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4. Sadvidya as interpreted by Ramanuja

        The text of the Chandogya Upanishad 'sadheva soumya idham 
agra aaseeth ekameve adhvitheeyam' and   its sequel 'thatvamasi' are 
considered by the advatins to mean that 'sat', Barhman is the only 
reality and the world of diversity is not real. Ramnuja does not 
agree with this view and according to him the chandogya text and 
sadvidya envisaged in it  supports only the visishtadvaita concept of 
Brahman He says that the text  ' sadeva idham agra aaseeth, Sat alone 
existed in the beginning' does not negate the world  as unreal  
because the subsequent  text which says,' thadhaikshatha bahusyaam 
prajaayeya, it willed to become many,' disproves this.

         The essence osf sadvidya is that by knowing 'sat ' , that 
is, Brahman, the absolute reality, everything else becomes 
known. 'ekavijnaanena sarvavijnaanam.' The context of the passage in 
Chandogya is as follows:

        The son, Svethakethu  retuirns from his gurukula and the 
father Uddhaalaka Aaruni asks him whether he has learnt everything 
Svethakethu answers in the affirmative and seeing him conceited at 
his  knowledge the father asks him  whether he asked his guru for 
that teaching by which  what is unheard becomes heard, what is 
unthought becomes thought and what is unknown becomes known, ' yena 
asrutham srutham  bhavathi amatham matham, avijnaatham vijnaatham.' 
Then the son, knowing not what is meant by the father asked him to 
teach that by knowing which everything becomes known, ekavijnaanena 
sarvavijnaanam.

        Uddhaalaka Aaruni explains that knowledge through three 
examples  Just as all things made of clay are understood  by the 
knowledge of a single clod of clay, just as by knowing a single ingot 
of gold all that is made of gold would become known, just as by a 
single nail parer all that is made of iron would become known because 
all are only modifications of the causal substance, knowing that 
which is the cause of everything  all become known. That is the 
teaching .

        Then the father starts imparting the knowledge to the 
son. 'Sadheva soumya idhamagra aaseeth ekameva adhvitheeyam.'  There 
was only 'sat ' in the beginning, one only, without a second. Sat , 
Brahman is the cause and idham the world is the effect. By knowing 
the cause all the effects become known as illustrated by the examples 
of mud,gold and iron. This is the content of the text.quoted, says 
Ramanuja.The knowledge of the one leading to the knowledge of the 
many proclaimed in the sadvidya section of the Upanishad means that 
the knowledge of 'one,' that is, kaarana Brahman leads to the 
knowledge of 'many',that is, the kaarya Brahman, both being real. The 
words 'ekameva' and 'adhvitheeyam denote that Brahman is the material 
and efficient cause.

5.Brahman as the cause of the world

        Based on the sadvidya section of the Chandogya, Ramanuja 
demonstrates the unity of the cause and the effect. ' Sat alone 
existed' before creation in the sense that this world, differentiated 
into names and forms, existed as 'one' before creation, devoid of 
names and forms.Brahman is the material cause as it existed alone 
without a second. In the creation of a pot , the mud is the material 
cause and the potter is the efficient cause . But Brahman being 
omnipotent needed no external aid for creation and there was nothing 
except Brahman in the beginning. Therefore Brahman is both material 
and efficient cause of the universe. This is what is meant 
by 'ekameva adhvitheeyam.'

        The causal relationship between Brahman and the world is 
explained  by Ramanuja in Sribhashya based upon common experience. 
The Chandogya text  gives illustrations of mud etc. in order to show 
that the effect is only a modification of the cause 'vaachaarambhanam 
vikaarah naamadheyam mrthikethyeva satyam' and hence the knowledge of 
the 'one' which is the cause leads to the knowledge of the 
modificatons of nama and rupa, the effects. Ramanuja  makes this more 
explicit  by another example. The childhood, youth and old age  of 
the same individual, say, Devadatta are only different modifications 
in the sarira of Devadatta. Similarly the gross manifestations of the 
world of cit and acit are only the modifications of the sarira of 
Brahman, the sariri. Thus the cosmological theory of Ramanuja is 
based on the sarira-sariri relationship between Brahman and the 
universe. Thios leads to the concept of sarira-sariri bhava of 
visishtadvaita.

6.sarira-sariri bhava


        Sarira-sariri bhava is the key concept of Visishtadvaita. The 
vedanta sastra is known as saarirakasastra which indicates the sarira-
sariri sambhandha  advocated by Visishtadvaita. Ramanuja defines  
sarira as a substance which a sentient soul completely supports, 
aadhara-aadheya bhava, and controls, niyantha-niyaamya bhava for 
serving its own purpose and which is subordinate to the sentient 
soul, sesha--seshi bhava..

        The world of cit and acit  form the sarira of Brahman because 
they are supported, controlled and used by Brahman. The entry of 
Brahman into the cit and the acit in order to diversify them into 
name and form is supported by the sruti 'tadhaikshatha bahusyaam 
prajaayeya'  Hence they exist in an inseparable relation with Brahman 
similar to the body and soul. 

        Let me explain this. The body has no identity without the 
soul . So the soul is the supporter, aadhara and the body is the 
aadheya. Without the soul the body cannot function. Hence the soul is 
the controller, niyantha. The body exists for the soul and dependent 
on the soul  not vice versa as we imagiine! The last point may not be 
understood in the worldly sense but in spiritual aspect the soul 
takes the body to exhaust its karma and as soon as the karma for that 
particular embodiment is exhausted it leaves that body. So the soul 
is the seshi and the body is the sesha.

        Now Brahman being the antaryamin, the real self of all 
beings, everything other than Brahman form the sarira of Brahman. 
This concept is the pradhaanaparithanthra, the most important 
doctrine of Visishtadvaita. The inseparable relation, aprthaksiddhi, 
between the body and the soul is similar to that of substance and 
attribute which are inseparable. in the sense that one cannot exist 
without the other. So Brahman is the prakari and the world is the 
prakara, mode of Brahman. Hence all words that describe any sentient 
or insentient being has its connotation only with Brahman., their 
real and ultimate self.

        Ramanuja illusrtrates this by saying that the words cow, 
horse or man denote not their physical body but the sentient soul 
within their physical form. Since Brahman  is the real self of all 
beings all words connote only Brahman by saamaanaadhikaranya.

        The concept of  aprthaksiddhi emphasises both unity and 
difference between Brahman and jiva. The universe of finite and 
imperfect beings and the Brahman , infinite, truth and knowledge, 
form one organic whole. The entities which exist in  relation of 
aprthaksiddhi with each other are always cognised together as in the 
statement 'I am a human being.'  The unity here is not absolute but 
visishtaaikya.

        Sadvidya of the Chandogya is thus interpreted  in terms of 
the sarira- sariri  bhava by Ramanuja. Sadvidya states the cause of 
everything to be Brahman, by knowing which everythig else becomes 
known and this leads to the satkaaryavada, according to which both 
the cause and the effect are real.. Sat, Brahman, the only existence 
willed to become many and created the world of cit and acit, out of 
itself and entered into them to be their innerself and got 
differentiated into the world of names and forms. Brahman the case is 
real  its effect the world is also real because it arises from and 
ensouled by the infinite. Thus the sadvidya section of the Upanishd , 
the prormissory statement,'ekavijnaanena sarvavijnaanam' and the 
illustrations of mud , gold etc. therein imply only Brahman  to be 
the cause of the universe. 

        Ramanuja sums up the cosmological and ontological nature of 
Brahman in the Sribhashya thus: the terms satyam,  jnanam, anantham 
define the svarupa of Brahman as being distinct from everything else 
and the Brahman has already been shown as the cause of creation, 
sustenanace and annihilation by the causal statements of the sruti, 
yatho vaa imaani bhoothaani jaayanthe yene jaathaani jeevanthi yasmin 
abhisamvisanthi thadvijinjaasava thadbrahma'  Then Ramanuja proceeds 
to define Brahman and to show that Brahman is synonymous with Narayana









     






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