Sri:
Dear BhakthAs :
It is with great pleasure I wish to acknowledge
reciept of
VedAntha Vidwan Dr.N.S.Ananatha RangAcchAr Swamy
's
monograph on Brahadaranyaka Upanishad . This is
volume III
in the series entitled " Principal Upanishads "
with the Text , English
Translations and Brief Notes according to Upanishad
BhAshyakArar ,
Sri Ranga Ramanuja Muni .
Ubhaya VedAntha Visishta Vidwan Dr.NSA Swamy
has dedicated
this volume to HH Srimath Paramahamsa ParivrAjakAchArya
Sri Sri Srinivasa Mahaa Desikan
( Vaikunta Vaasi Sri Poundarikapuram
Andavan and the Founder of Poundarikapuram
Aasramam) with a moving
acknowledgement :
" {Dedicated with all humility and profound
respect at
the holy feet of Sri Poundarikapuram
Andavan ,
who graciously blessed me with SamAsrayaNam
and on account of whose grace I was able to know
my Svarupam} ".
Our most sincere Thanks
to Dr. NSA Swamy
**************************************
Through the
completion of this third and final volume on
BrahadhAraNyaka Upanishad
, Dr. NSA Swamy has established
a major mile stone in his
prolific career as the Teacher , Writer
and intrepreter of
VedAnthic doctrines with ease and acumen
to laymen and scholars .
The clarity and the skill with which
he captures
the quintessence of complex VedAnthic doctrines
is unique to him .
His explanatory notes on the passages from
Upanishad BhAshyakArar's
commentaries are brilliantly chosen
to enrich our
understanding of the nuances of the individual manthrAs
of
the different
BraahmaNams of this Upanishad . His preface to
this volume is itself a
brilliant overview to the BrahadhAraNyaka
Upanishad's Six chapters
housing 57 BrahmaNAs . Here are some
HIGHLIGHTS in his own words form his informative
preface/overview
to this
volume :
1. This Upanishad has
some passages that are more powerful
than the passages of
ChAndhOgya . This Upanishad contains some
supreme uttrances of
VedAntha .
2. Scholars have found
the Upanishad to be the confluence of
the teachings of all
principal Upanishads. For example , the critical
passages of Isa, Kena and
Katha are parts of the JyOthirbrAhmaNa of
this Upanishad.
3. There is concordance
between AitrEya Upanishad and this Upanishad
in supreme utterances
like " aathmaiva idham agra aaseeth " and
" Praj~Anam Brahma
".
4. The main current of
the teaching of this Upanishad is to expound
the fact of Brahman
being the inner controller (antharyAmi Brahman)
of all other entities .
The many teachings of Sage Yaj~nyavalka to
his
wifeMaitrEyi
and other sishyAs -- all of these-- establish the importance
of
antharyAmi
Brahman doctrine. Sage Yaj~nyavalka expounds the nature
of
antharyAmi Brahman to
Uddalaka as the One who dwells in all other entities
and who is within them
and whom those entities do not know and for whom
all those entities are
the bodies , and who rules all form within.
This doctrine of
Antharyaami Brahman is a significant contribution of
this Upanishad , which
unites all multiplicity with the Unity of one
Supreme without harming
any one of them .
We are deeply indebted to
Dr.NSA Swamy for his three volumes
on the Principal
Upanishads in general and the complete coverage
of ChAndhOgya and BrahadhAraNyaka Upanishad in
particular.
Dr.NSA has done yeoman service to the
VisishtAdhvaitha Community
by bringing us close to the commentary of
Upanishad BhAshyakArar
that follows closely the views of AchArya
RaamAnuja expounded in
Sri Bhaashyam and related Sri Sookthis
.
Additional thoughts on the Importance Of
BrahadhAraNyaka Upanishad
**************************************************************************
Our PoorvAchAryAs have
recognized Brahadaranyaka and ChAndhOgya
upanishads as " the two
pillars of the ancient Sri VisishtAdhvaitha philosophy ".
Among these two , BrahadAraNyakam belongs to
Sukla
Yajur Veda Saakhai (Sathapatha BrAhmaNam)
and
ChAndhOgyam is affiliated with
the Saama Veda Saakhai
.
BrahadArNyaka Upanishad
is a big one in size and mighty in scope .
Prakrutham Srimad
Andavan points out in this context that the
VisishtAdhvaitha
philosophy would not
have survived but for BrahadAraNyaka Upanishad .Among
the many reasons for
the excellence of this Upanishad , HH Srimad Andavan
cites the
extraordinary importance of AntharyAmi BrAhmaNam housed here
:
" AntharyAmi BrAhmaNam
, which establishes body and Soul
relationship
between the Jivan and Brahman on one hand and world and Brahman on
the
other hand , effects compromise between bhEdha sruthis and abhEdha
Sruthis ( Upanishadic passages)"
.
The importance of AntharyAmi
BrAhmaNam of BrahadhAraNyaka Upanishad
for VisishtAdhvaitha philosophy is
described by HH Sri Ranga PriyA Swamy this way :
" The BrahadhAraNyaka
Upanishad declares this body-soul relationship THIRTEEN
TIMES
in very clear terms
showing that the above relationship is NOT a minor point . The sentences
in the BrahadhAraNyaka
Upanishad and other places , which apparently show the identity
of the Brahman and the
world with individual selves , really mean that the world and the Jivas
have an organic
relationship with Brahman , having Him as their Self. The three ( World
, Jivan
and Brahman ) are
naturally different entities , being one organic whole. This view vindicates
the VisishtAdhvaithic
standpoint " .
This body-Soul
relationship or the SarIra-SarIri Bhava is " the corner stone of
VisishtAdhvaithic
darsanam . This is
unique and unmistakable hall mark ( PradhAna-prathitamtrA )
to
VisishtAdhvaitham .
This doctrine is elucidated elegantly by AchArya RaamAnujA
in
all of His Sri sookthis
. This doctrine instructs us that Jivan ( Soul) and Prakruthi
(world)
have no independent
existence apart form that of Brahman( Iswaran/Parama Purushan).
This Brahman of
VisishtAdhvaitham is described by Acharya RaamAnuja as " akhila hEya
pratyanIka, Samastha
KalyANa guNAkaran " ( Free from all blemishes and is the ocean
of
all auspicious
attributes ).
Once
again , we are rpofoundly in the service of Dr.NSA Swamy
for
his unflagging Kaimkaryam to educate
us all about the teachings of
this most important Upanishad , whose
passages have been used by
BaadharAyaNa in His VedAntha (Brahma)
SutrAs . Dr.NSA Swamy is
85 years young and has an unrelenting
schedule of KaalakshEpams,
and the preparation of substantive
monographs on VedAntha in
general and VisishtAdhvaitham in
particular in multiple languages .
His journey is an amazing journey due
to the ParipoorNa anugraham
of the great POundarIkapuram Andavan
and other AchAryaas of
that
Paramparai.
It is our prayer to Sriman NaarAyaNa
to bless Dr.NSA SWamy
with arOga dhruDa sareeram to
continue with the noble task
of sharing his encyclpaedic knowledge
about our precious
treasures .
NaarAyaNa , NaarAyaNa , NaarAYaNa
!
Daasan , Oppiliappan KOil VaradAchAri
Sadagopan
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