geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-11

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

 

 

When we say ramanuja darshanam, it refers to the VishistAdvaitic philosophy

(tattvatraya vAdham) propagated by Swamy ramanuja. There is a wrong idea

prevalent in our society that Swamy Ramanuja invented this philosophy whereas

actually the VishistAdvaitic philosophy is a parama vaidika matham (a very

ancient philosophy prescribed by the Vedas). Mamunikal in his upadesa ratina

mAlai says, “EmperumAnAr darisana mendrE edharkku namperumal pErittu

nAttivaiththAr” (Only the already existing system was named EmperumAnAr

darisanam due to the marvelous work done by EmperumAnAr for the upliftment of

the system). The second wrong thought commonly seen is that the advaitins are

all saivaites. Here one thing has to be strongly kept in mind. Whether it is

advaitam, VishistAdvaitam or dvaitam all are vaishnavic philosophies only (All

of them believe Narayanan to be the supreme without any doubt). The philosophy

difference arises only in the interpretation of some Vedic verses. So the

advaitins and the saivaites differ in their belief. The saivaites believe in

the supremacy of Siva. One interesting fact is that two things very near to

the saivaites are not accepted by the advaitins. The advaitins do not accept

lingam and vibhoothi.

 

 

 

But our sampradayam talks about both lingam and vibhoothi though we give a

different meaning to both of them. Vibhoothi in our sampradayam refers to the

two vibhoothi’s of emperuman, leela vibhoothi and the nithya vibhoothi

(emperuman is ubhayavibhoothi nAthan). Further the word lingam means

proof/symbol (adayAlam). Emperuman has some kalyana gunas like akilaheya

prathyaneekathvam, Sriya:pathithvam etc which belong only to nArAyanan. This

has been expressed by swamy nammazhvar in his very first paasuram in

thiruvaimozhi as “uyar nalam udayavan” where the nalam refers to the kalyana

gunas of emperuman and in the very same paasuram, “amarargal adhipathi” refers

to the vibhoothi of emperuman (He is the leader of the devas/Nithya sooris).

 

 

 

So to get a proper knowledge of our philosophy, it is very essential to know

about the qualities of the chit, achit and paramatma. GeethAcharyan gave the

bhagavat geetha in order to remove the sorrow of arjuna and invoke him in doing

his duty. For that arjuna had to first understand the nature of the body and

soul. After knowing about the atma, arjuna should understand the importance of

karma yoga (his karma was to fight the war-kshatriya dharmam) which will lead

him to chitta suddhi (clear mind) which will in turn lead him into jnana yoga

which will give him atma sAkshAtkAram (realization of the atma). Here it has to

be kept in mind that this atma sAkshAtkaram is different from kaivalyam, which

we will explain in detail later. This is the essence of the first six chapters

of Srimad Bhagavat geetha in which the first chapter and till the 11th sloka in

the second chapter was just the introduction (avathArikai) for whatever Krishna

is going to talk further. Then as a token of

preparing arjuna for the session geethAcharyan gave him the tattvatrayam jnanam

(called as the tattva vivEkam). We saw about these in the last posting. To

recall, Thirumangai azhwar has also started his prabhandam with the same tattva

vivEkam referring to the three tattvas by the words, “munnuru”, “pinnuru” and

“ponnuru”.

 

 

 

Before going into the in-depth meaning of the thirunedunthAndaka paasuram, let

adiyen first let you all know the essence of the first six chapters of bhagavat

geetha, in order to have a clear vision of the concepts. Swamy Aalavandaar in

his geethArtha sangraham summarises this as follows:

 

 

 

“jnAnakarmAthmikE nishtE yOgalakshyE susamskruthE I

 

AthmAnubhoothi sidyarthE poorvashatkEna shOdhithE II”

 

 

 

SusamskrutE – Nicely decorated (with the knowledge of seshatvam and vairakyam in

other things or otherwise doing the upaya without thinking about the result

along with sAtvika tyAgam).

 

JnAnakarmAthmikE nishtE – jnana yoga and karma yoga,

 

YOgalakshyE – in order to attain the yoga (Atma sAkshAtkAram)

 

AthmAnubhoothi sidyarththE – (after that) in order to attain AtmAnubhavam

 

PoorvashatkE – the first six chapters

 

ShOdhithE – prescribes

 

 

 

The first six chapters of the geethA sAstram, prescribes the jnana yoga and

karma yoga in order to attain the atma sAkshAtkaram and in turn the pleasure of

enjoying once own atma says aalavandaar in the above sloka. To repeat,

 

 

 

Karma yoga --à chitta suddhi--à jnana yoga-à temporary atma

sAksAtkAram-àPermanent Atma sAksAtkAram (atmAnubhavam).

 

 

 

We will see how this has been expressed by thirumangai mannan in his paasuram in

the forth-coming postings.

 

 

 

(To be continued)

 

 

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

 

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

 

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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