Truth and interpretation (Was RE: VAlmIki and VyAsA

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Srikanth:

 

namo narayana!

 

Please note that the all encompassing premise for the

discussions we have in this net is our Sri Sampradayam

and the Visihtadvaita philosophy is the true message

of the sastrAs. This is not out of whim, but based

on the teachings of a lineage of AchAryas that goes

all the way up to emperumaan. Such a lineage must

not be thought of as one more interpretation.

 

Please consider the following responses for your queries:

 

> I wonder if this concept has acceptance among all vedantins; and

> whether the non-visistAdvaitins (whose numbers are much larger than

 

We do not need the approval of other vedAntins to

state a fact that is established by our Acarya

parambarai.

 

 

> ours) would concede to your statement that " Advaita is a [mere]

> personal interpretation " . No matter how strong our beliefs and

> convictions may be, they should not translate to a condemnation of

> other faiths or a re-writing of history.

 

Even Sri Ramanuja never claimed to have established a new

interpretation. Sri Bhashyam is a text bringing out the

true purport of the vedas, not a text establishing a new

religion or interpretation. If adiyEn has understood this

properly, Sri Ramanuja did not even use the term,

Visihtadvaitam. Given these facts there is no rewriting

of history.

 

As far as condemnation of other faiths, it is important to

note that there is nothing wrong in " condemning " falsehoods,

i.e., pointing out the fallacies of other faiths (sic), etc.

Our Azhvars have done it, our Acaryas have done it. We need

to do it in the appropriate format and be prepared to defend

what we say.

 

 

> The sishyaparamparA of bhagawAn bAdarAyaNa has been used as

> a basis by even non-visistAdvaita vedantins such as Adi Sankara.

 

In fact the point of the first post in this thread was

that Vyasar is not in the Acarya Parambarai of Sri Sampradayam,

and that is so. Obviously that is not an indicaton that

our system is different from that of Vyasa.

 

In as much as the absence of a given Acarya in a lineage

is not a proof of contradictory views, the presence of a

given Acraya in a lineage is not a proof of their true

understanding of the views of that Acarya. Even in present

day Sri Vaishnavam we see that one of the important views of

Sri Alavandhar, Sri Ramanuja, Sri Bhattar, and other

poorvacaryas is not accepted by ThenAcArya followers,

namely, the status of Sri. Therefore, the presence of

Vyasar in the Acarya paramabarai of Advaitins does not

automatically confer a level of authenticity to their

interpretations.

 

 

> It will be a tall order to conclusively prove that bAdarAyaNa

> and his legacy were 100% visistAdvaitam.

 

Yes it is, and it has been done conclusively by our Acaryas.

 

 

> If such a thing were patently obvious, there

> shouldn't have been any other school of vedAnta besides ours.

 

Only in a perfect world the above is true. Swami Desikan's

SadadUsani has stood without refutation for centuries, yet

we still have a very thriving Advaitin tradition. Today

there are many more advaitins than Visistadvaitins or Dvaitins.

Further, the general impression among most hindus and non-hindus

alike is that the traditional hindu philosophy is advaitic.

These are results of Perumal's leelai. Only through Perumal's

karunyam will anyone get a chance to see the truth of Sri

Sampradayam, and if his karma is ripe enough, he will have

the wisdom to accept what he sees as the ONLY truth. The

continuing existence of other schools is not a proof of the

possible fallibility of Sri Visishtadvaitam.

 

 

> Unless

> of course, we go to the extent of stating that Sankara, Anandateertha etc.

> did not know what they were talking about.

 

 

Let us put it this way, Sri Vsishntadvaitam is the ONLY true

purport of the Vedas.

 

 

All said and done, here in this net we are concerned about

the study and practice of Sri Desika Sampradayam. Therefore,

the premise is clearly, Sri Visshtadvaita Sri Sampradayam

is the true message of the Sastras. There cannot be any

debate about that in this net. We have to have our discussions

within that context.

 

 

-- adiyEn sri ramanuja dasan

srimad Azhagiya Sinagar thiruvadigaLE saraNam