Introduction To Vedanta - P. Nagaraja Rao 10 страница

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the son, the friend, the teacher and the relative and

RAMANUJA’S THEISTIC VEDANTA

the desired deity. He is not the mere distant world-

ruler; He is the intimate friend who heralds light and

imparts wisdom in the dark days. He takes on

avataras to help men and show the way of life and

truth.

Metaphysical gods like those of Aristotle and

Whitehead may give us truth, but as Pascal writes

“we make an idol of Truth, for Truth without charity

is not God, but his image and idol which we must

neither love nor worship. ”

Ramanuja speaks of a five-fold manifestation of

God. He has a transcendent form called Narayana

or Vasudeva. Vaikuntha is His abode. He is the inner-

ruler of us all called antaryamin. He takes on the

incarnations as Rama, Krsna, Buddha in his vibhava

form. He is also manifest in some temples in the form

of idols. The various forms of Narayana are called

Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha.

Thus the God of Ramanuja is the example of a per-

fect religious concept. He is described as being res-

ponsive to the wishes of the devotee, sensitive to his

needs and akin to his spirit. He is the Creator, Sus-

tainer and Destroyer of the world.

Ramanuja’s God and his conception of soul both

alike involve change and permanence. Both are sub-

stances having their own inseparable attribute called

dharmabhuta jndna. The attribute changes and not

the substance. The God of Ramanuja does not Him-

self change into the various forms but only his

dharmabhuta jndna changes. The attributive element

alone changes. There is no direct change for the Lord.

The changes of the Lord into various forms is medi-

ated through the dharmabhuta jndna. Such an expla-

nation wards off all the possible objection against the

132 - INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

change of the Lord (Parinama vada) into the various

forms. The attributive element i. e., the dhar/nabhuta

jnaria is in inseparable relation with its substance,

the Lord. God does not suffer bondage or sorrow in

taking on several manifestations. It is only the attri-

butive element that changes. Further, bondage, sor-

row and such experiences are the result of the indi-

vidual’s Karma but the Lord is the Lord of Karma

and He is not affected by it. This distinction between

substance and attribute is intended to meet the

possible objections against Parinama vada.

The nature of the individual soul is conceived

by Ramanuja as atomic. It has also its own dharma -

bhuta jnana, the attributive element. It comprehends

in samsara objects in a limited manner. When the

soul attains salvation its knowledge expands to all

things and almost becomes omniscient. The souls are

eternal and infinite in number and beginningless. It

has an organic inseparable connection with the Lord.

It is His attribute. The soul is a free agent, an active

purposeful being (karta and bhokta). But the Lord

is the inner-*ruler immortal of the souls. After libera-

tion the soul becomes free but subordinate only to

the Lord. He is just like the Lord his maker, except

for the difference of not being the creator of the world

and its sustainer.

Prakrti for Ramanuja is as eternal as the Lord.

It is the abode of the soul of man as well as of the

Lord. It is one of the triple categories. It has three

characteristics, sattva, rajas and tamas. Prakrti with

its gunas is made use of by the Lord for his creation.

It is not infinite, though it is eternal. It is still under

the sway of the Lord. It is in inseparable relation

with the Lord on one side and the souls on the other.

RAMANUJA’S THEISTIC VEDANTA

The evolution of the Prakrti into 24 categories is

the same as in Sarikhya. Prakrti does not touch the

Lord. The limbs of the person of the Lord and his

abode Vaikuntha is made out of a substance called

nitya vibhuti. It is like Prakrti but without its two

gunas, rajas and tamas. It is pure sattva (suddha

sattva).

We have so far examined the various philoso-

phical categories of Ramanuja’s system. The follow-

ing table gives us at a sight the different categories

and their relation to others:

Manas

1. Prakrti

I '

2. Mahat

3. Ahamkara

5-9. 10-14.

Sense organs Mortor

organs

Reality

15-19. Tanmatras

20 - 2 *.

Maha Bhutas

Dra vyas = Substance ad ravya — Non-substances

I 5 elements 3 gunas sakshi Samsar

I 1

jada=inert ajada^animate

jiva=: souls! svara=God Dharmabhuta 6uddh=: Sattva

1 j nan = attribute

prakrti =ma tter

kala=time

INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

Let us advert to the study of Ramanuja’s me-

thod of God realisation. He is the fountain-head

of Indian Theism. The individual soul on account of

its own Karma gets bound to samsara. Bondage is

ignorance of the omnipresent nature and goodness of

the Lord. The tragedy of the individual soul is its

feeling that it can do all the things of the world.

Affirming his own autonomy and self-sufficiency is the

sin of man. It is self-pride. The illusion of self -pride

is smashed in the God-created world and thus man

realises that he is just a creation of the Lord on whom

depends his whole life. This realisation does not

easily dawn on man. It is first of all based on faith.

Faith is as much a faculty of man as reasoning. It

enables us to step out and break free from what is

purely empirical. It. releases us from the tyranny of

the world of things. Faith in the message of the scrip-

ture, as learnt from the master, is the first step. The

Gita declares that he “who is ignorant and has no faith

and is ever doubting, perishes. ” We need an unwaver-

ing faith to love the Lord. In the words of Huxley,

“faith is the pre-condition of all systematic knowing,

all purposive doing and all decent living. ” The faith

in the Lord is everything and is necessary for the soul

to love the Lord. Faith is summed up in the first

mantra of the Isa Upanisad. “Know all this, whatever

moves in this moving world, k is enveloped by God. ”

Gandhi ji’s comment on this verse brings out the force

of the mantra. “The mantra describes God as the

Creator, the Ruler and the Lord. The seer to whom

this mantra or verse was revealed was not satisfied

with the very frequent statement that God was to be

found everywhere. ” He went further and said:

“since God pervades everything, nothing belongs to

RAMANUJA’S THEISTIC VEDANTA* 135

you, not even your own body. God is thfe undisputed,

unchallengeable Master of everything you possess.

If it is universal brotherhood — not only brotherhood

of all human beings, but of all living things — I find it

in this mantra. It is unshakable faith in the Lord and

Master — and all the adjectives you can think of — I

find it in this mantra. If it is the idea of complete

surrender to God and of the faith that He win sup-

ply all that I need, then again I say I find it in this

mantra. Since He pervades every fibre of my be-

ing and of all of you, I derive from it the doctrine

of the equality of all creatures on earth and it should

satisfy the cravings of all philosophical communists.

This mantra tells me that I cannot hold as mine any-

thing that belongs to God and that, if my life and

that of all who believe in this mantra has to be a

life of perfect dedication, it follows that it will have

to be a life of continual service of fellow creatures. ”*

Faith in the Lord is the result of the knowledge of

his greatness, power and love. Faith is the begin-

ning of bhakti. The knowledge or jridna of the Lord’s

qualities leads to its contemplation. That grows into

the full love of the Lord.

Ramanuja’s conception of the Supreme as a

person makes the concept of Bhakti easy. Bhakti

is of the nature of love (Prema). When it is directed

to different individuals, it takes on different names,

such as the parental love, sensual love, friend’s love

etc. The emotion of love is universal and the most

potent factor in man. It is man’s nature to love.

Pascal declared “The human mind naturally be-

lieves, and the human heart naturally loves. ” Love

is man’s effort to fly from loneliness. It is almost

Harijan, 1937.

INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

instinctive in man. If he cannot find a God in heaven^

he will fall down before a God on earth and deify

some idols of his own making, be it a nation, a class

or party or an ideology. Man needs to transcend his

self to be truly human. This urge to transcend him-

self is expressed in his love. Men are prepared to

make all sorts of sacrifices for those th^t they love

and they in their turn love them also. It is a univer-

sal human mode of communion. So men find it easy

to take to it.

Human love with all its warmth when dedicated

to the Lord is called bhakti. It is all consuming and

does not keep back anything. It is a total giving.

It is complete self-effacement. In the words of St.

Paul it is self-emptying, without which there is no

divine filling. “Not I, Christ lives in me. Vasudeva

is all that is. ”

The most difficult thing in the world to give up

is self-love and other little loves. The real devotee

through discriminative wisdom realises his creaturli-

ness and finds no hope for him except through the

Lord’s grace. * He realises that fellowship with the

Lord is his supreme destiny. Love of God is the

supreme spiritual ideal, and the great secret to at-

tain it is to love God more than all the objects in the

world. Bhakti is that kind of attachment to the

Lord based on a complete understanding of the supre-

macy of the Lord, which transcends the love of one’s

self and possessions and which remains unshaken in

death and difficulty. The surrender which the de-

votee makes to the Lord is conscious and is done in

joy and not in a mood of despair or disgust. It is

not submission to the force or terror which threatens

to destroy. It is the joyous giving up of all, with the

RAMANUJA’S THEISTIC VEDANTA

faith that is the consummation devoutly to be wish-

ed for. It is not the stoic attitude of acceptance

of a fate which is above us as depicted by Hardy in

his novels.

There is a joy in the life of the God-centred souls

before which all other pleasures stand no comparison.

The devotees are not able to describe their joy fully.

They speak in symbols and their language often

borders on that of passionate lovers. The thirteen

Pre-Ramanuja Alvars represent a very strong school

of Bhakti which melts our hearts. One of them, a

woman saint, Andal has given the exquisite outpour-

ing of her heart which stand for the typical bridal

mysticism. The Lord is loved with all the heart.

The term Bhakti comes from the root, meaning

‘to serve’ or ‘to resort to’ and signifies service or re-

sorting to another for assistance. “It is turning to God

for protection completely turning ones self to his

for protection completely turning one’s self to his

service and sacrifice for God, and God’s reciprocal

love of man and the blessed communion between God

and man. Bhakti brings order and beauty into the

confused and tangled facts of our life.

Narada the great sage has given us an excellent

text explaining the path of devotion and its

characteristics. The great Bhdgavata Purana illus-

trates the function and the efficacy of Bhakti as seen

in the lives of several devotees. It is the veritable

treasure-house of devotional literature. Ramanuja

and other theists draw freely on the Bhdgavata for

the doctrines of their faith.

Narada defines Bhakti as intense love of God

and says: “A man who loves God has no wants or

sorrows. He neither hates nor joys nor strives with

138 INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

zeal for any ends of his own. For through Bhakti is

he moved to rapture, and through Bhakti does he

attain peace and is happy in spirit. ” “Love of God is

ineffable. It is as if a dumb man had tasted a delicious

food and could not speak about it. It would be re-

vealed only to the chosen few. For it is afi experience

pure and selfless, subtle, unbroken and ever-expand-

ing. A man who has once experienced God-love will

see that alone and speak of that alone, for he ever

thinks of that alone. ”

God's response to man's devotion is called grace,

and prasdda. The theistic schools believe that man's

salvation is dependent on God's grace. It is deri-

vative and not native to the soul of man. It is not the

birthright of the soul. It is a gift from God. “The

high and the best way thither is run by desires and not

by the feet. For he may be loved not thought. By

love may he be begotten and holden but by thought

never” says the great unknown author of The Cloud

of Unknowing. The spirit bloweth where it listeth.

Many are called but few are chosen. The Katha

declares, “the atman cannot be attained by the study

of Vedas, nor by intellect nor even by much learn-

ing; by him it is attained whom God chooses. ” Let

us listen to what the Gita has to say on this topic:

The Lord declares “it cannot be attained either by

the Vedas or by austerities or by gifts or sacrifices.

But by unswerving devotion to Me, I can he known

truly, seen and entered infto. So he who does work

for me, he who looks upon me as his goal, he who wor-

ships me, free from attachment, who is free from en-

mity to all creatures, he goes to me. But those who

worship me with devotion, they are in me and I am

also in them. ” The Lord further says: “The devotees

RAMANUJA’S THEISTIC VEDANTA

fix their thought in Me, their lives are wholly given up

to me; enlightening each other and ever conversing

of me, they are contended and rejoicing in Me.

They are constantly devoted and worship me

with love. I grant them the wisdom by which they

come to me. Out of compassion for those same ones,

remaining within my own true state, I destroy the

darkness born of ignorance by the lamp of wisdom. ”

The Lord in another context says that he is res-

ponsible for the well-being of those individuals that

are his devotees and those that throw themselves on

Him for grace. “The virtuous ones who worship the

Lord are of four kinds, the man in distress, the seeker

after knowledge, the man who is after wealth and the

man of wisdom. ” “Of these the wise one, who is ever

in constant union with the divine, whose devotion

is single-minded, is the best. For I am supremely

dear to him and he is dear to me. ”

The irrevocable promise of the Lord according to

the Mahatma is (XI. 22) that “those who worship me

and meditate on me alone, to them who ever persevere

I bring all attainment of what they have not and

security of what they have. ”

The Lord declares that his devotees never perish.

Towards the end of Gita the Lord gives us in full

his final opinion on Bhakti as the most important

means to attain him. The Lord says, “Through devo-

tion the devotee comes to know Me, what my measure

is and who I am in truth; then having known Me in

truth, then, he forthwith enters into me. ” Doing

continually all actions taking refuge in me, he reaches

by my grace the eternal and the everlasting abode. ”

Thus, we find that the Gita, the great scripture, is

140 r ' INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

predominantly theistic and proclaims Bhakti as the*

most important means for God-realisation. The ques-

tion that is generally raised in connection with Bhakti

is whether morality is essential for it. It is essential, is

the verdict of all scriptures. There can be no godly

life without good life. The good life is indispensable

to religion. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they

shall see God” says the Bible. Bhakti involves the

knowledge of the Lord and, in the words of Ramanuja,

it is constant remembrance of the Lord (dbruva-

nusmrti). And it also involves a particular way of

life. Mostly Bhakti is for a Supreme personal God.

The Upanisad declares “not he who has not desisted

from evil ways, not he who is not tranquil, not he who

has not a concentrated mind, not even he whose mind

is not composed can reach this through right know-

ledge. ”

The cleaning of one’s moral being is absolutely

necessary. “If the doors of perception are cleansed” in

Blake’s words, “everything will appear to man as it

is, infinite. In all religions the individual has the

consciousness of a divine being who is the controller

of all things, towards whom man feels a sense of awe,

— the magical attitude. These are God-fearing

and not God-loving religions. The religious atti-

tude is not the same as the magical attitude.

It is born out of a complete understanding of

the Lord. A genuine love and worship of the Lord

is possible only when we know his true, infinite

excellences. It is the jnana or knowledge that

God is Love that makes the individual sur-

render himself to God. Bhakti includes love of

God through the knowledge of his nature. The know-

ledge becomes perfect and absolute when we surrender

RAMANUJA’S THEISTIC VEDANTA 141

to him completely out of anurakti which means love

that arises after a knowledge of God's goodness and

accessibility. Bhakti is fearlessness, abhaya.

The popular view that Bhakti is the path meant

only for the ignorant and that it is attained through

passive virtues such as humility and meekness, is

not correct. The unqualified submission to another is

not so easy. Self -hood and self-love are almost un-

conquerable in man.

A selfless self-giving without any question is

Bhakti. In Bhakti there is the emphasis not on the self

but on the object sought. Devotion is the natural

relationship between the Lord and the Soul. The

complete love of God and surrender to Him is the best

way of knowing the Lord. The only way to know

God is to love Him, and the way to love Him is to know

His infinite love for uc. In religion we cannot separate

knowing and doing. Love of God is not an arid

constructive virtue that men have to practise it from

a sense of duty or with an eye to profit. Nor is it a

mere whim of men. It is a response to the lovable.

The lovable alone can be loved. This love of God

deepens the love of God and it grows from strength to

strength. Bhakti makes us surrender our ego to the

will of the Lord. We say, “Thy will be done. "

The actions that a bhakto does are dedications to

the Lord. This is called in the language of the Gita

karma yoga. The God-lover does the will of the Lord,

without waiting for any reward or thanks. Secondly,

according to Ramanuja, the devotee does not love

merely the Lord but loves his entire creation. He

regards himself as the servant of the Lord and desires

and strives to establish the kingdom of God on earth.

He is called the kinkara of the Lord.

INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

Love of God results in the love of humanity, for

humanity is a glorious manifestation of the Lord. So

the devotee forswears retaliation and loves all. The

grace of the Lord which saves us is not the result of

any condition. It is unconditional love ( nirhetuka

kafaksa). f

There can be no salvation without the grace of

the Lord. The grace of the Lord is not a contract bet-

ween the soul and the Lord. It is his free gift which

he bestows on us not because we deserve it, but be-

cause it is an overflowing love. There is nothing that

can buy the grace of the Lord except a total giving up.

Religion is not the activity of one individual. It is

the work of God and of man. The human being has

the free will to set aside the grace of the Lord. The

wisest father cannot gQ on talking if the child will not

listen. We cannot just create any love for God in

ourselves just by wanting it. “We cannot create a

plant out of nothing, nor force a seed to grow, con-

trary to its nature. We can give the plant the soil, the

manure, the water, the light which will enable it to

grow. That is all our moral effort can do and nothing

more. The conditions can be determined, but the

conditioning agent is free to bripg about the event or

not. ”

The Vaishnava religion of Ramanuja like Chris-

tianity lays a great deal of emphasis on social work

and on humanistic ethics. It is to be undertaken as

Lord’s duty. The devotees of the Lord are of two

types: those that are lost iff the mystic rapture of

admiration of the Lord and keep on in His Pre-

sence and do nothing. They are the psalmists or the

contemplatives. The others are the active mystics, that

are not satisfied with the vision of the Lord, but go

RAMANUJA'S THEISTIC VEDANTA 143

out into the world beckoning others to gd up the wall

and see the vision. They do the will of the Lord.

There are these types, the way of Martha and the way

of Mary.

Ramanuja regards the world as the creation of

the Lord. It is the manifestation of the maya of the

Lord. Maya is not here used in Sankara’s sense of

the term, but as the power of the Lord. For Rama-

nuja, the world is the real and rational creation by the

Supreme Self’s power and intelligence. It is neither

the mechanical product of atoms nor the evolution of

nature. Above all it is not the illusory projection

of maya.

A follower of Ramanuja called Ramananda

migrated to northern India and spread Vaishnavism

through his disciples. Ramanuja was the first among

the deary as to build a. system of Vedanta not exclusive-

ly on Sanskrit texts, the Upanishads and the Gita, but

also on the Tamil works. This is the reason for de-

scribing his Vedanta as Ubhaya- Vedanta (using both

Tamil and Sanskrit texts). His Absolute sets forth a

unique relation between the God, world and souls. It

brings out the intimacy as well as the dependence of

the categories. It is called aprthak siddha relation. He

affirms the reality of the world. He speaks of the

uniting experience of all souls as similar. Above

all, his doctrine of the complete surrender to the Lord,

Prapatti, is. the most significant method outlined

for God-realisation opened to all without distinction

of caste, class, creed, age and sex. He throws open

the gates of the temple to all alike. He regards that

the Lord requires nothing but a contrite heart.

The doctrine of Saranagati (Surrender) brings

out the conception of God as Love to the forefront.

INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

The individual soul who is not able to live aright and

lapses from the divine commands feels miserable,

helpless and lost. This utter sense of unworthiness

and helplessness creates a feeling of sorrow. The

Lord declares to such a man that he would redeem

him if he surrenders to him. That is the assurance

of the Lord of the Gita towards the end of the gospel.

The aspirant has to follow the will of the Lord and

give up whatever goes against Him. He is to keep

absolute faith in the Lord and His saving grace. He

is to feel that he has to be saved in spite of himself. He

should seek consciously the grace of the Lord as the

only remedy open to him. The last act of the aspi-

rant is to throw himself upon the grace of the Lord.

This act of completely flinging oneself on God’s com-

passion is called Saranagati. It is the resignation of

one in extreme distress. “Man’s extremity is god’s

opportunity, ” said William James.

The doctrine of complete self-surrender is the

sine qua non of godly life. Ramanuja respects the

individuality and personality of the human soul, its

distinctness and does not sacrifice it. This does not

prevent him from placing his finger on the chief

disease of man, namely, his ego, his selfishness, his

self-centredness and his crude individuality. This

has to be given up for spiritual regeneration. The

real, obstacle to spiritual life is selfishness and not

personality. The acme of godly life is absolute self-

suppression and the readiness to be a willing instru-

ment of the Lord’s purposes. This is the final stage

BhaktL Whatever course of discipline one might

follow, they all must end in this act of self-surrender.

In the words of Sri Aurobindo this is the law

of living. It goes beyond all creeds, religious beliefs

RAMANUJA’S THEISTIC VEDANTA, 145

and personal aims of conduct. It is the crowning

word, it is not merely the essence of Bhakti, it sweeps

out all, and further breaks down every limit and rule,

canon and formula and opens out a wide, vivid and

illimitable spiritual experience. When we compare

this process to Bhakti, we see that it has none of the

restrictions and laborious processes of training. This

method is open to all and it is the most direct

means to salvation.

This method, Ramanuja holds, leads to immediate

deliverence. The Lord though He has no shadow of

sentimentality and is impartial to all is not without

a soft corner for the Prapanna (the soul that has

surrendered). He endures the ignorant and the stupid

if they have a contrite heart. In the matter of

human sin and folly, seen from his infinite height,

the Lord is not upset by or squeamish about the depth

of degradation. If he hears once, the shrill and

moving cry for deliverance arising from the depths

of the heart, the Lord answers and sustains the devo-

tee with his everlasting arms. The evidence for this

experience is the life of all the God-lovers described in

the Bhagavata Purdna. A single, serious moment of

self-surrender is considered enough by Sri Rama-

chandra in the Ramdydna. Rama declares: “This

is the law of my ruling to give refuge and security

to all beings, who say once at least, ‘you are my

refuge’. ” The doctrine of Prapoxti is the corner-

stone of Vaishnavism. It has been responsible for

the social uplift of all classes. It is road royal to the

Lord. To be driven from the Church is not to be

driven out of God’s home. The immense possibilities

of Vaishnavism in the hands of orthodox thinkers have

INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

tended to become sectarian. The Lord belongs to all

and none has an exclusive claim on Him.

The philosophy of Ramanuja spread the love of

God to all classes and made use of the regional lan-

guages free and did not confine itself to the use of

Sanskrit. The wave of Vaishnavism spread all over

India.

Chapter VII

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SRI MADHVA

The philosophy of Sri Madhva is called Dvaita

Vedanta. Like the other systems of Vedanta,

Madhva too bases his system on the authority and

the doctrines derived from the triple texts. He

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