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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00081 Jun 2006

 
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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 
auspicious qualities.  These words serve to deny the concept of 
nirguNabrahman. By this 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 thought and asankhyEya , 
countless, as Desika says in YadhvAbhyudhaya, 'yadhEkaikaguNaprAnthE 
shrAnthAh nigamavandhinah yathAvath VarNanE asya,' The vedas 
proceeding to describe Him as He is,become exhausted by the time they finish 
relating about even one of His qualities.

Ramanuja then proceeds to show that the word brahman can only 
mean nothing but sarvesvara . Brahma sabda  is derived from the 
root 'brh' to mean greatness and though it can be applied to anything which is 
great, the mukhyArTha of the word  can only be, that which is by nature 
possesses the greatness to an infinite degree, as in the case of the word 
'bhagavat' which denotes only 
the Lord. The implication here is that the word, great being, brahma, is not 
meant in the adjectival sense but as the mukhyArTHa, in its denotation of 
something which is great by nature.

        Another reason for the word 'brahma' denoting sarvesvara is 
given by Ramanuja as 'thApathrayAthuraih amrthathvAya sa Eva 
jijnAsyah.' As the Lord is the sole resort for those who are affected by 
thApathraya, the three afflictions of samsara, namely 
Adhibhouthika, Adhidhaivika and AdhyaAthmika, He alone becomes the 
object of jijnAsA. The ills of samsara are due to the three thApaas, 
suffering due to fate due to no reason, Adhidhaivika, due to other 
beings and natural elements,, Adhiboutika and due to our own physical and 
mental conflicts for which our own actions are responsible, AdhyAthmika. Even 
though these maybe remedied by other means they are not permanent and permanent 
remedy is possible only by the grace of the Lord, who alone can release us from 
the samsara. So 'sa EvA JIJNaSYAH,' He alone has  has to be inquired.

         After examining the implications of the word 'brahma' and 
explaining it to mean Narayana the last word of the suthra jijnAsA is examined. 
The word is a compound meaning jnAthum icchA, desire to 
know. The one who has studied the PurvamimaAmsA comes to know of its 
alpa asTHira phalathva and turns to Utthara mimAmsA with the desire 
to attain the permanent bliss of moksha.        

        





        

                 

          



        








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