Pranam RAMANUJAR PHILOSOPHY
1 Ramanuja’s chief contribution to philosophy <https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy> was his insistence that discursive <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discursive> thought is necessary in humanity’s search for the ultimate verities, that the phenomenal world is real and provides real knowledge, and that the exigencies <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exigencies> of daily life are not detrimental <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/detrimental> or even contrary to the life of the spirit. In this emphasis he is the antithesis <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antithesis> of Shankara <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shankara>, of whom he was sharply critical and whose interpretation of the scriptures he disputed. Like other adherents of the Vedanta <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vedanta> system, Ramanuja accepted that any Vedanta system must base itself on the three “points of departure,” namely, the Upanishads, the *Brahma-sutra*s (brief exposition of the major tenets of the Upanishads), and the *Bhagavadgita,* the colloquy of the deity Krishna <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Krishna-Hindu-deity> and his friend Arjuna <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arjuna>. He wrote no commentary on any single Upanishad but explained in detail the method of understanding the Upanishads in his first major work, the *Vedartha-samgraha* (“Summary of the Meaning of the Veda”). Much of this was incorporated in his commentary on the *Brahma-sutra*s, the *Shri-bhashya*, which presents his fully developed views. His commentary on the *Bhagavadgita,* the *Bhagavadgita-bhashya,* dates from a later age. 2 By allowing the urge for devotional worship (*bhakti <https://www.britannica.com/topic/bhakti>*) into his doctrine of salvation, he aligned the popular religion with the pursuits of philosophy and gave *bhakti* an intellectual basis*. Ever since, bhakti has remained the major force* in the religions of Hinduism. His emphasis on the necessity of religious worship as a means of salvation continued in a more systematic context <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context> the devotional effusions of the Alvars <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alvar>, the 7th–10th century poet-mystics of southern India, whose verse became incorporated into temple worship. 3 Ramanuja’s worldview accepts the ontological reality of three distinct orders: *matter, soul, and God.* Like Shankara and earlier Vedanta, he admits that there is nonduality <https://www.britannica.com/topic/monism-philosophy> (*advaita*), an ultimate identity of the three orders, but this nonduality for him is asserted of God, who is modified (*vishishta*; literally “qualified”) by the orders of matter and soul; hence, his doctrine is known as Vishishtadvaita <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vishishtadvaita> (“qualified nonduality”) as opposed to the unqualified nonduality of Shankara. 3A Central to his organic conception <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conception> of the universe is the analogy <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/analogy> of body and soul: {KR: professor chomskyu of the university of Pennsylvania is advancing in these lines only and also confised at the end the advaitham} just as the body modifies the soul, {KR: ACCORDING TO THE VEDAM AND UPANISHADS NOWHERE IT IS SIAD THAT BODT MODIFIED THE SOUL; IT IS SAID THAT SOUL IS AMERE OBSERVER; VIDE 2 BIRDS SITTING ON ATREE IN RIG VEDAM} has no separate existence from it, and yet is different from it, just so the orders of matter and soul constitute <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constitute> God’s “body,” modifying it, yet having no separate existence from it. KR: Ramanujar not only did not write treatises on upanishads but where he wrote ,especially in Brahma sutra and Bagavat Gita, he left out many verses which were inconvenient to his philosophy; that means, Vedic principles were surmounted by him in order to uphold his principle of *bhakthi only* concept as path of the mukti; hence wherever there were conflicts HE left answering them. Only aspect is WHEREAS BRAHMAM WAS EKAM AS RECITED IN THE Vedas, KASHYAPA MADE THE one dividing into the purusha and prakriti (GOD and MATTER) as the manifestations of the ONENESS. However, in order to show that life on earth is real {deviating from Kashyapar and Adi Shankarar} HE kept the GOD above the men, 2 levels; but felt the need of surrender and mukthi and made the next level as saranagati Principal after the grihastha level; thus it was dvaita and advaitham; HE said that the absence of the ADVAITHAM is the DVAITHAM. In all places, Sri Ramanujar was travelling all the time in 2 levels, trying to knot the end as advaitham, which paralysed the vaishnavites in south and the north of India. Madhwar was extreme; he cursed Adi shankara as MAYAVADIN AND THE BUDDHAVADI. He said that GOD is above the reach of all and all the time the world is real. All the three concepts are levels of facts different and appearances of the reality colours are given. A PERSON WHEN IGNORANT THINKS THAT GOD IS DIFFERENT FROM HIM/HER; WHEN CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE DOES ENTER INTO, HE STRIVES TO RAISE THE LEVEL NEARER TO GOD; BUT WHEN VIVEKAM AND VAIRAGYAM PREVAILS HE AND THE GOD THE PERCEIVER AND THE PERCEIVED BECOME ONE THE ADVAITHAM. Hence Sri Ramanujar made a forced interpretations of Body and soul is different ( as body cannot have the independent existence etc) as God Purusha is different from the Prtakriti the matter. Sri Ramanujar never distinguished the upanishads’ PERISHABLE AND NON PERISHABLE AT ALL because the body is perishable and the soul is not ought to have become, acceptable. HIS convenient arguments grew the bhakti movement so well as Andal went to the levels of Tiruppavai. Sanyasam the Renunciation was given a different meaning; in short some aspects of the Hindu life gave vent to a system which Buddhism accepted all leaving aside a few. Professor Chomsky took some of them without understanding in depth. 3B The goal of the human soul, therefore, is to serve God just as the body serves the soul. Anything different from God is but a *shesha* of him, a spilling from the plenitude of his being. *All the phenomenal world is a manifestation <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifestation> of the glory of God (vibhuti)*, { KR: a tilted meaning of the manifestation dividing the Purusha and the Prakriti} and to detract from its reality is to detract from his glory. Ramanuja transformed the practice of ritual action into the practice of divine worship and the way of meditation into a continuous loving pondering of God’s qualities, both in turn a subservient to *bhakti*, the fully realized devotion that finds God. Thus, release is not merely a shedding of the bonds of transmigration but a positive quest for the contemplation of God, who is pictured as enthroned in his heaven, called Vaikuntha, with his consort and attendants. 4 Ramanuja’s doctrine, which was passed on and augmented <https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/augmented> by later generations, still identifies a caste of Brahmans in southern India, the Shrivaishnavas <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shrivaishnava>. They became divided into two subcastes, the northern, or Vadakalai <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vadakalai>, and the southern, or Tenkalai <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tenkalai>. An issue between the two schools is the question of God’s grace. According to the Vadakalai, who in this seem to follow Ramanuja’s intention more closely, God’s grace is certainly active in man’s quest for him but does not supplant the necessity of man’s acting toward God. The Tenkalai, on the other hand, hold that God’s grace is paramount and that the only gesture needed from man is his total submission to God (*prapatti*). 5 Under this light Hinduism accepted all the divisions of oneness. In all religions. Many religions are dvaithic. Some of them are qualified dvaita or advaitic. And there is only one GOD and one Veda and one truth only. All others are manifestations of the Brahmam , perishable or MAYA. On Sat, 30 Apr 2022 at 09:44, Rangarajan T.N.C. <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://unknownsrivaishnava.wordpress.com/2022/04/29/the-good-that-virtuous-women-do-epistle-of-his-holiness-the-44th-srimadh-azhagiyasingar-of-sri-ahobila-mutt/ > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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