The Six religions

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dear Sri Sadagopan mama,

 

An excellent post describing the six religions! So deep and simple yet..

Your mentioning of Paramatha bhangam reminds me of an upanyasam, that I had

heard in Srirangam Utthara veedhi Desikar Koil, (which generally is there on

all SravaNam days, by various scholars, organised by Srimad Poundareekapuram

Andavan Ashrama, attended by about 20 people in the beginning at 7.p.m, and

by more than 60 people in the end at 10 p.m due to the hot " kai niRaiya "

prasadham.. I generally go about 9. p.m is needless to say..) on Paramadha

bhangam. The Swami is a Navalpaakkam Swamin (about 45 years) from Hyedarbad,

talked for three hours referring to no paper and quoting effortlessly

variuos Swami Desikan's works. The talk was for more than hour on the 2nd

pAsuram, viduneRi anji vidatthodakkiya.. _ It was simply excellent!!

 

Here Swami mentioned that this 2nd pAsuram, (about eight lines) the first

line says the effort of Sishya, who gets a semblance of

sufferings/punishment or even apprehension of suffering due to the paapams

committed over the ages, and approaches the SadAchAryan. The rest 7 lines is

on What the AchAryas do.. This actually implies that a small step towards

the SadAchAryan is all that is required. So graet and merciful are They!

 

AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Regards

 

Narayana Narayana

 

Narayana dAsan

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

There was a question on the Six darsanams refered

by NammazhwAr in his Thiruvaimozhi Paasuram: 4.10.5.

Sri Mani VaradarAjan posted a breif article.

This posting is an elaboration of some of

the concepts related to these six darsanams .

 

 

the text of this ThiruvAimozhi Paasuram is as follows:

 

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 as described by

Sri Mani VaradarAjan ) , 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 A.D ,

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-Vadakku

Thiruveethi PiLLai-ApuLLAr -Swami Desikan ,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 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 misreadings 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 .

 

Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan