- 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. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |