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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00099 Oct 2006

 
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This question on the name of Vishistadvaitam was indeed an 
interesting one and hence I was so curious about understanding what 
this is, and I went to my Swami to get this clarified. I got a 
wonderful explanation regarding the same and I am sharing the same 
with you all. Readers owe me all credits for my misterpretations:) 
while the credit for the substance always go for my Swami.

During the time of Swami emperumAnAr, many of the learned scholars 
had already aligned themselves with the understanding of the 
term "advaitam" as per the interpretation of Sri Sankarar(nirguna 
brahmam + mithya). Then, the only issue was with the interpretation 
of Sri Sankarar. Swami EmperumAnAr did not really want to introduce 
another new term there by creating confusion or resistance for those 
scholars. Instead, he just wanted to repair the damage that was done 
to the real meaning of the term advaitam. That is why, our 
philosophy is also called as advaitam. It is just to be understood 
in the right perspective as per the intent of the vedas. Swami 
emperumAnAr clearly explains with appropriate references in Sri 
Bhashyam, that, advaitam means that "there is no other equivalent of 
brahmam that exists" and should not be confused with "none other 
than brahmam exists". So, brahmam ekam eva advitiyam, but chethanas 
and achethanas do exist and form the body of the brahmam is what our 
philosophy expounds. Hence there was absolutely no reason to re-name 
or introduce another name for the term advaitam for Swami 
emperumAnAr.

It was later, to clearly draw the boundaries between Swami 
EmpurmAnAr's advaita philosophy and Sri Sankarar's advaita 
philosophy, that the name Vishishtadvaitam was used(by other 
pUrvAchAryAs) to simply mean and denote Swami EmpurmAnAr's advaita 
philosophy.

adiyEn,
rAmAnuja dAsan.

--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, TCA Venkatesan <vtca@...> wrote:
>
> Sri:
> 
> It is adiyEn's understanding that the term "Visishtadvaita" was 
first used by 
>   Sri Sutaprakasika Bhattar Swami in his work Tatparya Deepikai 
which is a
>   commentary on Swami Ramanuja's Vedanta Sangraham. There Bhattar
>   Swami clearly establishes that Swami Ramanuja expounded his 
philosophy
>   (based on pUrvAcharyas works) as a special case of advaitam, 
even though
>   he did not actually use the word Visishtadvaitam.
>    
>   adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
>   
> 
> srinivasa chary <srinivasadasa@...> wrote:
>             Respected Sriman Madhavakkannan Swamin,
>   SrimathE rAmAnujAya namaha.
>   Dasoham.
>   Adiyen is aware that Sri Ramanuja did not use "Visistadvaita" as 
name for his philosophy. For him it was only "Vedanta" in its true 
sense. From your posting Adiyen learnt that the term "Visistadvaita" 
came in to vogue based on Sri Desikar's "Nyaya Sidhanjana". Adiyen 
wants to know whether Sri Desikar him self used the 
term "Visistadvaita" in "Nyaya Sidhanjana" or any of his innumerable 
works on our Sampradayam or our tradition got its name 
as "Visistadvaita" in post Desikar times based on his elucidation.
>   Adiyen
>   Srinivasadasa 
> 
> Madhavakkannan V <srivaishnavan@...> wrote:
>       SrI:
> SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:
> 
> Dearest all,
> 
> Since Ramanuja considers himself as eternal servant to
> SaguNa brahmam, who is anantha kalyANa guNArnavan;
> akila hEya prathyaneekan [ocean of all auspicious
> attributes and devoid of any defects or imperfections]
> , Amudhanaar praises Acharya's feeling of dAsa
> dAsathvam towards BhAgawathAs. When looking and
> analyzing at the surface level nirguNa brahmam, it
> would be considered merely as lack of proper
> understanding only- blesses Amudhanaar. 
> 
> pEthaiyar vEthap poruLithen Nnunnip piramamn^anRen
> ROthimaR Rellaa uyirum aqthenRu uyir_kaLmeyvit
> taathip paranoton RaamenRu chollumav vallalellaam
> vaathilven Raan,em iraamaa Nnuchanmeym mathikkatalE.
> 58
> 
> Other religions wrongly provide a distorted
> interpretation of Vedic statements. They think,
> understand and explain with some logic (taking one
> statement and misread to comprehend out of context,
> and ignoring another statement from sruthis) that
> Brahmam is JIvAthmA and jIvAthmA is Brahmam; mOksham
> is equivalent merging of jIvAthmA with SarvEshawaran;
> illusion; false etc.. Such vociferous, disharmonious
> noises of wrong, misinterpretations and vibharItha
> jnAnams were completely silenced by the excellent
> arguments of Sri Ramanujacharya, quoting Vedas
> (declaring that jIvAthmA(chit) and the prakriti
> (achit) is also Nithyam and are eternal; They are
> eternally bonded to Brahamam with a SarIra SarIri
> bhAvam. Sriman NarAyaNA, the Lord of KalyAna guNas, is
> the sarIrI and all chit & achit are His sarIrA. Sriman
> Narayanan is the Master (sEshi) and all jIvAthmAs are
> sEshans (servants) and mOksham for jIvAthmA is having
> an uninterrupted Bhagavad anubhavam and performing
> eternal kainkaryam to the Lotus feet of Divya Dampati
> at SrivaikunTam, with great bliss). He stood
> victorious. It is his mercy on us for such great
> upakaaram to us (and Vedas too!) 
> 
> pEthaiyar- avivivEkis ?EajnAnis; vibhareetha jnAnis
> idhu ?Eonly Jeevathma merging alone
> vEdham poruL- essence of Vedas and Upanishads
> enRu eNNi- thus [wrongly concluded and] decided that
> it is the message of Vedas
> biramam- nirguNa; nirvisEsha brahmam alone
> nanRu- [praamANikam] exists; the whole world is an
> illusion; false;
> enRu Odhi- thus mentioning that this is actually the
> interpretation of Vedantha
> maRRu ellaa uyir um- Since the world is fales, does
> not exist, other than the matter- the beings are none
> other than Brahmam Himself 
> a:kdhu- [those jeevaathmas are] That nirguNa nrvisEsha
> brahmam only..
> enRu- decided [wrongly] thus
> uyirgaL meyvittu- when beings leave their bodies
> aadhiparanOdu onRu aagi- merge with the Brahmam
> enRu sollum allal- Thus all these [wrongly] declared
> noisy shouts 
> ellaam- such bhAskara, Yaadhava prakAsa doctrines also
> vaadhil venRaaan- were effortlessly conquered by 
> em Iraamanusan meymmadhi kadal- My Ramanujacharya who
> is the ocean of true and correct jnAnam;. 
> 
> Ramanuja is mey mathi kadal- He says: everything is
> TRUE- the world, the beings and also the Brahmam and
> His kalyANa guNAs. All vedic statements are TRUE;
> etc.. One can not interpret some vedic statements and
> declare the doctrine and reject other statements. 
> 
> According to Sri Ramanujacharya, which he has
> expounded simply based on his predecessors, Swami
> Nammazhwar, Swami Sri Nathamuni, Sri Yamunacharya et
> al: the Ultimate Reality though One, is NOT the
> Absolute without any differentiation and not without
> any guNAs, or attributes, since such a
> undifferentiated Transcendental Being is inconceivable
> and also logically untenable. 
> 
> We have to admit the reality of the Universe, with
> which we are surrounded and also of the individual
> beings [jeevathmas] which experience the external
> world. Accordingly, Ramanuja acknowledges three
> fundamental real entities ?Ematter [achith], soul
> [chith], and Supreme Reality [God or Iswara]; - and on
> the basis of organic relation, called Sareera Sareeri
> bhAvam, upholds that ultimate Reality is one as a
> Unity. 
> 
> As Vedantha Desika in nyAya sidhaanjanam says: Brahmam
> alone as organically related to the entire chith
> [jeevas] and achith [matter] is the One Ultimate
> Reality. [asEsha chith achith prakaaram brahmaikamEva
> thatthvam] 
> 
> Though there is absolute difference between God and
> the other two entities [beings and matter], and also
> among the individual souls [jeevathmas- chith] and
> matter [achith], the Ultimate Reaility [Iswara] is
> considered as One because as Sareeri [Organic entity]
> having these beings and matter as Sareera, He is One. 
> 
> In this sense, [Sri SMS Chari Swami says] the system
> of Vedantha expounded by Ramanuja is described as
> VisishtAdvaita which means oneness of the organic
> unity [visishtasya advaitam]; 
> 
> Thus Ramanuja not only expounded this vaidika
> religion; He also proved that other doctrines that are
> avaidika are only illusions and misinterpretations of
> Upanishads. Hence he is the coean of truthful jnAnam
> [mey mathi kadal]. 
> 
> It is to be noted that the term VisishtAdvaita was not
> used by Ramanuja in any of his works. It was latter
> adopted by his followers and successors based on Swamy
> Desikan's definition in Nyaya siddhanjanam. 
> 
> EmperumAnAr ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam
> Regards
> Namo Narayana
> dAsan
> 
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Azhvar EmberumAnAr JeeyAr ThiruvadigalE Saranam 
http://www.vedics.net

 
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