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Sribhashya- paadha 1-adhikaraNa-1



JijnasaadhikaraNam



Suthra-1     ' aTHaatho brahma jijnaasaa '



Then,therefore the inquiry of Brahman.



         Sri Ramanuja starts his SribhAshya with the words

  'athra ayam aTHa shabdhah AnanthyaaryE bhavathi.'



         Before we examine the meaning of these words we have to
understand a little of the structure of the vedas, each of which 
basically consists of two parts. The purva bhaga, deals with the
ritualistic portion while the uttarabhaga , known as vedanta consists of
upanishads. The interpretation of the ritualistic texts and
clarification of the doubts therein is called PurvamimAmsa or
karmamimamsa and it was prepounded by Jaimini in the form of suthras
while the study of the nature of Brahman and other concepts of vedanta
is called UttharamimAmsa consisting of  the Brahmasuthras of
BAdharAyaNa. Brahmasuthras have been interpreted by Sankara and Madhwa
according to their siddhanatha while tha commentary of Ramanuja is based
on Bhodhaayana vritthi and is  in accordance with Visishtadvata.



         Now coming to the sentence' athra ayam  aTHa sabdhah AnanthryE
bhavathi,' means that the word 'aTHa' is used here in the sense of
'then', that is, 'after something.' The cryptic suthra should be
understood as follows.

Then,aTHa-after the study of purvamimamsa, therefore,athah-knowing that
the result of the rituals done for specific purpose  are finite and
transitory,inquiry of Brahman, brahmajijnAsA-to be taken up because the
knowledge of the real nature of Brahman secures infinite and eternal
result, that is moksha. So the Ananthrya referred to ihere is after the
study of karmamimamsa.



         Then ramanuja explains the word 'athah' thus:



'atha sabdhah vrtthasyahethubhAve.'



  Vrttha refers to the meaning of 'aTHA' which is 'then' and the word
'atha' explains the reason for the previous word-meaning. If the aword
'atha' is removed,the suthra would meanthat the inquiry of Brahman is to
be taken then, but it would not justify the action of taking up the
inquiry without the word athah, meaning 'therefore', which implies the
need of the knowledge of Brahman because the knowledge rituals alone
will not secure the release from bondage.



         Ramanuja explains as to why the study of Brahman comes after
that of karmakanda of the vedas. When the vedas are learned along with
their angas , the karmajnana aquired thereby produces results which are
of alpa, trivial and asthira , transitory. So to one who is desirous of
attaining moksha, sanjAtha mokshAbhilAshah, the inquiry of Brahman,
brahmajijnAsa, is anantharabhAvinee, subsequent to vedhAdhyayana.



         Next Ramanuja analyses the word ' brahmajijnAsA.' It is jijnAsA,
desire to know Brahman, 'brahmaNah jijnAsA.' he word brahmaNah is in
genitive case denoting sambandha ,connection or relationship as in
'rAjnah puthrah,' the son of the king. but here the rule 'karmaNi
shashati' is applied and the word brahmaNah is used in the sense of an
object. It is because the act of knowing requires an object and by
knowing what is Brahman includes knowing about Brahman also.



         A bhashya must have five requisites, namely,padhacchEdha,
splitting the words like separating the suthra as aTHa, atha, etc.,
padhArthkthivigrahah,etymological meaning of the words as in brahmNah
jijnAsA,  vAkyayojanA, it must consist of full sentences, Akshepasya
samAdhAnam, reply to any possible objection and vyAkhyAnam, commentary
on the text. In Sribhashya also we see that according to the above
lakshana Ramanuja presupposes the possible objections from the opponent
and answers them after explaining about the word 'brahma.'



         Ramanuja outlines the basic concept of visishtadvaita by his
explanation of the word 'brahma.'  He says 'brahmasabdhEnacha
svabhAvathah nirasthanikhiladhoshah anavadhika athisaya asankhyEya
kalyANagunaganah Purushotthamah abhidheeyathE.' The word 'brahma' refers
to the supreme Purusha, NArAyaNa, who is naturally devoid of all
defects,  (this eliminates other relalised,muktha, everfree, nitya,
souls), and possesses infinite,wonderful, inconceivable ausoicious
qualities.  These words serve to deny the concept of nirguNabrahman.
Bythis statement he declares without any ambiguity that the word brahma
is synonymous with NArAyaNa, removing any doubt to the
contrary.(devathAntharavyAvrtthyarTHah-Sudarsanasuri.)


          The adjectives anavadhika and asankhyeya with reference to His
wonderful, athisaya and infinite,anantha kalyANa gunagana, auspicious
qualities, show that they are inconceivable by vAk and manas. Avadhi is
limit and sankhya is number. His qualities are anavadhika ,not limited
by words or thiught and asankhyEya , countless, as Desika says in
YadhvAbhyudhaya,


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






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