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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00062 Oct 2003

 
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SrI:
SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah:
SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |
vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the 
lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

The principles of the Visishtadvaita philosophy and Srivaishnava religion 
are of course as ancient as the Vedas themselves, and have been handed over 
by Poorvacharyas, sages and rishis, among others and to name a few.. 
Badyana, Tanka, Dramida, Kuhadeva, et al. The essential truths of the 
darshana are indeed found summed up with sufficient clarity in the 
Upanishads, the Gita and the BrammasUthras. These great sources of knowledge 
(the trio- called prasthAna thrayam) form the text as it were on which all 
the systems of philosophy namely Advaita, VisishtAdvaita and Dvaita were 
established- and have been interpreted differently by Sankara, Sri Ramanuja 
and Madhva.

Sri Sankara?s service consisted mainly in putting an end to atheism and 
re-establishing the authority of Vedas and restoring them to their pristine 
supremacy [though mentioned that few vedic truths were to be ignored when 
violating with the other sruthi statements]. His doctrine was from a purely 
idealistic point of view. He attracted many adherents to his doctrine, but 
the VisishtAdvaitic school held aloof, finding his theories inconsistent and 
irreconcilable with textual authority. [thanks to effrots of our acharyas]

Sri Nathamuni who has been rightly described as ?the founder of ubhaya 
vedantha school and the first acharya (after NammAzhwAr] of Srivaishnavam 
and after hims came his grandson Sri YamunAchArya or Alavandhar who kept the 
light of our darsana glowing and growing from strength to strength, in the 
example of their own lives and by their works. But it was reserved to 
Bhagavadh Ramanuja the greatest thinker, to systematize the philosophy, 
faithfully interpreting the ancient knowledge according to the letter and 
spirit of the test, in the light of revelation and experience tested by 
stern logic as well. It would be out of place to enter into the details of 
his system now. He refused to subscribe to the view that Upanishads spoke in 
two voices, of two levels of cognition, two brahmans and of two different 
sruthis- negating each other.

Sri Ramanuja?s long life was a life of strenuous endeavour dedicated to the 
exposition and elaboration of the VisishtAdvaita philosophy. His Vedaarttha 
sangraha, Sri Bhashya and Gitabhashya reveal the master mind at work in a 
supreme effort to reconcile the seeming differences in the Upanishad 
statements and to evolve a coherent, consistent, harmonious system where the 
needs of pure metaphysics and the eternal longing of the human soul meet in 
happy union- and where the statements of Upanishads do not vilate each other 
and co-exist. His penetrative commonsense could not accept an interpretation 
which postulates two species of truths, the real and the phenomenal, the 
higher and the lower. The Brahman of the Upanishads -the Sat ? the one 
without a second, is none other than Sri Krishna, Sriman Narayana of Srimad 
Bhagawatha and Sri Vasudeva of Pancharathra. He is the All self, the Truth 
of Truths, the Creator, the Sustainer and the Master. He is the penetrating 
AntarAthmA and the NiyanthA of the entire universe of soul and matter which 
stands to Him in the relation of the body to the soul. He is the Home of all 
the eternal virtue of which is His Sowseelyam, Sowlabhyam, and Vaathsalyam 
are of special interest and value to we- the suffering souls caught up in 
the samsaaric affliction. The Jiva stands in the perennial, indissoluble 
relationship to the Sesha (Master- the Isawara- the Lord) who is the Sarva 
Seshi- the master for everyone (other than Himself)..  The eternal Bliss of 
moksha is within reach of all, irrespective of sex, colour, creed, class, 
caste- because Sriman Narayana- the Only One Primordial Lord- the 
SarvasEshi- Sriya:Pathi has infinite mercy and compassion on us, and 
prompted by the Purushaakara (recommendation) of His inseparable Divine 
Constort Vishnu pathni- Sri Mahalakshmi ?  and the Dhiva Dampathi is ever 
ready to extend their hands to all aspiring souls without distinction, who 
endeavour to Them by means of either bhakti yoga (loving, uninterrupted 
meditation) or Prapatti (absolute self surrender), properly directed and 
duly performed. He ? the Lord Sriya: Pathi- is the Praapya and the Praapaka, 
the Rakshaka and SiddhOpaaya, the effective means and the ultimate end- all 
in one. Moksha or liberation is not a mere arid negation, a sterile 
cessation of dhukka of life or the barren release from the bonds of Karma 
and miseries of Samsara; but is a POSITIVE, eternal, supreme Bliss of 
perpetual loving presence and in the company of mukthas and Nithysasooris. 
Such in brief are the lines on which Sri Ramanuja expounded from Sri Natha, 
Yamuna muni?s doctrines- which were originally pointed out earlier by Sages, 
Rishis and others. Ramanuja thus re established the darsana which is 
associated with his illustrious name. He was not of course the founder of a 
school of religion or philosophy, but only the synthetic exponent of an 
ancient system, the only true system according to him, consistent with the 
revealed knowledge of the Upanishads, the mystic experience of AzhwArs and 
the requirements of the realistic logistic thoughts. [Some of the above 
statements are from the article written by Sri KS Krishnaswamy Iyengar, in 
1944]

How was this Darshana developed and protected by our Swamy ? Thuppul 
PiLLai.. [wait until tomorrow]

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo narayana
dAsan
kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |
Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the 
teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters

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