Trying to understand the Visishtadvaita of Ramanujacharya
Why I got curious.
I am a Smartha brahmin, which makes me a hereditary advaitin, a follower of Sankaracharya. Yet my mother’s ancestors decided to follow Ramanjujacharya and became Visihitadvaitins. My first Guru was a hereditary Vishitadvaitin who decided to leave it all and follow his guru in a way called Sahaj Marg. My second guru is a hereditary dvaitin a follower of Madhwacharya, and herself a sishya of a Smartha, Advaitin, a follower of Sankaracharya.
A person’s inherited ideology influences their speech, their examples and their unstated assumptions. My exposure to diverse behaviours – (achaara, vichaara, vyavahara) led to much curiosity in my mind.
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Some People accept Puranas as their Pramanas (Basis/ Authority).
I understood that majority of humans follow their own favorite Puranas. (This includes for example, the first, second and third testaments of the middle east). I understood that people who follow different puranas can have conflicts with each other about how many Gods there are, who is the highest or true God, how this God is to be pleased and how or why all other people are ignorant and in need of conversion to the true path.
My study of Puranas helped me understand their common structure, their focus on ethics and cleanliness and the fact that the physical miracles described in the puranas were symbolic of astronomical, historical and philosophical truths. I learned rather early not to believe in “physical miracles”. I learnt how and why some people are considered divine by people either in their own life time, or in later times and sometimes in both times. As a general rule my respect for such divine people only increased a hundred fold when I saw their humanity, their choices, their brilliance, their valour, their compassion, their commitment and their strength. I bow to all of them with the greatest of love and admiration. This you may call bhakthi if you like. Some people do. I don’t. Bhakthi requires more than adoration, it requires service as in Hanuman’s case and absolute faith as in Prahlada’s case. It requires the total renounciation of Narada. I haven’t met anyone like this. However many people, who literally believe in the physical miracles of their personal favorite puranas, call themselves as believers or bhakthas. They turn to God for succour in distress and for wish fulfilment in good times. If their personal God does not ‘deliver’ their wish, they are not averse to trying an alternate or additional God by doing whatever they have been advised will please this new deity. A darsan, a gift, a puja, wearing a stone, a kavacha, chanting, parayanam, putting a pyramid or a magnet somewhere and so on.
I am mentioning all this only to exclude it.
I understood that all the three acharyas gave importance to Bhagavad Gita, BrahmaSutras, Upanishads and Vedas. And not as much to the puranas.
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My next question was, how can 3 brilliant Acharyas read the same texts ie the Bhagavad Gita, BrahmaSutras, Upanishads and Vedas and come up with 3 significantly different interpretations?
My first clue came when I realised that the Veda Mantras were the insights of many different rishis with different ideologies and different levels of attainment. For eg our Gayathri Mantram is revealed to us by Viswamitra and the Purusha Suktham by Narayana Rishi and Devi Suktham by Vagambhrani Rishika.
The Upanishads which explained the Vedas were also the works of diverse rishis and influenced by their different ideas and understanding.
The Vedanta Sutras or Brahma Sutras were the gifted to us by Veda Vyasa.
The essence of the Upanishads was given to Arjuna by Sri Krishna as a free flowing conversation in an if-then structure.
It goes like this.
Therefore, though the 3 Acharyas refer to the same texts, they are giving more importance to different statements in the texts made by diverse rishis and therefore able to draw different conclusions.
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Sankara’s Advaita :
“Brahma Satyam. Jagat Mithya. Jivo Brahmaiva Na Parah.”
The reasoning of Sankaracharya leads to advaita : The unseen Brahman is the Truth, the experienced Jagat is an illusion and The Jiva in you is the Brahman and no one else. (See Also Tat Tvam Asi).
Knowledge destroys Karma.
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Madhwa’s Dvaita :
Madhwa’s arguments lead to pancha bheda.
Paramatma is different from matter and from Jivatmas. The Jivatamas are different from each other and from matter. Matter is different from other matter.
“This universe is real and is not Mithya or an illusion. The finite beings comprising the universe are subject to a system of gradation, beginning with the Goddess Laxmi, followed by other minor gods, seers, human beings and undivine beings. The rank of any soul in this scheme of gradation depends on the degree of its devotion to God. God is an embodiment of all virtues and excellences and ever remains untouched by any kind of blemish (Dosha). He has countless Roopas and forms. ……… Every follower of the Madhwa School should have a firm belief in the Pancha-bheda—five real and eternal distinctions. The distinction between one Jiva and another Jiva (jeeva-jeeva), between the Jiva and matter (jeeva-jada), between one piece of matter and another (jada-jada), between matter and spirit (Jada-Deva), between the Supreme Being and the individual soul (Deva-Jeeva).” (Source)
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Ramanuja’s Visishtadwaita :
There is only one God. He has special attributes. The cit and acit form his sarira or body. He is nirguna in the sense of being free from blemishes and saguna in the sense of being ‘samasta kalyana gunakara’. Brahman is the atman of the atma.
There is prakriti. (Nature etc.. all you see around you). It is real. It is not maya.
There are numerous Jivatmas. These jivatmas are amsas or fractions of the divine paramatma. They are distinct from the brahman but inseperable from Him. They are dependent on the brahman, but they have free will. This is how they can accumulate karma. However they are also under the control of Brahman. Jivas are not just consciousness they are also knowers or gnyaatas.
Surrender to the Brahman and He will destroy your Karma. Spend your life in His Service. This prapatti yoga.
Mother Lakshmi or SriDevi, pleads the cases of the individual jivatamas with the paramatma.
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This understanding helps me understand the unstated premises of my gurus and my mother’s relatives, their achara, vichara and vyavahara, and puts my manas at rest.
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Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
For more basic details on Visihtadwaita you may refer Sri Ramanuja and Visisthadwaita , Qualified Non-Dualism Simplified by K. R. Krishnaswami.
