SrI UpakAra Sangraham Part- 34

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srI:

SrI upakAra sangraham – 34

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adikAram – 1

poorva upakAra paramparai

(The Foremost Series of Favours)

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SECTION – 5 (5) [continued]

(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for

MOKSHAM)

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While mentioning the fifth favour done by the Lord in

the form of saving the Vedic scriptures, Swami Desikam

referred to " anya-shAstra-s " created by the Lord to

divert the attention of opponents of the sAttvika,

virtuous persons:

 

" sAttvika-viruddha-vyAmOhanArtha-mAka

anya-shAstrangaLai sruShtikkac ceitE "

 

What are those " anya-scriptures " ? It is but natural

if this question is raised.

The creator of these is also the Lord Himself, may not

be directly, but through some highly respectable

philosophers.

 

Let us have a look at these philosophies and how

these were tackled by our Saints and AchAryas. SwAmi

Desikan has left us a work under the name, " Paramata

Bangam " -- Refutation of other systems of Philosophy.

 

In it, he has handled a number of systems and shown

how they are defective. Some of them fall outside the

Vedic system and others, though based on Vedic

scriptures, went wrong in their views.

 

SwAmi Desikan enriched his work with Sanskrit and

Tamil Verses. A collection of Tamil verses occurring

in this work is being recited by Sri Vaishnavites

regularly. It is titled " Paramatha Bangam " , the same

as that of the main work.

 

In one verse, he lists out the defects found in those

systems in general:

 

They indulge in perverse disputes in which they use

misleading statements and speak out only those facts

which are in their favour. In this group are the

followers of KanAda, Goutama, VaiyAkaraNa, MImAmsa

systems.

 

There is another group which includes the followers

of the Bhaskara-YAdava systems of advaita. They deny

the reality of objects of the senses. cArvAka,

Bhouddha and Jaina systems say the VedAs are human

creation, while the established fact is that they have

not been any body's creation, including the Supreme

Lord's.

 

The followers of SAnkya, Yoga and Saiva systems claim

these were created respectively by Kapila, Brahma and

Pashupati and follow these systems for certain

material benefits.

These are four types of defects as categorized by

SwAmi Desikan.

 

Taking up the cArvAka system, SwAmi Desikan says

that according to it, only pratyakSha (perception) is

the only authority. Those things which do not come

within the perception are unreal. So, the dharma,

non-dharma, Ishvara (God), upper worlds which are not

perceived by our senses are false, according to their

theory.

However, SwAmi Desikan criticises, cArvAkas infer the

presence of fire on the hill which is not visible to

the eyes, on the basis of the smoke that is visible to

the eyes. They also accept as true a thing when

another person says he has seen it directly. In the

same way they can also accept the inference and verbal

authority as true, SwAmi Desikan points out.

 

SwAmi Desikan next takes up the different sections of

Bhuddhism. They are four: MAdhyamika, YogAcAra,

sourAntika and Vaibhashika.

 

The MAdhyamika theory is that nothing really exists.

According to it, no authority (PraMaNam) exists to

prove the existence of any vastu. There is no vastu,

as well, which can be known through an authority.

Thus this peculiar theory is not accepted by devas

and humans, who dismiss it as ridiculous. Acharyas

condemned the MAdhyamik's theories and protected the

Vedic philosophy.

 

For the YogAcAra, knowledge alone is reality. But

there is no knower and also there is no object which

can be known by knowledge. According to him, knowledge

appears and disappears every moment. But, our AchAryas

refuted this theory and proved the realities of

cEtana(jIvAtma), acEtana(matter) and Ishvara (God) on

the basis of the established authority.

 

The third type of bhouddha, sourAntika's theory did

not accept theory of non-existence of objects proposed

by the YogAcAra. According to him, objects, though

exist, disappear; but they can be known through

inference. Though this knowledge exists for a moment

only and then disappears. Even then, the experience of

the colour etc. of the objects that existed for a

moment, remains with us. Our AchAryas rejected this

theory, saying it is like a child that is breast-fed

by its breast-less mother; like the speech without a

mouth; and like the feet walking with a headless body.

 

The fourth bhoudhist is VaibhAshika. Acording to him,

knower of an object is unreal, while the knowledge and

the object which is known by that knowledge are real.

This theorist accepts the reality of knowledge and the

object known through that knowledge, but says the

objects have no attributes. This is

self-contradictory. This theory also did not stand

before the arguments of our AchAryAs.

 

Next come the philosophers who accept the Vedas, but

base their theories on wrong interpretations of the

Vedic statements. One of them is the advaiti, who

accepts the reality of Brahman as established by the

Upanishads, but does not accept the truth that the

Brahman has attributes and a body. Also he does not

accept the reality of individual souls and the

material world, as both are as unreal. According our

AchAryas, the advaiti is no different from Bhoudhists.

 

Then, another non-Vedic religion, Jainism,

was also dismissed by our Acharyas as full of

un-acceptable theories which cannot stand the test of

logic. Jains do not accept the reality of God. They

say the universe originated from what they call

big-atoms (param-aNus). They say, every object in the

world is real as well as unreal at the same time; is a

combination of both difference and non-difference.

These are self-contradictory theories which can not

stand the test of logic.

 

The Advaita philosophies of Bhaskara and Yadavacharya

were also rejected by our AchAryas as they were

self-contradictory and against the established truth

of Upanishads. Similarly, VaiyAkaraNa's theory also

was rejected as a combination of Advaita, YAdavaism

and bhouddha theories in a basket.

 

According to the theory of kaNAda, inference

(anumAna) is the only authority; and not the verbal

testimony (sabda). Similarly, the Nyaya theory of

Goutama, is defective. It can be accepted after

correcting its several defects.

 

The poorva-MimAmsa does not accept the importance of

Ishvara and deva-s. According to it, the karmas, like

yajna etc., are enough for humans to get their desired

benefits such as heavenly life etc. The yajnA-s

performed by men creates a subtle entity, which they

call as " apoorva " which reserves the intended benefits

and gives to the person concerned later, after his

death. The poorva-mImAmsaka does not give importance

to the uttara-mImAmsa which deals with the means for

liberation and the attainment of Brahman by individual

souls.

 

Our AchAryAs established that both poorva and uttara

mImAmsa-s are a single shAstra and have to be studied

together. The first part of the mImAmsa is known as

karma kANda, while the latter is called Brahma kANda.

The followers of the first part claimed that it is a

separate shAstra and they didn’t accept the

Brahma-kANda. It was pointed out that the karma bereft

of the important Ishvara is like a body without the

head. At the same time, the mere uttara-kANda without

karama-kAnda is akin to a head without the body. So,

both the parts are equally important and should be

studied in the order.

 

SwAmi Desikan then takes up the SAnkhya system. Even

though, it accepts verbal testimony along with

pratyaksha (direct perception) and anumAna (inference)

as valid authority of knowledge (pramANa). However, it

does not accept Ishvara, but accepts jIva and

prakruti. prakruti is a combination of sattva, rajas

and tamas which are not attributes, but substances

(dravya-s). When all the three are in equal

proportions, it is known as moola-prakruti, which is

eternal and non-sensible. It is enjoyed by the jIva.

Moola-prakruti is all pervasive; ever changing and is

the first cause and itself changes into various

entities from mahAn onwards. jIva is eternal; all

pervasive; without any attribute; in the form of

knowledge; not active; different from body to body.

With his association alone, prakruti attains changes.

Just as a blind walks with the help of a lame person,

with the help of the jIva who is of the form of

knowledge, prakruti does it activities. Thus, by this

combination of jIva and prakruti alone, the world

exists. Hence, there is no need to imagine an entity

called Ishvara. If a person knows these 25 tatva-s,

i.e., moola prakruti, mahAn, ahankAram, five elements

-- space, air, fire, water and earth; five tanmAtras -

intermediary entities before the evolution of these

elements; five senses of knowledge; five senses of

action; mind; and jIva, he can attain liberation even

before his death.

The SAnkhya theories are condemned for not believing

in righteousness, un-rightiousness and Ishvara, like

the ignorant prattles of hunters in a slum. They are

against the Vedic principles and hence have to be

dumped by the scholars of Upanishads.

 

Next comes, the Yoga system. Though it believes in

the existence of Ishvara, jIva and prakruti, it does

not accept the Vedic concept of the Ishvara as endowed

with all natural auspicious qualities. According to

Yoga philosophers, these qualities are not natural for

the Ishvara. They also give prominence to the theory

of direct realization of jIvAtmA rather than

ParamAtmA. However, they use the Ishvara in furthering

the ashtAnga-yoga for the self-realisation, which they

call as " kaivalya mOksha " , enjoying the bliss of Self

alone, bereft of the Ishvara.

 

SwAmi Desikan next deals with the PAsupatha system of

Shiva, a distortion from the Vedic ideology. Shiva is

the Ultimate Reality to be attained by the individual

souls, as proposed in this system.

 

In order to save the Vedic ideology from being

destroyed by these newly developed systems, the Lord

himself taught the PAncarAtra shAstra. In this

shAstra, SrIman nArayaNa is the Ultimate to be

attained by jIva-s. He Himself is the means to attain

Him. Prapatti or saraNagati or surrender at His feet

is the effective means for one and all for attaining

mOksha. In the mOksha state, the liberated jIva-s

enjoy the eternal Bliss in the company of SrIman

nArAyaNa.

 

SwAmi Desikan indicates this:

 

" vEdarakShai paNNinatuvum; " -- The Lord Himself

saved the VedAs and conferred the favour on the

virtuous jIva-s.

 

(To continue)

dAsan

Anbil S.SrInivAsan

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