Introduction To Vedanta - P. Nagaraja Rao 12 страница

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tude of sparks which spring from it. The purusotta-

ma is declared by the Gita, as being higher than the

ksara and aksara, i. e. perishable and the im-

perishable. He' is full of ananda and rasa i. e., sweet-

ness and joy. He is in fact the undivided mass of

bliss.

The second aspect of Brahman is his immanence.

Vallabha’s theism is not deism. God is not external

to the world. He does not create it and leave it there

as a mechanic does a machine. God is not an impor-

tant outsider who is brought in to inaugurate the world

and is not expected to attend to its daily workings.

God is not only above us, but is with us and in us. It

is not true to think that God’s august majesty has

very little connection with the petty concerns of petty

human beings. God, according to Vallabha, is mani-

fest as the inner-ruler, antaryamin, of the souls of

men. A whole section of the Brhaddranyaka TJpanisad

explains the immanence of the Lord (III. 7). “He who

dwells in all beings, is yet within all beings whom,

no beings know. ” The Gita too again and again

VALLABHA’S PHILOSOPHY

refers to this aspect. The Lord says that “he is seat-

ed in all beijigs. ” He is the drive in all men. The Lord

is not witnessing the drama of life from the wings of

the stage. “He is the enjoyer of all sacrifices and

austerities, the great Lord of the world, the friend of

all beings (suhrdam sarvabhutanam ). He is actively

with us, sustaining us.

This does not mean that Vallabha’s system is a

type of pantheism which makes God one with the

universe as a whole. God and the universe are not

equated. God minus the universe is not zero. It is

still God. Pantheism and deism do not leave any

room for prayer or miracles or freedom of will.

Vallabha’s God is not that vague something of which

Wordsworth speaks.

“Something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of the setting suns,

And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man. ”

It is immanent as well as transcendent. Besides

the two aspects of Brahman as Purusottama and

antaryamin, there is a third one which is the specific

contribution of Vallabha. It is called the aksara

Brahman. It is from this that all objects manifest

themselves like sparks from the fire. It is meditated

on by the devotees. It is considered as the first aspect

of Lord Kr^na. It is variously called parama-

dhaman, vyoma and charana. The aksara Brahman

appears as Ak$ara, time, action and nature. These four

eternal principles are one with God. The aspect of

Brahman is described as avyakta in the Gita and the

Upanishads. It is lower than purusottama. The whole

universe is the manifestation of this principle. Valla-

164 INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

bha explains his metaphysics with the help of 28

tattvas (categories) and in the three inseparable prin-

ciples and different forms of the Lord i. e. Kala, Karma

and Svabhava. The categories are not the same as

in the Sankhyan system. They have different signi-

ficance for Vallabha.

The universe and the souls are tlje real manifesta-

tions of the Lord. They are not the products of

nescience or maya as in Sankara’s philosophy. The

Lord becomes, as pointed out in the Upanisads, many

in order to sport. The whole creation is His lila,

i. e. the sub-specia-temporis view. What is responsi-

ble for our ignorance, dependence, inferiority, suffer-

ing of all miseries, is ego-sense (mamata and ahamta),

attachment to the things of the world and the conse-

quent round of births and deaths. The individual

soul’s failure to see God is the cause of bondage.

All the souls are not of one type. They are classi-

fied under three heads. The first class of souls are

those, who are perfect clods of earth untouched by

the spirit! They are those that “do not look before

and after, ” but live in the perpetual perishing parti-

cular present. They are given to worldly pursuits

and mundane aspirations. They are not awakened to

the existence of the Lord. or His glory. Such souls

are called the Pravaha type.

The second type of souls is better in its moral

and spiritual stature. They are correct in their be-

haviour. They are followers of the Vedic path. They

need nothing more than the laws laid down by the

Vedas and Dharma Sastras (Law books of morality).

They walk in that path. They follow the letter of the

Lord. They live their divine life in an orderly manner.

They perform all the scripture-ordained duties. The

VALLABHA’S PHILOSOPHY

souls are atomic, eternal, real, and mon-different

from the Lord. They are amsas (parts) of the Lord

in the language of the Gita. The soul’s connection

with the body is called its birth and its separation

death, The conscious principle in the body is the

soul i. e., a part of God. It is the agent getting knowl-

edge. It is the principle of intelligence acting

according to its Karma.

The purpose of the cosmic drama is the pleasure

of the Lord. It is intended to serve the enjoyment of

the Lord and the liberation of the souls. For these as-

sumptions faith and revelation are the ultimate

authority. Logic can never get the better of faith

here.

The souls are all not of one variety. They are all

atomic. In them all the six excellences of the Lord

are suppressed. The element of ananda is not pre-

sent. This leads the soul to bondage. Bondage is the

result of wrong knowledge. The souls do not see

“Vasudeva in all the objects of the Lord. ” They do

not see the real jagat or the universe as the real non-

different manifestation of the Lord. They look upon,

the world as consisting of things and different souls

as independent entities. They have a scientific view

of things. They do, what Spinoza calls, the duties

according to true specification. They do the obliga-

tory duties (nitya karma) and keep away from the

prohibited ones (nisiddha) of their class and station

(varna and asrama). They stick to the doctrine of

£ vadharma, as indicated by their birth. They wor-

ship the Lord in the manner prescribed. They treat

the Lord as one of great majesty and approach him

with all respect and form. They keep to forms and

observe all the rituals. They acquire ceremonial

INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

purity and' ethical perfection before they begin to

worship the Lord. ' Theirs is the path of Bhakti. It is

called by Vallabha as the maryada marga.

The path of Bhakti enjoins the observance of a

number of restrictions., It is not open to all classes.

It is a graduated path, where the aspirant has to

secure at each stage his eligibility fdt the next step.

The bhakta, devotee, experiences an awe in the

presence of the Lord. The Bhagavata speaks of nine

types of Bhakti. The boy devotee Prahlada says,

“This I consider the best lesson, worthy to be learnt;

man should practise devotion to the Lord, marked

by nine characteristics, (1) listening to the Lord’s

song, (2) singing of it, (3) contemplation of it, (4)

worshipping, (5) falling at His feet specially, (6) salut-

ing Him, (7) serving Him like a servant, (8) moving

as friend and (9) self-dedication. These stages are

in the ascending order and the conclusion of it is God-

Love. This pathway to God secures the union with

the Lord. This attainment is considered by Vallabha

as the supreme one.

He outlines a unique path-way to God-realisation

called the pusfi marga. It is open to all. God in his

sweet will elects some to play with Him. He brings

some souls from Himself and gives them a divine

body like His and sports with them. This is called

nitya-lila. The souls enjoy svarupananda or the

bhajananda of the Lord.

Pusti or grace of the Lord is His gift. Some souls

enjoy it. They are God-intoxicated. They abandon

themselves to the divine in all aspects of life. They

have no ego or purpose of their own. They become

perfect instruments of the Lord for working out his

VALLABHA’S PHILOSOPHY

purposes. . There is not even the least element of self-

hood’ in them. They do not care to observe caste-

rules or minute scripture regulations as and when it

interferes with their Love of God. They are the

mystics of the world. They live in this world on a dif-

ferent plane. They look upon the Lord as the supreme

rasa and they actually enjoy His company. Their

Love has no sensuality. It is Prema and not Kama.

They want to delight the Lord. All their activities

are dedicated to the Lord. They look upon the Lord

as their Master.

Vallabha regards the Love of the Gopis of

Vrndavan as the best type of devotion. They are the

ideal and typical bhaktas of the Lord. Their’s is a

total and integral surrender to the Lord. The Gopis

are regarded as the spiritual teachers of the pusti

marga. They regard themselves as the brides of the

Lord. They speak the language of passionate love.

God is regarded as the great lover and the human

beings as his bride. This type of bridal mysticism

has given rise to very fine literature in the world.

The rasa lila described in the Bhagavata must not be

misunderstood. The svarupdnanda realised by the

Gopis is regarded by Vallabha as superior to Brahma

nanda. The true God-Lover can never bear separation

from the Lord. The misery of separation makes the

devotee think of Him all the time. The devotee’s

love of the Lord is supreme.

Those who follow the pusti marga offer every-

thing they do to the Lord. One who follows the pusti

path aspires to be a Gopi and worships the Lord. The

pu$ti marga of Vallabha has warmed the love of God

in all of us. It has introduced the human element

168 INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

in religion. It has stressed not only the divinity of

man but also the humanity of God.

Tagore in many verses of his immortal Gitanjali

expresses this type of love for God. He sets out in

great detail God’s love of man in his Herbert lec-

tures on the Religion of Man. The celebrated songs

of Mira are an illustration of his type of bhakti. One

has to guard oneself from the touches of sensuality

in such an approach.

Vallabha regards the final union with the Lord

as moksa. He distinguishes several degrees in it. He

asks the perfect devotee to partake of the Lord’s

Ilia, and regards that as the perfect form of realisa-

tion. Such an attitude leads to a respect for creation

and tends to a fine type of humanism.

The pu? ti marga is the most exalted state of

human beings’ love to the Lord. The genuine God

lovers in the first two phases of their adventure, seek-

ing of and separation from the Lord, experience

the full play of all the fine human emotions. They

have a painful intense longing (autsukya), a des-

pondency' (nirveda) arising from long drawn out

fulfilment. They then fall into deep dejection

(dainya). Again they wake up to anger towards the

object they love (amarsa). In the language of Sanskrt

poetics the devotee experiences all the sanchari

bhavas of love.

When the seeking of the Lord and the separation

are ended, there is the great union which lifts the soul

beyond all joys. He is elated with joy. It is the stage

of mada. He feels gratified (dhriti). In the language

of the Bhdgavata, “this overpowering joy fills the eyes

of the devotee with tears, his voice gets choked, he

breaks down, laughs, sings, and dances. ” In another

VALLABHA’S PHILOSOPHY

verse the author of the Bhdgavata asks us: “of what

use is any BJiakti in which your voice does not break,

eyes do not moisten, hairs do not horripilate, and

you are not able to proceed? If one good devotee could

go about in this divine madness, now weeping, now

laughing, without any shame, sing and dance, verily

such a bhakta will sanctify the whole world. ”

Vallabha’s theism brings out that particular form

of bhakti which is based on love. He has ample sup-

port for his position in the Bhdgavata purana. His

system makes an attempt to set forth a type of monism

without the maya doctrine. The system affords full

play to all the aspects of devotion to the Lord. The

system gathers all the fine points and merits of a full-

blooded theism. Its monistic metaphysics is pressed

into the service of his theism. It is difficult to say

whether a perfect logical reconciliation between a

monistic metaphysics and a personalistic theism is

possible.

Chapter IX

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SRI CHAITANYA

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the great religious re-

former and the supreme example among God lovers,

established a powerful school of theigtic Vedanta in

Bengal at the same time as Vallabha. He did not

comment on any scripture or write any books. He

spoke from his deep and abiding religious experience.

He believed in the reality of the world and conceived

Ultimate reality as the perfect supreme personal God,

Kr$na. He also did not believe in the identity bet-

ween the Lord and the soul, like the Advaitin. He

viewed the relationship between the soul and the

Lord as one of identity-in-difference. The relation-

ship is indescribable. It is an acintyabhedabheda.

Some regarded Chaitanya as a close follower of the

dualistic philosophy of Madhva. It is partly true

to say so. He has his differences with Madhva’s sys-

tem. Dr. Sushil Kumar Maitra in his splendid arti-

cle on Chaitanya makes out that the system is “a type

of idealistic monism which reconciles all contradic-

tions and dualities in a super-logical unity or in a

whole that surpasses, strict logical comprehension. ”

Chaitanya refutes maya vada and also Sankara’s

conception of a Nirguna Brahman. The conception of

the Lord as the supreme personality i. e., Kr$na has

some significant aspects to be noted. The Lord and his

consort are not viewed as majestic and with rever-

ence. There is no aloofness between the Lord and

the soul. There is an intimate personal relationship

with the Lord. Chaitanya and to some extent Valla-

bha seek to realise not the glory and greatness of the

Lord but his sweet intimate personal relationship

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SRI CHAITANYA 171

called the madhurya rupa. The Lord takes on the

human form and lives and sports among human be-

ings. This type of fellowship with the Lord is re-

garded as the highest by Chaitanya. The ideal spiri-

tual aspirant is Radha. All of us who hope to rea-

lise the intimate fellowship with the Lord should

aspire to the condition of Radha. What is sought to

be realised is not the aisvarya rupa of the Lord but

madhurya rupa.

Chaitanya brings out the passionate longing of

man for God-realisation. The Radha-Krshna concept

gave him the necessary emotion for preaching the

concept of God-love. He preached prema-bhakti and

adopted the method of singing with his disciples. He

took to the method of kirtan and bhajan. He deve-

loped the emotional side of men and drew the hearts

of men to God by fervently singing the songs about

the loye of Radha and Krsua in his kirtans. He drew

large numbers from all sects including Muslims and

women. He cried down the hide-bound rituals of the

high-born Brahmins. He condemned all caste distinc-

tions. He went on pilgrimage to several shrines.

Chaitanya who is also called Gauranga because of

his fair body married twice and after sometime took

to sahnyasa. With the help of his brother Nityananda,

and a former teacher of his Advaitacarya, he spread

the doctrines and founded mutts all over India, parti-

cularly in the, North. The last 18 years of his life he

spent at Puri and died there.

Chaitanya believed, like the majority of the

Hindus, in the power of the name of the Lord. The

name of the Lord is considered as all powerful in its

potency. It works miracles. The doctrine of speaking

out the name of the Lord and singing it out is the great

172 INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

Spiritual heritage of all the mystics of India that

wrote in their own regional languages. It has a defi-

nite place in the writing of all the mystics and saints.

It is found in Tulsi, Kabir, Tukaram, Jnanadev,.

Eknath, Mira, Narsi Mehta, etc.

The love of uttering the name of the Lord silent-

ly is called jop a and doing it loudly is Kirtana. The

name of the Lord is not a nonsensical sound. A word

and its meaning are closely associated. A name

represents the qualities of an Object. If we persevere

in our repetition of a word, it leads us to meditation

on it. We cannot keep on repeating any word,

without thinking about the reality it represents.

Distraction is the normal and the natural state

of the unregenerate mind of man. We are rarely

capable of consecutive thought about any one pro-

blem in all our waking life. All the time our minds

are in a state of reverie — “a mental fog, disconnected-

sense impressions, irrelevant memories, nonsensical

ideas from books etc. The constant, continued repeti-

tion of the name of the Lord brings us to think about

the Lord. The utterance of the name is like a gentle

plucking at our sleeve, demanding back our attention..

Sometimes it is done with rosary. , r

It is sheer intellectual perversion to regard the

repetition of Lord’s name as a mechanical, thought-

less occupation of the simple folk. Nor is it a useless,

trifling and dreary occupation. The name sinks down

into our life and becomes powerful. The devotees

regard that the best thing a man can do is “to take

refuge in His name. ” The Christian testament de-

clares: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the

righteous runneth into it and is safe. ” The repetition

of the holy word is a- great comfort to the distressed 1

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SRI CHAITANYA 173

and violently disturbed mind of man. It has a real

and literal significance for those who believe in the

Lord. The significance of the Lord’s name is the seed

for the true growth of bhakti. Every name of the

Lord is based on some attribute or other of the Lord

‘Ydni namdm gaund. nl’ declares the Visnusahasranama.

Every name of the Lord marks off some exploit or

action or quality of the Lord. The names of the Lord

are recited even today in many temples.

‘The thousand narties of the Lord’ (sahasranama)

is a very important chapter of the Mahabharata. The

pathway to God in our iron age (kaliyuga) is declar-

ed to be the name of the Lord. In the Bhagavata

purdna, off and on it is declared, “in Kali, the name of

the Lord alone is the means; there is no other path. ”

The Prince of patience, the chief of the Pandavas,

listens to all the dharmas and does not feel satisfied.

He asks Bhi$ma “of what do you consider to be the

greatest dharma of all dharmas. By reciting what,

there will be liberation from the cycle of births and

deaths? Bhlsma replied that the repetition of the

thousand names of the Lord is superior to all dharmas.

That is the way Visnusahasranama is given to us.

Most of the great Vedantic acaryas like Sankara,

Madhva etc. have commented on the Vi$nusahasra-

ndrna. Sankara, the Prince of monistic metaphysics,

brings out the unique nature and excellence of the

nama in his commentary. The adoration and the

recital of the name of the Lord injures none. It is

called an ahimsd yoga. We need no material goods

or great learning sincerely to recite the name of the

Lord. It is open to one and all. The Bhagavata is full

of the glory of His name. Chaitanya-mahaprabhu

174 INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

regards the name itself as the Lord. Hence the

importance of bhajan and kirtan.

I have endeavoured to explain the importance

the Lord’s name at such length only to lay bare the

psychological foundations of the path. The swing-

armchair speculative philosopher and^the irreverent

Sceptic and nihilist can see no good in the recitation

of the Lord’s name. God help them!

A collection of ten basic. verses (dasa-mula-sloka)

attributed to Ghaitanya gives us the precise account of

his philosophy. The system, like other Vedantic

systems, believes in the authority of the Vedas.

Reasoning and Logic are accepted when they do not

conflict with the Vedas.

The supreme spiritual Reality is called Hari.

He represents the whole Reality. His nature is a

combination of six essences, Beauty, Majesty,

Strength, Glory, Detachment and Perfect Intelligence.

< sri, aisvarya, vlrya, yasas, vairagya and jhana). Of

these, beauty is the fundamental one and others are

subsidiary. Other aspects of the perfect i. e. the in-

determinate nature of Brahman and Paramatman are

only aspects of Hari. Hari is the Only completeness

and perfection. Others are only fractions of Him.

Hari as pointed out is a duality in unity of Radha

and Krshjja. Besides the three Upanishadic attri-

butes of sat, cit and ananda, Hari is full of rasa and

is a rasika (enjoyment and enjoyer). God creates

the world out of his maya sakti. It is his creation.

This maya sakti makes the individual soul forget its

true nature and acquire a taste for the sweets of life.

Hari besides the maya sakti has a power called

the chit sakti or the svarupa sakti. This power

has three aspects sandhini, samvit and hatddini. By

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SRi CHAITANYA’

the use of these qualities the Lord sports’ and enjoys

his and other being’s pleasures. He sports with his

suddha (pure body) sattva.

The jivas (souls) attain their union but not unity

with the Lord through prema bhakti. The love of

God, prema, is not lust, kama. Lust or kdma seeks its

satisfaction. Prema seeks the Lord’s satisfac-

tion. The relation between the individual soul

and the Lord is described as the relation between the

sparks and the fire. The Love of the Lord is regarded

as an end in itself. It is called the supreme human

ideal. The various powers of the Lord are unthink-

able. The Lord does not in his substantial aspect

undergo any transformation. His powers undergo a

good deal of transformations. It is a sort of sakti

parindma vada.

Chaitanya’s system does not give us a logical ac-

count of the relation between Brahman and the soul.

It merely describes it as the incomprehensible relation

of difference and identity (acintya-bhedabheda).

Chapter X

THE PHILOSOPHY OF 6AIVA SIDDHANTA

The theistic interpretation of Vedanta has taken

on two forms. The schools of philosophy that have

followed Ramanuja have regarded Visnu or Lord

Narayana as the ultimate Reality. We, have examples

of this in the schools of Madhva, Vallabha and

Chaitanya.

The theistic Vedanta has taken on a second

form in South India called SaivarSiddhdnta. This

system along with other types of saivism looks

upon Siva as the ultimate Reality. They call their

ultimate Reality as Rudra, Siva, Sankara, Mahadeva,

Hara, isvara etc. Saivism has. taken on three forms.

(1) The Saiva-siddhanta of South India. (2) The

rigorous type of Saivism called Virasaivism found in

North Karnataka and Mysore (3) The Pratyabhij-ha

school of_$aivism p revalen t i n Kashmi r. This school

has great affinities with the Advaita of Sankar a. The

first two schools are pluralistic, realistic and theistic

in their outlook and identify the supreme Reality

with Siva. '

The Saiva-siddhanta is the popular religion in

the South. It is a form of personalistic theism that

makes devotion to the Lord the supreme means to

attain Him. The grace of the Lord is essential for

moksha. The system has given rise to an excellent body

of devotional literature in Tamil, the regional lan-

guage of South India. It is poetry, mysticism and

religion combined into a unity.

Unlike the theistic schools of Vedanta that look

upon Ndrtiyana as ultimate Reality, this school has

for its basic texts not the Upanisads or the Gita but

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SAT//A SIDDHAN^A

the mystical writings of the great Saiva saints. Tra-

dition enumerates the names of 63 saints. They

are called nayanars or a4iyars i. e. the servants of

God. The out-pourings of these God-intoxicated

saints is the chief prarrmna for south Indian Saivism.

These saints correspond to the Alvars of the Ramanu-

ja’s school. They were from all communities. Reli-

gion was not confined to those who knew only Sans-

krit. The language of the masses became the lan-

guage of religion. Of ' these saints five are very

prominent. The earliest of them is one Tirumular,

and his work Tirumandiram is the great classic of

Saivaite mysticism. In a celebrated verse he has

declared the identity of love and God after the manner

of St. John. “God is love, and whoso loveth not, the

same knoweth not God. ” He writes “ignorant people

distinguish between God and Love and wisdom lies

in identifying the two (Siva and anbu).

There are four other saints who have written

two collections of hymns. The Tevaram is the collec-

tion of hymns of Appar } gambandar and Sundara -

murti. The Tiruveicakam is the work of Manikka

Vacakar. The last mentioned work is the treasure

house of devotional poetry, giving out the yearnings

of the human soul and its relation to the Lord. He

declares that surrender to the Lord is the process of

regeneration; “the days of unsurrendered existence

are as good as being unborn. ” St. Augustine declared:

“If I am not in thee, I am not all. ” St. Paul adds

“Whether we live or whether we die, we are in the

Lord. ”

Besides these mystical writings, the philosophical

basis in a systematic manner is developed in the

writings of Meyan< Jadeva, Arulnandi-Sivacarya and

178 '' INTRODUCTION TO VEDANTA

Umapati. The basic literature consists of the 12 sutras

in Meykanda’s work Siva-jndna-bodham. Other works

of importance are Siva j-hana-siddhiyar (a detailed

systematic treatise) and Sivc^-prakdiam. Independent

treatises in English are mostly the doctorate theses on

the systems. We have excellent accounts of the

system in the articles on the system by Prof. S.

Suryanarayana Sastri and Dr. T. M. P. Mahadevan.

There are three important philosophical catego-

ries in the system. God (pati) souls (pasu) and the

bondage (pasa). The religious basis of the system is.

completely theistic.

God is the central independent category. He is

no other than Siva. He is superior to the other gods

Vi^ajiu and Brahma. He is also identified with

Rudra. - He is not the indeterminate Absolute of San-

kara. He can be known, for he has infinite auspicious

attributes. He is not completely knowable. His

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