My God! He doesn't know!

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra

Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

My God! He Doesn’t Know!

 

The Lord is credited with omniscience. He knows

everything. This is one fact which scholars of all

religions, all sub-sects and all Sampradayas are able

to unanimously agree upon. In our Sri Vaishnava

Sampradaya too, this is accepted axiomatically. The

Vedas, Maharshis, ItihAsAs, PurANAs, and even the

common man-all raise their voices in unison in support

of the Lord’s all-knowing nature.

Says the TaittirIya Upanishad, “Satyam, GnAnam,

anantam Brahma”, attesting to Emperuman’s omniscience.

The same Upanishad glorifies Knowledge itself to the

level of the Lord-:VignAnam Brahma iti vyajAnAt”.

Another Shruti vAkya confirms that the Lord knows

everything-“Ya: Sarvagya: Sarvavit”.

Azhwars are of the same opinion.

According to Sri Nammazhwar, the Lord’s knowledge is

limitless (“ellai il gnAnatthan”). The same Azhwar

also says that Emperuman’s gnAna is complete and

comprehensive (“neri elAm edutthu uraittha nirai

gnAnatthu oru moortthi”). In fact, in the

VarAhAvatara, the Lord is known as “GnAnappirAn”. That

He is the personification of Knowledge is brought out

by Swami Desikan in Sri Hayagriva Stotram-“GnAnAnanda

mayam dEvam”. The Lord knows everything not

post-facto, after they happen, but simultaneously, as

they are happening, and even before they happen, says

Sri Nathamuni in his Yoga Tatthvam-“YO vEtthi yugapat

sarvam”.

 

Despite the aforesaid averments, there are some

who say that the Lord doesn’t know everything. He

might know most of what is there to be known, but not

everything.

This sounds like blasphemy, casting aspersions on

Emperuman’s omniscience. And one is unable to imagine

any devotee willing to voice such a serious accusation

against the Lord.

To our surprise, we find that it is two senior

PoorvAchAryas who fling this arrow of accusation at

the Lord. They say His knowledge is incomplete. They

are none other than Sri Yamuna Muni and Sri

KorattAzhwan, having the distinction of association

with Sri Ramanuja as his Preceptor (by proxy) and

disciple, respectively.

In his ChatusslOki, Sri Alavandar says

“YasyAstE mahimAnam Atmana iva tvat vallabhOpi Prabhu:

nAlam mAtum iyattaya niravadhim nityAnukoolam svata:”

 

Lavishing praise on Piratti, Sri Yamuna Muni says that

Her greatness cannot be fathomed by the Lord Himself.

Further, He doesn’t know the true measure of His own

greatness.

Sri Yamuna Muni is not alone in raising the accusation

of incomplete knowledge against Emperuman. For good

measure, he is joined by Sri KoorattAzhwan, who

reiterates this in his “SriStavam”:

“ Devi tvat mahimAvadhi: na HariNA nApi tvayA

gyAyatE”.

Sri Piratti’s greatness, as that of the Lord, is

immeasurable. She Herself, even if She were to try,

or, for that matter, the Lord Himself, would be doomed

to failure, if they attempted to fathom their

greatness.

Azwars too concur with the fact that the Lord does not

know the limits of His own grandeur. “Tanum tan

perumai arivariyAnai” says Sri Nammazwar.

Thus, what it all boils down to is, that both the Lord

and His Divine Consort do have a speck of ignorance in

their otherwise blemish less and incomparable GnAna.

Lest we take this to be a stigma for the Lord and

Piratti, Sri KoorattAzhwan hastens to clarify both his

and Sri Yamuna Muni’s Sreesooktis in the next line:

“Yadyapi Evam atApi naiva yuvayO: sarvagyatA heeyatE

yat nAstyEva tat agyatAm anuguNAm sarvagyatAyA

vidu:

vyOmAmbhOjam idantaya kila vidan bhrAntoyam

ityuchyatE”.

Sri Azhwan raises the question, “What is Omniscience?”

Furnishing the answer, he says that All-knowingness is

the state of knowing all that is there is to be known.

Nobody can claim to know something that doesn’t exist

at all- if he does, contrary to acclaim, he would be

faced with accusations of hallucinating. So also with

the true measure of the Lord’s and His Consort’s

greatness- since the limit to these qualities does not

exist at all, (because their greatness is boundless),

not knowing the measure of their greatness would not

lay them open to charges of flawed knowledge.

 

Enthralled by this explanation, we breathe a sigh of

relief-for, no devotee can tolerate a blemish, however

microscopic, on His Lord, whom he knows to be a

Paragon of Perfection. Thus what began as an

accusation against the Lord has ultimately turned into

an accolade, for it has served to highlight the Divine

Couple’s boundless magnificence, which is immeasurable

to anyone.

 

A titbit for the connoisseur here, in a lighter vain.

The aforesaid slokas say that

1) both Emperuman and Piratti are unaware of Piratti’s

greatness.

2) 2) The Lord is unaware of the limits of His own

greatness.

3) 3) However,both Sri Alavandar and Sri Azwan have

omitted to say that Piratti does not know how great

the Lord is. Hence, impliedly, She does know the true

measure of Her Consort’s grandeur. Doesn’t this make

Her more knowledgeable than Emperuman?

Though the Lord Himself doesn’t know how great He is,

there are two entities who claim to know this. The

first is the Veda Purusha, who says he knows the Lord

for what He is-“VedAham Etam Purusham

mahAntam”(Purusha Sukta).

Next is Sri VisvAmitra, who declares that only he and

other tapasvis like Sri Vasishta know the true measure

of Sri Rama’s greatness. This is stated by the Sage to

Sri Dasaratha, when the latter displays reluctance to

send Sri Rama for Yaga samrakshaNam.

“aham vEdmi mahAtmAnam Ramam satya prAkramam

VasisttOpi mahA tEjA: yE chEmE tapasi shritA:”

This is indeed strange. The Lord doesn’t know, but

the Veda Purusha and the Maharshis do. This is

impossible too, for, by His very nature, the Lord must

be more knowledgeable than anyone else. Then why would

the Veda Purusha and Sri VisvAmitra claim knowledge,

which even the Lord doesn’t have?

The answer is again that provided by Sri Azhwan-the

Sage claims to know the Lord’s greatness because he

has understood it to be beyond comprehension. This is

the basis of the Veda Purusha’s claim too-that he

knows the Lord’s greatness to be unknowable. This is

borne out by the Anandavalli vAkya

“YatO vAchO nivartantE, aprApya manasA saha”

Veda Vakyas, which set out to describe fully at least

one attribute of the Parama Purusha , return

vanquished, unable to fathom the full depth of each

auspicious quality.

 

In a nutshell, the only way of comprehending the

ParamAtmA’s grandeur is to realise that it is beyond

comprehension, even to the Lord Himself.

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka

SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya

Nama:

Dasan, sadagopan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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