Sri: Srimathe Ramanujaya nama: Dear Sri Venkatesan, You're absolutely right about our sampradAyam. Also look at the beautiful writing style of Sri PiLLai LOkAcArya. The BAdarAyanA,the author of BrahmasUtra,was a monist. A monist is not counted amongst the paramahamsas(most perfect of the renounced order of life). Veda vyAsa,in none of his commentaries,explained the transcendental activities and auspicious qualities of the Lord. He feels incomplete and expresses his despondency in his own words in Srimad BhAgavatam(Canto 1,Chapter 4,verses 30-34). It's due to this my dear Ramanuja didn't find sanction in the srutis to explain certain things,so he keeps quiet. Sri PiLLai lOkAcArya's words do not contradict the sAstra at the same time whatever you said holds true! HE,out of His own will and volition and for the benefit of worshippers,assumes forms and He is the "ocean" of auspicious qualities. Sri Ramanuja's GaDyatraya(also enitire NDP)is the proof for it. SRi Ramanuja had more freedom in Gita BhASya than he had in BrahmaSUtra. Again wrt carama slokam,Sri Ramanuja is in strict line with the sAstra(bhakti and prapatti as two paths). Only in GaDya traya,you see prapatti as the sole means of salvation and also the true spirit of Sri Ramanuja. Veda vyAsa is considered as divine incarnation yet it's the Lord who infuses the inspiration in him to write such a commentary (impersonal brahman). Finally everything boils down to "nirhEtuka krpa". One incidence from Srimad BhAgavatam: some ladies who were all bathing naked,immediately started to hide their bodies when they saw Veda vyAsa whereas they didn't feel shy nor were they aware of their nakedness when they saw SukAcArya,the son of VedavyAsa. Also remember SRi MaNavALa mAmunigaL's commentary on carama slokam where he says:Superiority of a prapanna over others(sAstra followers)is that a person following sAstrAs refrains himself from prohibited objects while a prapanna refrains himself from even "permitted" objects. Veda VyAsa didn't specify the devotional service in his writings,and although our sampradAyam is ubhaya vEdAnta,NAlAyira Divya Prabandham is superior because it contains all the sAstra but sAstra doesn't contain NDP(devotional service to the Lord). I am learning our sampradAyam and in the process I'm sure to make mistakes but would love to be corrected by learned people. AzhvAr EmeprumAnAr Jeeyar TiruvadigaLE saraNam nappinnai
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |