vedarthasangraha of Ramanuja-1. mangalasloka

[Guest guest]

aseshachidhachithvasthuSeshiNe SeshaSaayine

nirmalaananthakalyaNaniDhaye

vishNave namaH

 

 

Salutations to the Lord Vishnu

who is the real owner , Seshi, of all beings sentient and insentient, who

reclines on the bed of Adhisesha and who is pure and infinite and the

repository of auspicious qualities.

 

By this mangala sloka Ramanuja establishes

the visishtadvaita doctrine as well as refuting that of others. The Sesha Seshibhava is one of the main tenets

of Visishtadvaita.

Seshin is the one who is the

owner and the sesha is the owned. As the inner self of all, the whole universe

of sentient and in sentient beings is controlled by Him and supported by Him in

the same way as a king controls and supports his kingdom and his subjects. Only

difference is that all beings are inseparable from Him as they form His body.

 

Similar to the relationship

between the soul and the body of an individual, the former controlling and

supporting the latter which exists for its use and enjoyment, the relationship

between the individual self and the Lord is one of sesha and seshi.

 

The sesha – seshi sambandha is one of absolute dependence on the Lord

and that of service to the Lord. This relationship arises from the fact that

the whole universe forms a part of the Supreme Reality.

 

aSesha chith achith vasthu includes all beings , the word aSesha

meaning without anything remaining, chith referring to all the sentient beings

and achith to the prakrthi and its evolutes which are insentient. By saying

that the Lord is the Seshin to which everything is the Sesha, the sankhya

theory of prakrthi or primordial matter being the cause of the universe is

rejected.

 

He is also the Sesha Saayee, reclines on the bed of

Sesha, who represents the eternal souls who exist for the service of the Lord

and among those Sesha is a special servant of the Lord as he is always in

service and inseparable from the Lord

even in His incarnations.

 

Nirmala means pure, without blemishes. This answers the opposition for

the Lord being the inner self of all in which case the imperfections of His

creations will adhere to Him. The word anantha

means eternal which is explained as desakalavasthu

paricchinna rahithathvam, that

is, not conditioned by place , time and entity since He is all pervading, ever

existing and is transcendent and immanent.

 

kalyaaNa nidhaye means to

one who is the repositary of all auspiciousness. The word anantha can also be

combined with kalyaaNa nidhaye to mean that the Lord possesses infinite

auspicious qualities. This refutes the theory

of nirrgunabrahman of advaita, that Brahman is attributeless. The sesha seshi

sambandha between Brahamn and the universe refutes the theory of bhedha abhedha

vadhins, Bhaskara and Yadhava prakasa. Ramanuja deals with these refutations in

detail later.