GREATNESS OF BHAGAVAD RAMANUJA DARSANAM 1 B

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GREATNESS OF BHAGAVAD RAMANUJA DARSANAM 1 B

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SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION

There are several streams of philosophic thought among the AASTIKA

DARSANAS (THOSE THAT RECOGNIZE THE AUTHORITY OF THE VEDAS) like those of Sri

Nimbarka, Sri Vallabha, Sri Chaitanya etc but the main ones based on the

relationship between the Universal soul and the individual souls are those

known as Advaita, Dvaita and Visishtadvaita.

 

ADVAITA was founded by Gaudapada and expounded by Adhi Sankara charya based

MAINLY on the Non- differential passages contained in the Vedas (Abeda

Srutis).

 

THOUGH THEY ACCEPT THE “BHEDA SRUTIS” ALSO AS AUTHORITY, THEY GIVE LESS

IMPORTANCE TO THEM IN COMPARISON WITH “ABEDHA SRUTIS”.

 

They hold that there is only one soul and there is no differentiation as

Universal and Individual soul because they are one and the same and were

never different.

 

DVAITA was founded by Madhwacharya and followed by Raghavendra and others

who relied MAINLY on the differential passages contained in the Vedas (Bheda

Srutis).

 

THEY ACCEPT “ABEDHA SRUTIS” AS AUTHORITY BUT GIVE GREATER IMPORTANCE TO

“BHEDA SRUTIS” IN COMPARISON WITH “ABEDHA SRUTIS”.

 

They hold that the Universal soul and the Individual souls were totally

different and remained eternally so and can never be same or even equal.

 

VISISHTADVAITA has been in existence from time immemorial from the days of

the Vedas which were in Sanskrit. These were transcribed into “Dravida

Basha” (Tamil) by the AzhwArs especially NammAzhwAr) through their 4000 holy

collects, also called Divya Prabandams. Due to the influence of Buddhism,

Jainism etc outside the pale of Vedas and other causes there was a period of

eclipse, as it were, for the VisishTAdvaita philosophy. It was given Sri

Natha muni, to rediscover by receiving UpadEsa through yogic powers from Sri

NammAzhwAr himself. It was elaborated by Sri Yamuna muni, expounded by Sri

RamAnuja muni and lucidly explained by Swami Sri Vedanta Desika and

propagated by many others.

 

APART FROM THE ABHEDA AND BHEDA SRUTIS, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF WHAT IS CALLED

GHATAKA SRUTIS WHICH SEEK TO RECONCILE, SYNTHESIZE, SYNCHRONIZE AND

INTEGRATE THE APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS AS BETWEEN THE TWO.

 

They hold that though the Universal soul and the Individual souls do exist

apart eternally, they exist in a peculiarly inseparable relationship with

each other (Apritak Siddha) in a sort of Body - Soul relationship (Sarira-

Sariri Bhava).

 

Thus, all these three streams accept the Vedas and therefore are streams of

the Vaideeka matham, though Advaita and Dvaita rely on one or the other of

the BEda and AbEda Srutis, unlike VisishTadvaita which accepts all the

Srutis in the Vedas as authority and reconciles the apparent discrepancies,

in the interpretations of the other two streams.

 

There is a historical compulsion also for the stand taken by Sri Aadhi

Sankara. At his time, a-vaidic philosophies had mushroomed and gained so

much popularity due to the influence of NaiyAyikas, VaisEshikas, Samkhyas,

Yogis, LokAyathas, Aarhathas (Jains), HinAyAna branches of Buddhism like

VaibAshikas, SourandhrikAs, MahAyAna branches of Buddhism like YOgachAras,

and MAdhyamikas, PAsupathas, BhaTTa PrabhAkaras, BhAskariyas, EkAyanas

etc that he had a stupendous task in demolishing all their arguments. For

this, he had to go the extra mile with them, if only to prove them wrong

like “ bearding the lion in its den” and in the process earned the label of

“Prachchanna Bouddhas”.

 

The task of Sri RamAnuja was then made much easier, because he had only one

opponent to vanquish viz. Advaita, though he provided additional arguments

against the other streams as well that were still prevalent at his time.

 

Sri M.K. Sudarshan observes –

“ The Western world still regards Vedanta as being largely synonymous with

the Advaita system propounded by Adi Sankara. It is Advaitic thought that is

still seen as India’s greatest contribution to the philosophies of the

world. In spite of its many flaws and leaks and inconsistencies, there is no

gainsaying that the Advaidic tradition has become the flagship of the

Vedantic armada”

 

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan in " Hindu view of Life " has said this already.

" One or two later followers of Sankara lend countenance to this hypothesis

but it cannot be regarded as representing the main tendency of Hindu

thought......the different theistic systems adopted by the large majority of

the Hindus do not advocate the doctrines of 'mAya'. etc - The theory is held

by Sankara, who is regarded often as representing the standard type of Hindu

thought”

 

Sri Sudarshan further observes -

“ In Hagellian terms, if “Dvaita” represented the “thesis” and “Advaita” the

“Anti-thesis”, then Visihtadvaita verily constitutes the “synthesis” of many

streams of Vedantic thought”

 

It will be seen from the discussion that follow, that Visishtadvaita

philosophical position is actually an improvement upon not only those of

“Dvaita” and “Advaita” but of many other streams and is NOT JUST A VARIANT”

 

In fact, as Sri Sudarshan avers –

“ Visishtadvaita is THE highest evolved form of Vedantic thinking over 2000

years and it actually represents the “STATE-OF THE ART” thinking in modern

Vedanta”.

 

Returning to the ‘Apritaksiddha” concept mentioned above, an illustration is

given as follows:

" The totality of existence is like a wheel, God being the hub and the rim

and Jeevas being the spokes connecting. They are inseparable but not

identical with him "

 

The individual soul while being the soul in relation to the physical body

constitutes the body of the Universal soul (i.e. Paramatma) who is none

other than Sri Narayana.

 

One Srikanta Sivacharya sought to an attempt to install the supremacy of

Shiva over all other deities. But, his attempt failed to carry conviction

and remained to be known as 'Saiva Siddhanta'.

 

As pointed out by Sri Anand Karalapakkam –

“His BhAshyam to Brahma sutras is almost a carbon copy of Bhagavad

Ramanuja’s Sri BhAshyam. The only change he has made is the equation of

Brahman with Lord Shiva, instead of Lord Sriman Narayana. His system of

thought is called “Saiva VisishtAdvaita”. He is also technically a

VisishTAdvaitin !”

 

But for this solitary experiment, all the three streams of philosophies

acknowledge Sri Narayana as the Paramatma. The Advaitins do not agree

wholeheartedly with this position of Sri Narayana and preferred to call Sri

Narayana as ' Saguna Brahman' (Paramatma with attributes) subject to

another entity called ' Nirguna Brahman'(Attributeless Brahman). However it

be, even for the TRUE Advaitins, Sriman Narayana is THE PARAMATMA.

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GRD 2: SECTION 2 THE SRUTI PASSAGES IN SUPPORT OF THE THREE STREAMS OF

PHILOSOPHY will follow

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