THE THREE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS OF SOUTH INDIA
WHO GAVE ADVAITHA, VISHISTADVAITHA AND DWAITHA PHILOSOPHIES
PART : II

RAMANUJACHARYA

Friends,

Having given a brief biography of HH. Shankara Bhagavath Paada, I would like to tell about HH Ramanuchacharya who came up with his theory of VISHISHTTAADVAITHA..

Ramanuja was born in the year 1017 AD. To a very pious couple by name S.Sri. Keshava Somayaji and Kanthimathi in a village called Sriperumbudur near Kancheepuram, where Sri. Rajeev Gandhi’s Samadhi is built now. His father and mother gave him the name as Ilaya Perumal, meaning younger Maha Vishnu. He was born and brought up as a Vaishnavaite Brahmin. His father died when he was very young. Afterwards he went to Kancheepuram to learn Vedas under an ADVAITHA teacher called Yadava Prakasha. But , he was not very happy with his teacher since Yadava Prakasha committed many mistakes while teaching Vedas.

Ramanuja had a very good memory power and hence tried to correct his teacher which was not liked by his teacher as well as co-students. Even thy tried to kill Ramanuja but this information was leaked out somehow and he miraculously escaped from this bid..

In south India the Vishishtaadwaitha philosophy was very well established by the end 10th century. Yamunacharya, a great scholar and a sage was in charge of the Vaishnavate Mutt at Shrirangam. Many vaishnavate temples came up in places like Tiruppathy, Srirangam Kancheepuram and other places. Kanchipurna who was a Shoodra was his ardent deciple and he was serving in the Shrirangam Mutt. Ramanuja was influenced by this Kanchopurna. We can see a temple at Kancipuram dedicated to this great person. Ramanuja had great respect for this great man and learned many things from him. One day he invited this Kancipurna to his house for Lunch. Unfortunately, the day Kanchipurna came, Ramanuja was not in the house. However, he was received well by Ramanuja’s, wife and other family members. Immediately after Kanchpuna left the house , they started washing the house since a shoodra had entered the house and as soon as they finished washing the house, Ramanuja returned. Seeing this, Ramanuja was disgusted with his wife and family and abandoned them, to become a SANYSIN. This shows that although Ramanuja was a Brahmin by caste and believed in VARNAASRAMA, never believed in untouchability even before becoming a SANYASIN.

Vaishnava Cult established well by about 10th Century A.D.H.H. Yamunacharya was the head of Srirangam Mutt at Thiruchchi. In the interest of readers I like to state that Srirangam temple Gopuram is the tallest in South India. This Yamunacharya was highly learned, a profound scholar and a great sage. However, since he was getting old and wanted to install a suitable person as the Head of the Mutt. He found only Ramanuja as his heir. Ramanuja wanted to see this great saint and hence he came to Srirangam by which time HH. Yamunacharya had attained SAMADHI. At Srirangam, he was told by others that the late Swamiji wishes that Ramanuja should succeed him. However , he could not do so because the CHOLA KING (KULOTHTHUNGA CHOLAN I) of that time was a staunch SHAIVATE who did not allow him to stay in Srirangam unless Ramanuja also became a SAIVATE. The legend goes on that the disciples of Ramanuja KUresha and Mahapurna went to the king to submit that Maha Vishnu was supreme GOD. Instead of listening them the King ordered his men to torture them and to remove their eyes. SUCH WAS THE HATRED BETWEEN SHAIVATES AND VAISHNAVATES DURING THAT PERIOD. Till the death of Kuloththunga Chola, Ramanuja stayed in earst while MYSORE STATE whom he converted in to VAISHNAVISM. He also converted many persons in to VAISHNAVISM and constructed many temples for Maha Vishnu. At Melkote Temple which he constructed, he allowed HARJANS ( SC/ST) right of entry to the Temple on certain days. This again shows that here is a GREAT SAINT WHO NEVER BELIEVED IN UNTOUCHABILITY but believed very much in VARNASRAM DHARMA.

When Ramanuja received the news about the death of KULOTHTHUNG CHOLA, he came back to Srirangam and took charge of Srirangam Mutt. He converted more than a lakh of people to his Vishistadwaitha Philosophy irrespective of caste or creed or colour.
It is said that he had about 700 Sanyasins under him. He was also instrumental in constructing many more VISHNU temples in Tamil Nadu..


RAMANUJA’S VISHISTADWAITHA

In fact Ramanuja’s Vishishtadwaitha was not new. However the credit of codifying the principles go to him. VISHISTADWAITHA means QUALIFIED MONOISM It means although GOD is only ONE , according to Ramanuja HE has attributes. Ramanuja believed that attributes and GOD co-exist. In other words Ramanuja believed in SAVISHESHA BRAHMAN or SAGUNA BRAHMAN and that GOD is MAHA VISHNU. Of course, Shankara also is inclined to this fact. But he says ” sarvadEvanamaskara: kEshavam prathigachchathi “ It means GOD IS ONLY ONE irrespective of which form you pray. But his definition of GOD is that HE is NIRGUNA. But Ramanuja’s definition of BRAHMAN is KALYANA GUNA SAMPANNA. RAMANUJA believed that the BRAHMAN is qualified by all chit and achit physical existences asHis body mode and attributes which has no parallels . In short NARAYANA is anantha kalyana gunakara..

Here, I would like to state there are two schools of thought among Vaisnavates, called VADAKALAIS AND THENKALAIS.

According to Vadakalais, Mahalaksmi is the feminine part of BRAHMAN and hence She is infinite in nature just as NARAYANA and equal to NARAYANA in all respects.

According to Thenkalais MAHALAKSHMI plays only a part as mediator to attain salvation of JIVA and not a means.. They also belief that She is not infinite as LORD NARAYANA but only a JIVA like any of us.

Here-in , I like to state that all these philosophers based their faith on NARAYANA whom they consider as BRAHMAN. That is the reason why some of the philosophers went against them and started VEERASHAIVSM among whom I can mention KAPALIKAS and LINGAYATS, KASHMIRI SHAIVATES. Readers are requested to go through my early write up on LINGA CULT.

Vaishnava Cult established well by about 10th Century A.D.H.H. Yamunacharya was the head of Srirangam Mutt at Thiruchchi. In the interest of readers I like to state that Srirangam temple Gopuram is the tallest in South India. This Yamunacharya was highly learned, a profound scholar and a great sage.

Having given a brief history of the BRAHMAN the ultimate GOD as defined by Shri. Shankara and Shri. Ramanuja I shall reproduce on which counts Ramanuja differed from
Adi Shankara in his philosophy. Ramanuja raised SEVEN objections to Shankara”s ADVAITHA I am giving below the extract from Ramanuja’s biography published by
Sri Ramakrishna Mutt.
“ The Seven objections to Shankara's Advaita
Ramanuja picks out what he sees as seven fundamental flaws in the Advaita philosophy to revise them. He argues:
I. The nature of Avidya. Avidya must be either real or unreal; there is no other possibility. But neither of these is possible. If Avidya is real, non-dualism collapses into dualism. If it is unreal, we are driven to self-contradiction or infinite regress.
II. The incomprehensibility of Avidya. Advaitins claim that Avidya is neither real nor unreal but incomprehensible, {anirvacaniya.} All cognition is either of the real or the unreal: the Advaitin claim flies in the face of experience, and accepting it would call into question all cognition and render it unsafe.
III. The grounds of knowledge of Avidya. No pramana can establish Avidya in the sense the Advaitin requires. Advaita philosophy presents Avidya not as a mere lack of knowledge, as something purely negative, but as an obscuring layer which covers Brahman and is removed by true Brahma-vidya. Avidya is positive nescience not mere ignorance. Ramanuja argues that positive nescience is established neither by perception, nor by inference, nor by scriptural testimony. On the contrary, Ramanuja argues, all cognition is of the real.
IV. The locus of Avidya. Where is the Avidya that gives rise to the (false) impression of the reality of the perceived world? There are two possibilities; it could be Brahman's Avidya or the individual soul's {jiva.} Neither is possible. Brahman is knowledge; Avidya cannot co-exist as an attribute with a nature utterly incompatible with it. Nor can the individual soul be the locus of Avidya: the existence of the individual soul is due to Avidya; this would lead to a vicious circle.
V. Avidya's obscuration of the nature of Brahman. Sankara would have us believe that the true nature of Brahman is somehow covered-over or obscured by Avidya. Ramanuja regards this as an absurdity: given that Advaita claims that Brahman is pure self-luminous consciousness, obscuration must mean either preventing the origination of this (impossible since Brahman is eternal) or the destruction of it - equally absurd.
VI. The removal of Avidya by Brahma-vidya. Advaita claims that Avidya has no beginning, but it is terminated and removed by Brahma-vidya, the intuition of the reality of Brahman as pure, undifferentiated consciousness. But Ramanuja denies the existence of undifferentiated {nirguna} Brahman, arguing that whatever exists has attributes: Brahman has infinite auspicious attributes. Liberation is a matter of Divine Grace: no amount of learning or wisdom will deliver us.
VII. The removal of Avidya. For the Advaitin, the bondage in which we dwell before the attainment of Moksa is caused by Maya and Avidya; knowledge of reality (Brahma-vidya) releases us. Ramanuja, however, asserts that bondage is real. No kind of knowledge can remove what is real. On the contrary, knowledge discloses the real; it does not destroy it. And what exactly is the saving knowledge that delivers us from bondage to Maya? If it is real then non-duality collapses into duality; if it is unreal, then we face an utter absurdity.
Even though Bhagavad Ramanuja taught his followers to highly respect all Sri Vaishnavas irrespective of caste, he firmly believed in the tenets of Varnashrama Dharma.
His Saranagati philosophy emphasises that anyone, irrespective of colour, creed, caste, sex and religion can surrender their mind, body and soul to the Lotus feet of Lord Narayana and the God would accept him/her. But if one surrenders to any other deva than Vasudeva, such as Siva or Ganesha, he will have to be reborn as a vaishnava.

Even though Bhagavad Ramanuja taught his followers to highly respect all Sri Vaishnavas irrespective of caste, he firmly believed in the tenets of Varnashrama Dharma. His Saranagati philosophy emphasises that anyone, irrespective of colour, creed, caste, sex and religion can surrender their mind, body and soul to the Lotus feet of Lord Narayana and the God would accept him/her. But if one surrenders to any other deva than Vasudeva, such as Siva or Ganesha, he will have to be reborn as a vaishnava.

Cited from Sri Ramanuja, His Life, Religion, and Philosophy, published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India.”
It is said that H.H. RAMANUCHACHARYA completed full PRUSHAYUS i.e. 120 years of age and then attained SAMADHI. According to Dr Saroja Ramanujam, He was born in 1017 and attained Samadhi in 1137. She cites many references to this. This ight or might not be an exaggeration , but he lived long life remains a fact. His SAMADHI can be seen even now within SRIRANGAM TEMPLE COMPLEX. It is said that the mortal remaind of SAINT RAMANUJA can be seen even now at Srirangam temple complex where his body is covered with Sandal paste and other medicines applied on it, and if we observe closely, we can see the nails of this GREAT SAINT. This shrine is opened to the public and every day lakhs of pilgrims visit this HOLY SHRINE.

Friends, being H.H. Adi Shankara’s followers most of us maight disagree with his principles,But let us all acknowledge his wisdom and vision which have attracted many devotees into His SRIVAISHNAVA AND VISHISHTADVAITHA CULT. I prostrate before this great saint and beg his Asirvadams.

Last but not least I acknowledge, the valuable suggestion and certain guidances given to me with great respect to Dr. Saroja Ramanujam who went through this brief biography of a great saint. But for her help, I could not have completed this small biography of such an eminent Saint.

P.R.Radhakrishnan