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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00058 Apr 2002

 
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srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

dear bhAgavathAs,

srI venkatEsh eLayavalli had asked

> "The differences in forms of nityodita and sAntodita are beyond the
> scope of this work and are difficult to understand" .... 193
> 
> This is the first time I am comming across these two terms. Where 
can 
> I find more inforamtion about these two terms. 

the following is my attempt in providing clarification. Please
forgive me if there are errors.


srImathE rAmAnujAya namah

srI venkatEsh eLayavalli had asked regarding
the difference between nityOditha and chAndOditha, 
in the context of tattvatrayam 193.

This sUtra (193) is in Isvara prakaraNa, where
assertions are made regarding the concept of the LOrd,
His different forms and His qualities.

In the immediately previous (182 and after)
sUtrAs, svAmi piLLai lOkAchAriAr starts elaboration
on the 5 forms of the Lord - para, vyUha,
vibhava, antharyAmi and archa. sUtra 183 defines
the para form. 184 defines the vyUha form.
185 talks about the speciality of the para
and vyUha forms. 186 talks about sankarshaNa
and pradhyumna forms. 187 talks about pradhyumna
form. 188 talks about anirudhdha form. 189
is an introduction about the vibhava form.

189: "vibhavam ananthamAy gowNa mukhya
bhEdhaththAlE pEthiththu irukkum"

i.e. the vibhava forms of the Lord are
countless in number, and are in two
sub-categories; gowNa and mukhyA.
{svAmi maNavALa mAmunigaL's commentary
beautifully describes the relative
lowliness of the gowNa vibhava 
avathAra compared to mukyha vibhava
avathAra - a topic for a later discussion
in this group?}

190, 191 and 192 talks about the forms
that are important to truth-seekers and
those that are unimportant.

193 is a big sUtra. Here, svAmi talks about
the differences that are apparent among
the various forms (and subforms) of the
para/vyUha/vibhava avatArAs (like
having different number of hands, differnt
colours etc..), and concludes that he
will not expand on those because these
differences are secrets (avatAra rahasyAs)
and will be difficult to understand by
anyone.

That sUtra starts with one type of difference -

"nityOditha chAndhOdhithAdhi bhEdhamum"..

here nityOdita = means "being praised/revealed
by the words of the nityAs"

chAndOditha = "being praise/revealed by the
words of the vEdAs" {or by
the words of experts in vEdAs}
chAndasa: can refer to both 
vEdA and those who are very
learned in the vEdAs.


In simple terms, nityOdita refers to paravAsudEva,
the form that is being worshipped/enjoyed by
the nityAs and mukthAs. chAndOdita refers to
vyUha vAsudEva form that is outside of srIvaikuNtam.

i.e. the difference between the paravAsudEVa
form and the vyUha vAsudEva form is what is
meant by "nityOdita chAndOditaadhi bhEdamum".

In svAmi maNavALa mAMunigaL's commentary, svAmi
mentions one more detail. He quotes svAmi vEdAnta
dEsika:
"naalum uNdaayirukka moonRu enkiradhu vyUha
vAsudEva rUpaththukku para rUpaththiR kAttil
anusandhEya guNabhEdham illAmaiyaalE"!
i.e. even though there are four vyUha forms
(vAsudEva, sankarshNa, pradyumna, anirudhdha),
it is classified as three sometimes because
there is no difference in the qualities and
mode of meditation/worship between para
vAsudEva and vyUha vAsudEva.

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,
adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,
varadhan









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