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.
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