brahman is attributeless. The sesha seshi sambandha between Brahman and the universe refutes the theory of bhedha abhedha vadhins, Bhaskara and Yadhava prakasa. Ramanuja deals with these refutations in detail later. 2. Guruvandhana param brahmaeva ajnam bhramaparigatham samsarathi paropaaDhyaaleeDam vivaSam aSubhasya aasapadham ithi Sruthinyaayaapetham jagathi vithatham mohanam idham thamo yena apaastham sa hi vijayathe yaamuna muniH The sage Yamuna is victorious, who dispelled the deluding darkness of ignorance which is the result of prevalent doctrines in the world which are contrary to Vedas and reasoning that Brahman itself transmigrates out of illusion and ignorance and that it is helplessly conditioned by adjuncts different from itself and that it is the abode of evil. This sloka is a tribute to Yamuna , Alavandar, who was the chief exponent of Visishtadvaita before Ramanuja and the grand acharya of Ramanuja ( that is he was the acharya of the acharya of Ramanuja. By the two slokas Ramanuja indicates the essence of Visishtadvaita and also the refutation of the other doctrines which are the subject matter of the present work. According to Advaita Brahman and the individual jiva are identical, jeevo brahmaiva na aparaH and the jiva gets into bondage due to ignorance and delusion which means that Brahman itself param brahma eva, comes under the influence of ignorance, ajnam, and delusion, bhramaparigatham, says Ramanuja, and gets into transmigration, samsarathi. The Bhedhaabhedha doctrine of Bhaskara and Yadhavaprakasa are also referred in the sloka by paropaaDhyaaleeDam, Brahman or Athman, is conditioned by adjuncts separate from itself, and hence vivaSam, dependent, which refers to the Bhaskaramatha and asubhaaspadham, abode of impurities, which refers to the Yadhavaprakasamatha. These are dealt with in detail later in the work. Ramanuja extols Yamunacharya by saying that he has dispelled the darkness of ignorance, yena apaastham thamaH, due to these doctrines which are against the sruthi and reasoning, sruthinyaayaapetham, and delude the world, jagathi vithatham mohanam. Then Ramanuja starts expounding the doctrine of Visishtadhvaita. 3.The import of the Upanishads aSesha jagath hithaanuSaasana SruthinikaraSirasi samaDhigathaH ayam arThah This is the import of the Upanishads which are the crown of the Vedas and which enjoin what is beneficial to the entire world. aSesha jagath- the whole universe. hithaanuSaasana- laying down what is beneficial. The Vedas are the means of following dharma and attaining the purusharThas, the highest goal , purusharTha being moksha which is the subject matter of the Upanishads. Hence they are the crown of the Vedas, Sruthi nikara Sirasi means at the head of the Vedas. samaDhigathaH ayam arThaH- this is the import of the Upanishads. Then Ramanuja gives the whole essence of Visishtadvaita in a sentence, bringing out the three main tenets of the Visishtadvaita philosophy, namely, thathva, hitha and purusharTha. 4. thathva , Hitha and purusharTha Jeevaparamaathma yaaThaathmyajnaanapoorvaka varNaasramadharma ithikarthavyathaaka paramapurushacharaNayugala Dhyaana archana praNaamaadhiH athyarThapriyaH thath praapthiphalaH Jeevaparamaathma yaaThaathmyajnaana poorvaka- the knowledge, jnaana, of the real nature, yaaThaathmaya, of the jeeva and the Lord, which acquired beforehand. varNaasramadharma ithikarthavyathaaka- performing of the duties of one’s own varna and asrama, (ithikarthvyathaaka means the actual procedure involved in performance of varnasrama dharma.) Dhyaana archana praNaamaadhiH – meditating, worshipping and bowing down to etc., parampurushacharNayugala- the pair of feet of the Supreme Being, the Lord Narayana, aThyarTha priyaH- with utmost adoration, thath praapthi phalaH- results in attaining Him. yaaThaathmayjnana of the jeeva and the Lord consists in the understanding that jeeva is the sesha, of the Lord Jeeva is jnanavan, sentient, anu, Atomic, and of the nature of bliss, several and eternal. Paramathma is the seshi, all pervading and possesses infinite auspicious qualities and devoid of imperfections unlike jeeva. This is thatthva Armed with that the dhyana etc. are the means to attain the goal, that is the Lord. This denotes the hitha while the goal, thathapraapthiphala is the purushaarTha. The important thing to remember is the word athyarthapriyaH, one should consider the Lord as the closest and dearest as mere jnana and karma will not lead to the goal but only bhakthi. which is love . 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