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1. The meaning of the term Visishtadvaita



             The term philosophy is defined as the pursuit of knowledge
of Reality. The knowledge of Reality is sought in order to determine the
cause of everything because the self realisation requires the knowledge
of what is Self and where it came from.



             All the Indian systems of philosophy have a  common aim,
namely, liberation, that is freedom from bondage of karma and realising
the true Self. But the means of achieving this differs  with different
systems.



             Vedantic system of philosophy, as its name suggests, is
based on the vedanta, ie. the Upanishads. In vedanta, Brahman ,
synonymous with Narayana  of Visishtadvaita, is the absolute reality and
the ultimate cause of the Universe. The non-vedantic schools are those
which do not accept the above concepts  outlined in the Upanishads and
Ramanuja classes them as vedabahyas, those that are outside the pale of
the vedas. These are Sankhya, Nyaya-vaiseshika, Yoga, Buddhism and
Jainism, though Ramanuja includes Pasupatha also as they cite their own
agama as their authority like the Sankhya and Yoga, apart from the
Upanishads



             Buddhism and Jainism are termed as atheistic schools as they
deny the authority of the vedas while the others accept the vedas but
give their own interpretations in accordance to their agamas and hence
Ramanuja classifies them also as vedbahyas and offers criticism of their
views in Sribhashya, his commentary of Brahmasuthras.



             Sribhashya is based on the Bodhayanavriththi  of
Brahmasuthra of Badharayana , that is. Vyasa Sribhashya represents the
edifice of the philosophy of Visishtadvaita on which  Vedantadesika
later constructed the invincible tower of dialectics. Thus Sribhashya is
the work par-excellence that has stood the test of time



             The philosophy of Visishtadvaita existed from the time  of
Nathamunigal and Yamunacharya but the term Visishtadvaita was applied to
it only after the time of Desika, and the philosphy advocated by
Ramanuja came to be known as Visishtadvaita. It was Sudarsanasuri who
first used this term in his commentary on Sribhashya and
Vedarthasangraha of Ramanuja. It means that Brahman, Jiva and Jagat, the
three reals, tatthvathraya,form one organic whole, visishtasya advaitam.
It also means visishtayoh advatam, the oneness of the cause, Brahman,
and the effect, the world of sentient and insentient beings,cit and
acit.





             The philosophy of visishtadvaita is  one of unity in
diversity. There are two different sets of sruti texts one set,
abhedhasruti, affirming unity and the other, bhedhasruti upholding
difference between Brahman and the universe of cit and acit.  The former
are cited by advaitin to prove the identity of jiva and Brahman while
the latter  are upheld as authoritative by dvaita school which claim
that jiva is different from Brahman.



             Ramanuja avoids the two extremes and resort to the third set
of vedic texts which he calls ghatakasruti  which expound Brahman as the
inner ruler , antharyamin of everything. Brahman , Narayana of
visishtadvaita, is the Sariri , Self of sentient and insentient beings
which form His Sarira.



             The bhedha and the abhedha texts  highlight only a certain
facet of reality and the advocates of these sruti texts expound their
respective views based on either one of the texts eclipsing the other
facet by dialectical skill But Ramanuja is of the view that the sruti
texts should be interpreted in such a manner as to reconcile the both
and this he achieves by means of the ghataka srutis.Thus the philosophy
of Ramanuja can be called a synthetic approach that bridges the two
extremities of advaita and dvaita. and hence it is neither dogmatic nor
partial, combining intellect and emotion, unique in its harmony
practical in its approach.










     


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