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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00104 Jan 2004

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

When we say ramanuja darshanam, it refers to the VishistAdvaitic 
philosophy(tattvatraya vAdham) propagated by Swamy ramanuja. There is a wrong 
idea prevalent in our society that Swamy Ramanuja invented this philosophy 
whereas actually the VishistAdvaitic philosophy is a parama vaidika matham (a 
very ancient philosophy prescribed by the Vedas). Mamunikal in his upadesa 
ratina mAlai says, ?EmperumAnAr darisana mendrE edharkku namperumal pErittu 
nAttivaiththAr? (Only the already existing system was named 
EmperumAnArdarisanam due to the marvelous work done by EmperumAnAr for the 
upliftmentof the system). The second wrong thought commonly seen is that the 
advaitins are all saivaites. Here one thing has to be strongly kept in mind. 
Whether it is advaitam, VishistAdvaitam or dvaitam all are vaishnavic 
philosophies only (All of them believe Narayanan to be the supreme without any 
doubt). The philosophy difference arises only in the interpretation of some 
Vedic verses. So the
advaitins and the saivaites differ in their belief. The saivaites believein the 
supremacy of Siva. One interesting fact is that two things very near to the 
saivaites are not accepted by the advaitins. The advaitins do not accept lingam 
and vibhoothi. 

 

But our sampradayam talks about both lingam and vibhoothi though we give a 
different meaning to both of them. Vibhoothi in our sampradayam refers tothe 
two vibhoothi?s of emperuman, leela vibhoothi and the nithya vibhoothi 
(emperuman is ubhayavibhoothi nAthan). Further the word lingam means 
proof/symbol (adayAlam). Emperuman has some kalyana gunas like akilaheya 
prathyaneekathvam, Sriya:pathithvam etc which belong only to nArAyanan. This 
has been expressed by swamy nammazhvar in his very first paasuram in 
thiruvaimozhi as ?uyar nalam udayavan? where the nalam refers to the kalyana 
gunas of emperuman and in the very same paasuram, ?amarargal adhipathi?refers 
to the vibhoothi of emperuman (He is the leader of the devas/Nithyasooris).

 

So to get a proper knowledge of our philosophy, it is very essential to know 
about the qualities of the chit, achit and paramatma. GeethAcharyan gave the 
bhagavat geetha in order to remove the sorrow of arjuna and invoke him in doing 
his duty. For that arjuna had to first understand the nature ofthe body and 
soul. After knowing about the atma, arjuna should understandthe importance of 
karma yoga (his karma was to fight the war-kshatriya dharmam) which will lead 
him to chitta suddhi (clear mind) which will in turn lead him into jnana yoga 
which will give him atma sAkshAtkAram (realizationof the atma). Here it has to 
be kept in mind that this atma sAkshAtkaram is different from kaivalyam, which 
we will explain in detail later. This isthe essence of the first six chapters 
of Srimad Bhagavat geetha in which the first chapter and till the 11th sloka in 
the second chapter was just theintroduction (avathArikai) for whatever Krishna 
is going to talk further. Then as a token of
preparing arjuna for the session geethAcharyan gave him the tattvatrayam jnanam 
(called as the tattva vivEkam). We saw about these in the last posting. To 
recall, Thirumangai azhwar has also started his prabhandam with thesame tattva 
vivEkam referring to the three tattvas by the words, ?munnuru?, ?pinnuru? and 
?ponnuru?.

 

Before going into the in-depth meaning of the thirunedunthAndaka paasuram, let 
adiyen first let you all know the essence of the first six chapters of bhagavat 
geetha, in order to have a clear vision of the concepts. Swamy Aalavandaar in 
his geethArtha sangraham summarises this as follows:

 

?jnAnakarmAthmikE nishtE yOgalakshyE susamskruthE I

AthmAnubhoothi sidyarthE poorvashatkEna shOdhithE II?

 

SusamskrutE ? Nicely decorated (with the knowledge of seshatvam and vairakyam 
in other things or otherwise doing the upaya without thinking about the result 
along with sAtvika tyAgam).

JnAnakarmAthmikE nishtE ? jnana yoga and karma yoga,

YOgalakshyE ? in order to attain the yoga (Atma sAkshAtkAram)

AthmAnubhoothi sidyarththE ? (after that) in order to attain AtmAnubhavam

PoorvashatkE ? the first six chapters 

ShOdhithE ? prescribes

 

The first six chapters of the geethA sAstram, prescribes the jnana yoga 
andkarma yoga in order to attain the atma sAkshAtkaram and in turn the pleasure 
of enjoying once own atma says aalavandaar in the above sloka. To repeat,

 

Karma yoga --à chitta suddhi--à jnana yoga-à temporary atma 
sAksAtkAram-àPermanent Atma sAksAtkAram (atmAnubhavam).

 

We will see how this has been expressed by thirumangai mannan in his paasuram 
in the forth-coming postings.

 

(To be continued)

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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