GLIMPSES OF VEDANTA

Jnaana Yogovyavasthita- Are we demons...contd

2009-10-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Jnaana Yogovyavasthita
This is the third quality in the first sloka describing the divine type. Bhagavan Ramanuja defines this as "prakriti viyuktaatma svarupa viveka nishtaa". This means ,firm adherence to the descrimination between the nature of the self(jeeva atma) and Prakriti( matter). This descriminating knowledge removes "dehaatma brama" or the delusion that "i am the body" . This might appear seemingly simple but to really feel that that the self is different from the body is tough in pragmatic sense. The real nature of self is in its being a Sesha to Sriman Naarayana , and in being a jyaana svarupa and ananda svarupa and paratantra. the nature of prakriti is that it is achit and is subservient to Naarayana and a Bogyam to both jeeva and Brahmam. the upanishad statement " Bhokta Bhogyam Preritaaram cha matva.." says Bhokta is jeeva and Bhogyam is prakriti and the agent who enables (Bhokta to enjoy Bhogyam)this is Naarayana. The self wrongly thinks that"i am the body" and feels that it is svatantra (independent). most of us believe that we are bodies and are independent and are controlling matter. This is called dehaatma brama. Only Pandithas or scholars are capable of having this mind set that "I am a soul residing in my body". Adi Shankara paadacharyal defines a pandita(scholar) as " pandaa aatma vishayaa bhuddih yeshaam te" or a person whose intellect is fixed on understanding his self(aatman). The goal of Jnaana yoga is jeeva aatma sakshatkaara and this has to be aided by karma yoga . For Adi Shankara the essense of gita is Jnaana yoga only ,with Bhakti and karma yoga being just just preparatory steps. {Shankara starts the commentary with -idam dvi prakaaram dharma iti nishrreyes prayoojanam.." To shankara , Gita preaches Pravriti and Nivritti as two different paths and Pravriti marga just helps one to prepare for Nrivritti marga . Shankara says in Bhaja Govindam-"sat sanghathve nisangathvam " To Him , only sanyaasa with Jyana yoga that gives the relization that the self is identical with Nirguna Brahmam leads to Moksha or is itself Moksha.
the essense of Gita is very clearly summum bonum and this has to be acheived by Bhakti alone as Per SriMatham. Karma yoga and Jnaana yoga are two limbs of Bhakti. Bhavan Yaamuna muni says "Sva dharma jyaana vairagya saadya bhaktieka gocharah Naarayana param Brahma Gita shastre samirithah" - The essense of gita is attaining the Parabrahmam- Sriman Narayana by Bhakti alone aided by karma and jyana yoga coupled with vairagya.This is how Gita proceedes from Samkya and karma yoga to jyana yoga coupled with Vairagya and towards the end Bhagavan says "Manmanaa Bhava MadBhaktah Madyaaji Maam Namaskuru.." Also the most famous statement" Sarva dharmaan parityajya maam eekam sharanam vraja..." clearly hints that the Lord wanted to prepare Arjun for Bhakti yoga and Prapatthi by introducing its limbs -karma yoga and Jnaana yoga in the beginning.
A person has to start with Samkya (buddhi) that i am the self and simultaneously practise karma yoga with the afore said mind set-"Tannai kandaa paambaii kandaa poolee"-as rightly said by Shri Pillai Lokaachariyar . slowly the yogi draws his senses from the external objects and meditates on his self and attains aatma sakshatkaara. Then he proceeds to meditate on Brahmam as taught in the Brahma vidyas in the upanishads and attains Paramaatma sakshatkaara by the Lords grace.
the state of Buddhi necessary to embark on karma yoga is the samkya yoga which is preached by The Lord in the beginning. There is a Jnaana element in karma yoga and there is karma aspect of Jyaana yoga and hence both are not totally two different paths as advised By Shankara.The Lord himself says this " Sankya yogou Pritag balah pravadanthi na pandithah"- The learned does not consider sankya and karma yoga as two totally different paths , only children of vedanta will say they are different.
Jyayna yoga is the path of sense restraint and just being with and meditating on the self. Karma yoga is feeding the senses as prescribed by Shastras and with a mind set that "I am not the agent" and sacrificing the fruits of actions to the Lord. This doesnt mean Jnayana yogis donot have karmas or need not do any prescribed activities. the Isa upanishad clearly says " Kurvan eveha karmani jijivishet shatam samah evam tvayi, na anyatoo asti na karma lipyate naree" - do your prescribed duties for 100 years (life time) with a detached mind set. this is the only way and by this way the actions will not bind the soul. hence the Jyaana yogi needs to maintain his body and hence will have to do some karmas and therein he needs to be careful not to lose sense control. Hence the Lord advises Arjun to follow Karma yoga first as Karma yoga is better suited to common people.
In todays circumstances, both Jnaana yoga and karma yoga seems very tough for common people to follow. This is the reason Ramanuja did not advocate the path of yoga for us. In kali yuga Sharanaagathi is the only feasible path. But as Ramanuja rightly explains , we can attempt to think that we are not the body -atleast intellectually if not intrinsically.

Are we Demods contd.-chapter 16 gita

2009-08-15T06:17:00.001-07:00

Satva Samshuddih:Purity of mind.

The next guna which Bhagavan attributes to Divine nature is purity of mind. Shri Emperumaanaar explains this as “satvasya anthah karanasya rajah tamobhyaam Asamsprishtvam “. This means that Purity of mind is a state where in the internal organ (manas) is untouched by Rajo guna and Tamo Guna. In Vedanta these Gunas are known as “Adravya” or non substance. Non substance is that which is devoid of any conjunction . Conjunction causes the knowledge of external relation of a substance. There are ten non-substances like sound, taste, touch etc. the three material natures namely Sattva, rajas and tamas also belong to the category of non-substances. When Prakriti is evolved out of “Mahat” these three qualities pervade the Prakriti in varying proportions. The Jeevatma is not conjoined with these gunas in its pristine form but is binded by these gunas because of association with the body.
Ramanuja further explains that Sattva illuminates on account of its pure nature. Purity means that it is bereft of qualities that veil light (knowlwdge) and happiness(Sukha) . Rajo guna induces Passion and Tamas induces ignorance and deceitful acts. Though Sattva nature is good this is not the “Suddha Sattva “ present in Sri Vaikunta and hence within the sphere of Prakriti it may cause bondage to knowledge and happiness. What is important to understand is that these Gunas will be present in each individual and their proportions change from time to time and person to person. No person can have absolutely just one among them without other two. Bhagavan warns Arjun that “Rajastu Phalam Dhukkam “ and “ ajnayanam tamasah phalam” – the fruit of rajas is pain and tamas is ignorance.
Why should we try to reduce tamas and rajas? Bhagavan answers- “satvaat sanjaayathe jnayanam” – only Sattva increases knowledge of the self and as such is useful for liberation. Ramanuja explains that a seer should first subdue rajas and tamas and should try to increase Sattva guna. Then to remove the bondage caused by Sattva he needs to do “Kartrva buddhi “ tyagam and karma phala tyagam. This will ensure that the seer will rise steadfast towards liberation. Since liberation gives greatest sukha-“anandam” we should follow the path as prescribed by Gitaacharyan.
How do we cultivate purity of mind?

The path as prescribed by Ramanuja for developing purity of mind is as follows
1. Viveka- discrimination between right and wrong and following the right
2. Vimokha- resisting sensual pleasures
3. Abhasyam-practice of discliplines like japa, aradhana , temple visit etc.
4. Kriya-performance of five fold duties of life as prescribed.
5. kalyana- practice of right virtues
6. Anavasaadha- freedom from pessimistic view and depression and maintaining a cheerful attitude.
7. Anuddharsa- maintaining calm without yielding excessively to excitement, despair etc.

Thus by practicing these , we can also can develop purity of mind.

Are we demons?

2009-08-08T02:46:00.000-07:00

we always associate demons with some bad creatures, without the least titillation of alluding ourselves, not to mention , our carelessness and indifference in understanding Shastras , or our easy disposition to breach them to suit our own paradigms that are aligned with our ever perfidious goals of sensual pleasures and other mundane objects. Out of the four known Purusharthas, Artha-wealth, has taken a primordial importance today. In Mahabharata itself we find the same sentiment echoed by Arjuna when he says that without Artha , a man cannot meet other ideals. Even Kaama and Dharma require the support of Artha , says Arjun to Dharmaputra. How do we decide what to do and what not to do?
The basis of action is to be decided upon the direction and sanction of our Shastras . Without Shastras any meaningful discussion on the ethics and human conduct would be futile and no common consensus can ever be reached. These Shastras are the commandment of Our Lord and hence they are construed as the most important Pramana-valid source of knowledge in our Hindu Culture.
Bhagavat Shri Ramanuja in his Gita Bhashya , introduces chapter-16 as the chapter that brings to light the importance of observing shastras and says that those who follow Shastras are divine and those who don’t are demons. Some qualities and conduct of the Divine and the Demons are discussed in this chapter. This chapter is not intended just to elicit compunction but to make us probe into our nature and attempt amendments as much as possible.

Some divine qualities as explained by Udayavar.
Abhayam(fearlessness)- Fear is the pain arising from the awareness of the cause which brings pain in the form of either disassociation from the objects of attachments or attachment with the objects of our aversion. The absence of this is fearlessness-taken from Ramanuja Gita bashya.

So how do we develop fearlessness? The Upanishads say”atsah abyangatho bhavati”- as we move closer to the Lord , we become fearless. The first stage is to follow the commandments of him to please him and slowly by his grace , we would become closer to him. We cant reach Him or understand Him with our mind completely. The Upanishads say “ Yatho vaacho nivartante , aprapya manasa saha anandam brahmano vidwan na bibethi kadachana” when our words or mind fail to understand him, on experiencing his bliss as we go near him, we becomes fearless. Also by surrendering ourselves to him and having absolute faith in him, we will become fearless and this is expressed by Krishna –“maa suchah” –do not grieve.
Ramanuja is perfect in his definition and we find him use these words -objects of attachment and objects of aversion that bring about this pain and fear. Attachment not warranted by Shastras and aversion not warranted by Shastras always bring pain. Bhagavan Yamunaacharya says “ astaana sheha karunya dharma adharma diyaakulam….” Misplaced love and merciness leads to a perplexed mind and we will lose sight ot what is to be done and what not. Arjuna was in deep fear before the war due to misplaced attachment. He says “ Gandivam samshrate hastath , tvak chaiva paridahyate….” confirming that his body was trembling with fear and he couldn’t hold the Gandiva Bow. Thus Bhagavan Shri Parthasarathy instigates Partha into Karma yoga asking him to do karma phala tyaga and kartrutva buddhi tyaga to get rid of misplaced affection and slowly attempts to direct him into Bhakti and Sharanaagathi in the end..
The Lord himself promised in his Rama avatar that “Sakrideva prapanyaaya tavaasmiti cha yaachate , Abhayam sarva bhutebyo dadametat vratam mama”- I will destroy fear among all creatures that surrender unto me.
Shri Vednta Desika wrote Abheeti stavam to bring out how Lord Ranganatha and his close proximity destroys all our fears.
Fear is sometimes considered divine. Let’s see how
The Vedas say that out of fear of HIM that earth moves, sun shines etc. this fear should be construed as positive. What is intended is that the Lord has absolute control over Chit(living) and Achit( prakriti). Fear when born out of Hari Bhakti becomes satvic and is not a negative quality as it conveys just Bhakti.. Periya Alzyar –shri Vishnu Chittar was afraid of “kann ecchal “ on Lord’s tirumeni and he composed Tiru Pallandu . Each human being should only fear disobeying the Lord and his commandments. All other fears either arise because of our attachment to fruits of actions or our greed and lust for mundane objects.
Lets see how Thondaradipodi Alzwar overcame fear. In Tirumaalai he says “ Kaavilir pulaanai vaithu, kalithannai kadaka payandu navalitu uzhidariginnom naman thamar thailagal meedu…” By learning to chant the names of the Lord, Alzwar became so fearless that he feels like dancing over the head of Yama kinkaras despite his not being in control of sense organs.
Andal says “Matrainum kaamangal matru”- we need to slowly direct all our desires towards Hari. We need to have faith that he alone is the means and our end and he is the enjoyer of all our sacrifices and hence all our “karma Phalas” should be directed towards him.Once we do that The Lord will grant us fearlessness and we will be at peace. He himself says this”Suhridam sarva bhootaanam gynaatva maam shantim rhicchasi”……to be continued.

Despondency and the Grace of Hari..

2009-05-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

It’s a great wonder that Mahabharata, the nectar composed by the Great Veda Vyasa is available to Mankind. Dharma, Wealth, Pleasure and Liberation are the four main aspirations of man kind which is widely the subject matter of that great epic. All our aspirations fall into them as sub categories. From the time of birth to death every one acts as dictated by Svaratha (personal gain). Bhishma says the same to Dharmapurta that every one is guided by svartha. Even a new born child cries to get food and warmth. This cry doesn’t stop with childhood but continues till death. We all, knowingly or unknowingly, cry for various personal gains as desired by our mind which is under the control of three gunas namely Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Even great sages were often led by Svartha. When Lopamudra demanded ornaments and wealth Sage Agastya had to go begging kings and finally Ilava , gave him what Agastya wanted to gratify his wife. If Agastya can run after money no need to speak about us. Not every one gets the mind set of Shree Nigamantha Mahaa Desikan , who says” Dhananjaya syandhana Bhooshanam Dhanam”-Lord Partha Sarathy who adorned Arjun’s chariot is my sole wealth.
In pursuit of our personal gain, we perform action and in this process we reinforce desire, greed, anger and hatred upon ourselves and on others. The nature of mind is such that it is never satiated with a single goal and makes us wander from one goal to another. “Aaatmaiva hiaatmano bandhuh aatmaiva ripu aatmanah” – Mind when controlled is the friend of man and otherwise can be his sole enemy.
Desire by itself is not wrong. Desire should be directed along dharmic ways for pleasing and attaining Narayana. Shri Aandaal echos the same” Matrainum kaamamgal Maatreloor empaavaai”
Desire to please oneself along dharmic way also can lead to anger etc. the only desire that leads Man to heaven is the desire to please the Lord and his Bhaagavathaas. Even the desire for moksha should not be to simply attain bliss and escape from samsara but to be Sesha to the Lord and render service to please him , for that is the true nature of jiva. So even desire for Moksha is not Svartha but Paramatva preethiyartham. This is the height of selfless action & humility that Shri Vaishnavism- the voice of Vedas, demand from Mankind. It is our duty to see that we become eligible for Vaikunta and be ever engaged in service to the Lord and please him. This service in Vaikunta will not done by us because of our efforts but because of his will. This alone is the highest possible goal – to be used by Him for His own pleasure and experiencing the bliss with him as a Sesha –also called Moksha.

Abraham Maslov came up with a theory that Man always aspires towards different goals starting with physical and ending with self actualization. This was well known by Indian Sages since the Kritha Yuga( the first quarter of time). Like the ghee poured into fire, various pleasures make our cravings bigger. This becomes cyclic & most of us have been cycling like this for time immeasurable. So the pursuit of pleasures not sanctioned by scriptures , gives ,neither peace nor happiness that’s everlasting. Also all pleasures on earth are transitory and the same is true of a beggar and a king. Man cannot be a master of fate because the results of action are controlled by the divine Cosmic being also addressed as Naraayana in the Vedic literature .To make us realize this truth, the all pervading Hari, gives, out of his mercy, despondency to us, lest we would believe in these petty pleasures and would never rise above them. When ever we pursue goals for svartha the Lord mixes pain with results based on our previous karma often to remind us that these pleasures are transient. For a Bhakta like Prahalada there is no pain or despondency and only actions done to please the Lord rise above gain and pain and purifies our mind. Those Bhaktas are above the dualities like pleasure,-pain, gain-loss , heat-cold and are called stitapragnyain Bhagavat Gita. Prahalada says “mitra amitra kuta kutah” – I don’t see any friend or enemy but only the Lord residing in the hearts of all. Shri Krishna also says the same” Vasudevam sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabah” and also “ ….panditah sama dharshinah”. Becoming a Bhakta like Prahalada is impossible for a common man and hence the Lord in Gita states the sharanaagathi marga for ordinary mortals like Arjun.
The latest Global financial Crash is an example that brought many a rich back to the ground. Upanishads say that “Bhooma na alpe sukam asti” – Brahmam is Bhooma( infinite biss) and even the most attainable pleasure on earth is alpe sukam( petty). They also say that the jeevan on attaining infinite bliss with Brahmam gets fully satiated in the same and never craves anything more- “Aanandam Brahmano vidwan na bhibhethi kadachana” . thus the only destination worth pursuing is Shri Vainkunta where our Lord exists in Bhoga vibuthi or most pleasurable state. if this much is clear , we will only have Bhaktas in this universe which is not so . this is because the Lord himself deludes our mind by subjecting it to Material Prakrithi. This is his Lila vibuthi . this doesn’t mean he is biased or putting jeevas to trouble unnecessarily. Vedya Vyasa’s famous Brahma Sutra defends by saying”Vishamya Nairgrinye na” – He is disinterested in jeevas and their actions in general. He ,out of mercy creates a platform in the form of Prakriti for the jeevas to evolve and attempt reaching him. Infact he desires that all jeevas reach him. This Prakriti is a necessary platform for a jeeva since he has vaasanaas because of previous deeds. With such vaasanas even if we gives a ticket to Vaikunta , we are likely to reject it in exchange for a fortune of land, wealth and woman. This is the plight of us-creatures masked by ignorance. This is why the Lord himself out of his grace became the first acharya and preached the path of liberation. He gave the eternal Vedas and Acharyas to guide peope and to break the shackles of Samsara. In the last analysis , what ever he likes is dharma and what ever he dislikes is adharma.The Great Sukha Brahmam says “Krishnam Dharmam Sanatham”. This is how Shastras get their merit and authority in commanding actions. The lord himself says” Shruthir smrithir mamavair aagnya “ and “Aagnya cheedi mama drohi , mat bhaktah api Avaishnavah” – Vedas and smrithis are his commands and he who doesn’t respect them is a traiter and he is not a devotee and cannot be a vaishnavaite.. Also the Lord who is”Nishkalam Nishkriyam Shaantam Niravadyam Niranjanam “ , is the best to give guidance on action since he alone is the master of all-“Bhuta Bavya Bhavan Nathah”, “Buvanasya Goopta” and “Jagannathah”.
Mahabaratha records a scenario wherein Arjun was in despondency because he had to fight his kinsmen and his attachment to them created doubts in his mind about his pursuit of kingdom. Alavandar(Yamunaacharya) gloriously captures this sentiment” Astaana sneha kaarunya dharmaadharma diyaakulam partham prapanna mudrishya shastraavataranam kritam”. Attachment and actions as guided by dharma and niskaamya with the sole reason of pleasing the Lord would ever be dharmic way and Arjun being a warrior had to fight in accordance with his varnashrama dharma as ordained by the lord. Krisha had to shift his goal from Raajyam to Bhagavat Preetiyartham and Moksha and in this process he gifted to mankind the unparalled scripture - Bhagavat Gita.
Arjun tainted by this big grief surrendered to Lord to guide him and the Lord started teaching him tatva , sahdana and purushartham.
Ramanuja Praises the lord - “ Sarveshvareshvarah jagat upa kritimartya aatmanam sarathim partham cha rathinam sarva lokha sakshi kamchakaara”- the Lord of Lords – SriPathi , due of his inmeasurabe mercy ,who is nikila heya pratyaneeka kalyanaanaika tanah , apahatha papma, avaptha samastha kamah and sarva seshi, apart from descending to earth as Krishna and becoming the charioteer of an ordinary mortal like Arjun , did this in front of all the crowd . Even a king would not sit with his beloved servant in front of others whereas the king of universe sits as a charioteer in front of entire humanity …..This is the grace that the Lord shows. Ramanuja also praises Arjun as “Mahamanah” - Arjun , because of his excessive mercy lost the sight of dharma and not because of his low qualities.
The Lord gave Bhagavat gita not to just remove Arjun’s despondency but ours too……..(to be contd..)

AADYHAASA of Shri Adi Shankara Padachariyal

2008-11-15T00:18:00.000-08:00

"Brahma satyam jagat mithya jivoo brahmaiva naa parah iti vedanta dindimahah" is the startling line in sariraka mimamsa adhyasa bhashya of shri Adi shankara Bagavat Padar"Brahmam is the sole reality the world of plurality is false(illusory) and jiva is identical with Brahmam. Adi Shankara a kevaladvaitha has to explain his stance of attributeless Brahmam as the only reality and so he uses Vivartha Vada to solve the contradiction between theory and observation. "Ajaya manoo Bhahudavijayathe tasya Dhirah parijananthi yonimm" as stated in vedas means the unborn takes many births and only learned understand the reason. Shankara says Brahmam is not an object of knowledge for whatever is revealed by knowledge is bound by space and time and has attributes. Brahmam is neither subject nor object of activities like thinking etc. All self consciousness is finally false as Brahmam cannot be grasped by consciousness because Brahmam is not an object of sense perception. because of endless Ignorance{ its not a negative entity like lack of knowledge but false knowledge} the Brahmam appears to an object and falsely identifies itself with Upadis or adjuncts. Maya which makes the one appear many cannot be said to be really related with Brahmam for Brahmam is said to be ever pure at the same time Maya cannot be said to be unreal for it is experienced in our activities. Thus it is "anirvachineeya" or inexplicable . Superimposition requires the pre-existence of a substratum and a superimposing object. Also the knowledge of superimposing object is necessary as in the case of snake-rope. this would make that knowledge real.So what ever we try we cant explain superimposition"vacham agocharam" admits Sri Shankara. For Brahmam to be substratum of apparent superimposition it has to be an object. Brahmam can appear like an object only after superimpostion and stretching this explainition would lead to infinite regress and Adi Shankara uses an analogy to explain why superimposition cannot be logically explained. He says "Bijaankura Nyaya" can explain this. Liberation is only through the Knowledge that Brahmam is the only truth. Even Eshwara is a Brahmam as conditioned with Upadis-Saguna Brahmam{ only Narayana as accepted by Shankara in BRHADAARANYAKA upanishad Bhashya and Geeta Bhashya-"VAASUDEVAAKYAM PARAM BRAHMA ITI NI SHREYAS PRAYOJANAM.."} is a close reading of the truth but the ultimate truth is attributeless Brahmam......................{to be continued..............}

remembering the great C.S.K

2008-08-06T03:07:00.000-07:00

i present here some of my observations and incidents which happened during my Grand Father's{csk} time.
1. one day Mr . Mani , a customer was having a chat with sri C.S.K and in course of discussion Mani was stressing that vibuthi was better for forehead and not nama, Sri csk gave a apt reply in his style that vibuthi being horizontal would make u rotate around this world only and only namam which is straight will take u to vaikundam.
2. after returning from a hotel , sri csk asked us why we had "eccha sooru" as he calls it. we had no reply and he continued..for having "eccha sooru u people paid money too."
3. once while having chat with Dr. Madhavan , C.s.k said "Yama takes life away and you doctors take money also with that....."
4. once i was having a heavy argument ...for name sake{which is called kudrishti and which i am generally gud at} on the topic of karma....sri c.s.k finally ended saying that we have to accept that karma is anadhi and it precedes janma on the strength of texts alone and expatiated vedia texts that speak of the same ..... and also added if u want to argue try reading satha dushini first and learn how to argue.
5. once when i was praising his memory, sri csk replied that apart from patti, every one notices only positives in him and said "if u want to know how bad i am ask patti, she is an expert in that"
6. simply to tease my Gfather i called him and said i am Lingam iyengar and wanted a car repair...he immediately blasted back.."first repair your name then we will see ur car"
7. we used to have a sloka teacher for vishnu sahasranama and tatha came to test him and it was the teachers bad day that he was teaching"padmanabho mara prabhuhu" tatha blasted back at him that "ooye say padmanabah amara prabhuh ...enne vishnu marathikaa prabhu...avan amarargaluku prabhu...ennaaa solitara...."
8. i introduced my school sanskrit teacher who was a gold medalist in sironmani and tatha asked him to explain Desikas sloka in paduka....yaayaayaayaayayaayaaa and my teacher was standing quiet..."tatha replied all ur phd's are not sufficient to understand a single line of vedanta Desika"
after the incident my teacher in school asked me personally"is ur tatha a sanskrit genius" i replied him back ....."not exactly but tatha has great intution and knowledge"
9. damadora Dhishita used to visit us often and on seeing my mantha buddhi he suggested doing saraswathi homam...tahta came to know of this and said " hayagriva stotra is even superior to that and said to dikshitar that ur saraswathi sits like a baby on Lords lap and restated Desika's stotra "
10. once one evening tatha was explaining me the meaning of rudratandava stotra of ravana and rudram and chamakam......i was taken aback and asked him how come u know these things also...he replied" its never bad to know shiva literature as long as one studies it with the thought that Narayana is superior to all"
rest will continue......................

childish metaphysics of vivekananda school of thought

2008-07-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

swami Vishveshwaraananda in his introduction on brahmasutra Shankara Bhashya says that no commentator has done justice to Badaranaya as much as vivekananda school of thought and says dvaitha, vishishtadvaitha and advaitha are phases in psychological development towards mukthi.
Nothing can be more erroneous than this view as dvaitha and advaitha are poles apart at metaphysical levels . Mukthi in advaitha is more of a speculation as the conclusion of Shankara is that" There is none in bondage, none striving for liberation and none liberated".
Ramanuja enquires , what is the nature of liberating knowledge - if it is real than it is different than Brahmam, if its non real, then its object cant be real and hence it will be useless for mukthi, if its "anirvachaniya" then its nothing but refusal to answer this question, for world is "anirvachaniya, maya is anirvachaniya, liberating knowledge is anirvachiniya" means that this dharshana simply indicates truth can never be explained, theorised or pondered upon in which case there was no need to Shankaras Bhashya.
Madvaacharya on the other hand lays less stress on unity between Jiva and Brahmam and Prakriti which may not represent the abedha shruthi part of upanishads.
Without doubt we can say "Apacheda Nyaya doesnt hold in upanishads and Bagavat Ramanuja was right in pointing out "samanvaya" and hence HE ALONE HAS UNIFIED THE TEACHINGS OF UPANISHADS WITH RELENTLESS LOGIC AND METAPHYSICAL PROFUNDITY AT THE SAME TIME BRINGING THEM TO EVERYDAY PRACTICE THROUGH HIS HEART THAT EQUATES ALL AS NARAYANA SESHAAS.
all acharyas of vedanta were no ordinary persons , they had diferent goals in formulating their systems. Shankara was instrunmental in saving Brahmam and vedas from Buddhas and Jainas. Madva in bringing back mayavadas into real world of duality and Ramanuja in giving correct intepretation of vedanta and vedas and establish the easier path of Prapatthi as a means of salvation. metaphysically all acharyas "Shankara, Ramanuja & Madvaacharya " were equally brilliant, only the purpose of dharshanas were different.
these dharshanas are not step by step psychological development but complete in themselves and the best of them is ofcourse Vishisthaadvaitha which unifies advaitha and dvaitha after removing their inconsistenties.
Also in Advaitha which speaks of pure monism every thing is two- two Brahmams- suddha Brahmam and asuddha Brahmam{ishwara}, jeevan mukthi and videha mukthi, apara gnaynam and para gnaynam, savikalpa samadi and nirvikalpa samadhi...etc
Shankara himself known for his mighty intellect says in adhaysa bashya of sariraka bhashya that no matter how much we try, we cant explain the avidya{superimposition} on a logical plane and deem maya neither sat, neither asat, nor a combination of both and hence achintya and anirvachaneeya.
Sri Vedanta Desika has done a soul searching analysis of avidya from all the angles possible and have conclusively established in Satha Dushini that avidya can never be proved by any of the pramanas and hence is a philosophical figment .
so Vishveshwarananda's claim that Advaitha is the end of psychological development is naive, incorrect and childish as by no means can sri matham or dvaitha matham , finally culminate in advaitha {maya vada } .....by no means.

acintya-bedha-abedha darshana of krshna chaitanya mahaprabhu

2008-03-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

bengal vaishnavism is a direct offshoot of chaitanya cult of krishna worship. this school is known as achintya bedha-abedha darshana. the basic tenets of this school is that lord krishna who is superior to narayana, vishnu and others is the supreme entity.
this brahmam has its body as prakriti and jeevatmas who are nothing but the localised consciousness of the same brahmam. this is a sport of brahmam to see itself as different whereas the pure brahmam called krishna is the ultimate reality. "un imaginable difference cum non difference is observed"
if difference cum non difference exist in the same brahmam its tantamount to considering that the brahmam is divided and unified at the same time hence un imaginable.
this is a modified form of bedha-abedha of bhaskara wherein brahmam has a form and it enjoys bliss and plays with itself , deceiving itself. this school presumes that brahmam hides certain portion of itself to itself as a sport as a child hides its hands and watches itself in the mirror. who gets liberation is a big question whether krishna gets liberation or his hidden part differentiated as jeevas?
also this school places puranas above vedas and ithihasas which is generally not the case with the vedantic method of exploration. they reduce vaikunta to a small planet like kailasha and consider golokha vrindavana to be the ultimate summum-bonum, but this school depends heavily on bagavat Ramanujas arguments to counter mayins and mayaa-vadins. if shankara's concept of "anir-vachaneeya" mayaa is not tenable , so is this achintya {bedha-abedha}.
Ramanuja's system of ubaya vedanta strikes a perfect balance between dry logic and emotional bhakti. swaying on either direction leads to imbalance. Ramanuja does not accept achintya as an answer to a question. the answer should be found using pratyaksham, anumanam, sabdam in congruence. this shows the why vishishtadvaitha is considered to be the most dangerous challenge to shankara's advaitha, for this shreematham alone gives a coherent picture of vedanta following the rules of nyaya , tarka and vyakarana at the same time placing importance on devotion thus the end result is the nectar.

the philosophy of lokayats-charvakas

2008-02-14T06:59:00.000-08:00

indian philosophy is mulitifaceted with innumerous philosophical schools like nyaya-vaiseshika, vedanta, jaina, bhuddha, loyakatas, mayins, saktas -tantrics, samkyas, yoga...etc. some think atheism is a dogmatic reaction against theism and atheism{charvakas} are one of the oldest surviving schools along with vedanta and others. when people suspect the very existence of Rama avatar, one may feel that majority of people have already become charvakas and are hindus by name only.
guru Chanakya commenting upon the hypocrisy of people during his time , wrote"anthah shatyah bahir shaivo janamaa madye cha vaishanah" meaning unside they worship shakti, by chant they are shaivas but when they step they behave like vaishnavas so as to get prestige.{vaishnavas were once considered the best of brahmins} . today we have to redefine this. we worship God but we dont believe in him. Among us, people like Karunaanidhi are the worst of charuvakas and they feel as if they are so logical.
the basic tenets of charva philosophy are
there is earth
earth is formed by various elements and those elements combine without any external agency.
consciousness is the result of body and is nothing but a sensation.
there is no god or hell , but only sense perception is true.
inference is valid as long as the sense perception validates it.
its better to commit sin to enjoy , for death destroys everything. so far so good .
But , if only sense perception is true then how come perceptions formed by mathematical reasoning that dont tease any sense be real? if earth can form on itself , why doesnt a dead man suddenly not come back to life by himself ? if consciousness is formed by association of certain elements, then that means the elements had consciousness in potent state and not as what they surmise. also if there is no eshwara then the analysis of cause-effect would lead to an infinite regress . despite their weak logical structure this school has survived and are still influencing the minds of people.
these charvakas are lower than animals since even cows have krishna bhakti and legendary animals like gajendra aspired for moksha. even vaanaras served Sri Rama.
Their logic is miraculously flawed and their behaviour hence. so there is no wonder that karunaanidhi like lower organisms display the best level of ignorance. people following him are the blindest of fools . these human like organisms are called NriPashu(animal in human form).
Also we answer the question ..... Rama built the sethu using Nal and Neel who weren't humans in ordinary sense so the formation now appears as a natural formation. due to time, what remains now is but a faint reflection of the original. Also there is no need of engg degree to construct a bridge .... we ask ...is Nature an engineer to construct universe and life? no charvaka can answer this question.

brahmam as per vedanta

2008-02-12T05:18:00.000-08:00

all the systems of vedanta address these issues: tatva, hita, purushartha. they differ in the way they define them. tatva is accepted by all the schools as brahmam. advaitha says brahmam is undifferentiated pure consciousness and it cannot be defined by attributes. it is nir-vishesha. the Shruthi says "neti neti" and sri sankara intreprets it as sublation of all the qualities and reducing it to an undifferentiated consciousness. Ramanuja uses "aparkta siddhi" and says that non differentiated substance cant be inferred or perceived and thus says that brahmam is a unified congloromerate of all the auspicious qualities.
So vishishtadvaitha treats brahmam as an omni-potent eshwara i.e Narayana who has svabhava and svarupa and who is of the substratum of suddha satva . suddha satva is one of the "dravyas" which gives rise to "Dharma bhuta gnayna" or attributive consciousness . this consciousness reveals other objects and through "dharmi gnayna" brahmam realises and revels in its own bliss. Brahmam has its body composed of jeevas and achit and it associates with them in a very complex relationship explained as "samana adikarana" which roughly can be described to a body -soul relationship. dvaitha's brahmam is similar to vishitadvaitha's brahmam but differs in relationship with chit and achit. Desika says in virodha pariha that nature of liberation is such that the attributive consciousness gets merged with that of Narayana but dharmi state remains that gives seshatvam . thus through coordinate predication Ramanuja says brahmam is some thing changeless but exists alone qualified by manifold attributes and subordinates like achit and jeevas.

Madva says that there is complete difference between brahmam and jeevas and no union ir co-existence is possible.

Nimbarka says that both manifoldness and unity co-exist in brahmam."ajayamanah bhaudavi jayathe" of vedas says that the changless -beginningless brahmam grows into manifold .

vallabha opies that brahmam alone is the tatva and jeeva and achit are self modifications done by brahmam on itself as a sport.

but Ramanuja-Desika's system seems best to give a single coherent picture of bheda shuritis and abedha shruthis.

suddadvaitha dharshana

2008-02-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

among bhakti schools of vedanta, some schools are more intution based and care less for metaphysics and logic. this darshana of shri Vallabhacharya is a darshana in which the thatva is radha krishna and he is the only reality. " ekam sat viprah bhahudah vadhanti" is quoted by vallabacharya to support that vedas teach of a qualified brahmam called krishna and krishna is seen as many{bhaduhah vadhanti}. krishna leela consists of modifying his body. "satyam gnyanam anantham brahma" this brahmam hides the qualities namely anantham and chith in its body and thus its portion of body that is affected developes localised consciousness called jeevatma that is nothing but brahmam itself . marga is bhakti towards krishna and moksha is in communion with Krishna. the shruthi declares that Brahmam is "paramkamaat" meaning fully satisfied in its own bliss. there are serious questions that are to be answered as to how does the brahmam which is ever perfect suddenly makes its portion of body imperfect? even if it does what is the purpose? to decieve itself that its imperfect? .
this suddhadvaitha is a modified form of advaitha where in ignorance is substituted by volition there by bringing "parinamavadha" . if brahmam cannot be deluded by maya then it should not be deluded by itseif also. this delution seems dangerous as to what if it hides all its qualities and forgets that it is Brahmam? also if brahmam is having a body, then is the body same as that of brahmam or different? if brahmam and its body are same then deluding its body would lead to perdition. if its different then pure monism wont result. this is the problem all the extentions of advaitha face i.e to explain the manifoldness. Ignorance or leela cannot account for a single entity to appear as many. also bhakthi is always meant as pure devotion. and devotion implies difference between experiencer and experienced so on no grounds this metaphysics would stand.

Buddhism vs Vedanta

2008-01-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

today it has become a fashion to call buddhists as rational and great people as if vedanta is irrational. the buddhists believe only in Pratyaksha &ANUMANA, while vedanta believes in PRATYAKSHAM ,PRAMEYA, ANUMANA, SABDA, ETC. Buddha taught that one should believe only ones perception through rational thinking. through rational thinking he came to a bizzare conclusion that neither god or soul exists and everything is momentary sensation and the truth is the untruth of these. Bhagavan Ramanuja reasons out that even to form a molecule , real atoms should exist an should combine , which requires that they be real and not momentary. Quantum physicists may say that every thing is in a state of flux and what we observe is due to the convergence of a probability equation which supports buddistic view . But if such is the case one must also explain where is the locus of energy and where are those probability rules hanging. if one says that energy changes itself as per the probabilistic law of nature to form compounds , then energy should be real . but buddhists would say energy is false and they can never explain the locus of the source of all these so called sunya. Vedanta Desika would have probably replied to the physicist that it might be that probalities decide shape and structure and apperance but this just proves pratyaksham is not absolute { because of improper prameya} but fallacious and here buddhism would tear off. So its better to believe in sabda than pratyaksham for pratyaksham may be fallacious due to tarka dosha, indriya dhosha, kala dosha etc. vedanta gives high importance to this pramana but also recognises its defects . he definitely would not have agreed that probabilities shape things , stating that its cause is still not represented and only the method is represented and its an incomplete darshana.
the concept of nirvana leading to sunya is not only suicidal for life but also for its own philosophy .
sunyatha cannot explain why there is dhuka, moha, karma , etc as cited by buddhists . to paraphrase Vedanta Desika from his Shata Dushini, "if there is nothing to see and nothing is the truth why ponder to make a philosophical speculation."
Adi shankara built a rock solid theory of an ignorant Brahmam which is the ultimate reality. this brahmam cannot be disproved for it has no features and similar to shunya which just exists and cannot be proved for there is none apart from it to have the proof . Shankara probably intrepreted vedanta in this manner to shut the mouth of buddists , who eventually lost and ran outside india.

RAMESH MAMA 'S INTRO ABOUT ADIYEN

2007-12-27T01:31:00.000-08:00

dear all, i request all of you to visit THIS BLOG which is a BLOG created by my beloved nephew Vinodh !he is the eldest son of my sister Usha. after completing his B.E from Annamalai university he went on to do dual M.B.A [Finance & Marketing] from ICFAI, Hyd after which he joined IFFCO TOKYO ! he served them for a year at Hyderabad and since last 3 months he is working with ACCENTURE TECHNOLOGIES at Pune in their R & D department doing research work for them ! he is an avid Carnatic music listener, learner & very good performer ! though he learnt basics of Carnatic music a good 10 years back as a Voilin student, he has grasped the nuances of the same by virtue of constant listening to CDs & Cassettes of all time greats like Madurai Mani Iyer, Semmangudi Iyervaal, and living legends like Seshu not to leave behind rising stars Sanjay & the likes ! Vinodh is blessed with a wonderful memory power - he is EKA SANTAH GRAHI [i have borrowed his own phase which he has aptly used while describing his legendary paternal Pitahmah late Shri.C.S.Krishnamoorthy] !as many of you know, he had the great opurtunity and was privileged to interact with Shri.CSK [who was a great scholar, staunch Acharya Bhaktha, orator & known for his superb interpretation of ever great epics Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Vedas & Puranas!] & he spent quality time with his Maternal Pithamah late Shri.K.Govindaseshan [Adiyen's beloved father] who lived like a Saint, a true, devoted and steadfast Acharya baktha and who "walked his talk" - the blessings of these two great Souls coupled with Blessings of the Divine Couple has been instrumental in Vinodh's achievements thus far ! i had the pleasure of listening to his lovely Carnatic rendition quite a few times [i enjoyed his songs though i am a gnana soonyam in carnatic music] & also heard his rendevouz on some of the great topics like Acharya bakthi etc..you can contact Vinodh at vinodh.sundar@gmail.com [+919823996898]and share your thoughts, advise and also please shower your kind blessings on him. with kind regards & best wishesg.ramesh

prama & brama as propounded by vedanta desika

2007-12-17T07:17:00.000-08:00

following bagavan shri Ramanuja, the giant logician shri venketesha explains the valid knowledge{PRAMA} , the cause {prameya} , and the difference between Brama or illusion and prama , using the central theme of vishistadvaitha called {APRTHAKSIDDHI OR INSEPARABLE DISTINGUISHED WHOLE} .
The ultimate reality as propounded by vedas- Shriman Narayana is the absolute reality , he is sarva lokha sharanya , param dhaman, paramatma, etc. the absolute reality allows differentiation through its modes {PRAKARAS} without undergoing any fundemental change in itself as a whole. the CHIT{JEEVAN} AND ACHIT{PRAKRITI} are its modes of expression .
together all the afore mentioned three form an inseperable yet differentiated whole. lets take an example of a mango fruit. its various elements are flesh, peel, colour, taste, smell, size, shape etc. out of all these elements the fundemental element is the main gene of the mango , called VISHESHYA and others become attributive elements called VISHESHANAS. the attributive elements qualify the flesh as mango. these elements are different from each other and from the flesh yet together they form a synthetic whole. the colour, taste smell , size may vary but in accordance with the fundemental gene and yet remain one as mango. similarly ishwara the substantiative one drives the attributive elements {chit and achit} and to gether they form a unified reality.
vedanta Desika says, prama should satisfy two conditions . it should reveal the existence of an object which should be practical. PRAMEYAM is the distinctive cause of prama in sofar as knowledge arises through its agency without delay. Desika admits there are three methods of knowing namely, pratyaksham, anumanam, sabdam meaning perception, inference and scriptual testimony. regarding the two kinds of perception refer to my previous article on savikalpa and nirvikalpa . Desika further continues that , the act of cognition involves the knowing subject, the knowable object different from the subject and the consciousness. perception is always of an object marked by some qualities . this perception leads to jnana which is ajada and in its expanded state during moksha its called dharmabhutajnana or attributive consciousness whose nature is to reveal the relationship of the self as an attribute of the supreme Hari.
the doctorine of illusion is not admitted by Ramanujas school of thought and its countered by the brilliant logic of "SATKYAATHI". Ramanuja says even illusion is a partial knowledge about an onject because of our defective consciousness in samsara. all the objects are formed by the vedic doctorine of PANCHIKARANA , according to which each of the five main elements of fire, air, akasha, water ,earth is a compound of 1/8 th part of the other four and half of its pure form. so during illusion the insignificant elements of a substance are revealed which may not serve any practical purpose and hence called BRAMA instead of PRAMA.
take any illusion like mirrage in desert , even science agrees that desert sand has little composition of water though insignificant for practical purposes. but if it is revealed disproportionately due to our defective consciousness only partial reality of the desert is perceived and the whole perception may be called distorted but not unreal , for it reveals partial information about the desert - that sand is present , heat is present but water alone is amplified. thus brama is not revelation of an non existing substance but partial and distorted revelation of an existing object .
the kind of logic applied by Ramanuja and Vedanta Desika is beyond any words i can use to express. In depth of thinking, adherence to relentless principles of logic , in exemplication and in darshana Ramanuja & Vedanta Desika go beyond what we call excellence. let us pray to lord venketesha and acharya vedanta Desika so that we realise our dharmabhutajnana .

who is the doer? and which is better karma yoga or samkya yoga?

2007-12-17T02:27:00.000-08:00

In general sense we all know about what ego is. it is the feeling of i as different from rest. this i called ego makes one think that the action is performed by him. also the law of karma says because of our action we get the respective results. but is it really we who act?
bhagavan says in geeta to arjuna that "prakrirther kriya manani gunaih karmani sarvashah ahamkaraa vimoodatmah karta aham iti manyate" meaning , those actions that are performed by the three gunas that are ingredients of this prakriti , are imagined by the foolish atman loaded with ego as performed by himself. in reality the jeevan has no power over prakriti. the prakriti is controlled by rta or cosmic order . " tvam eva pratyaksham brahma vadishyami, rtam vadishyami" . the prakriti has three gunas satva, rajo and tamas . this jeevan that wrongly thinks it is the body is controlled by the gunas of prakriti and hence its action.
Bhagavan continues with the statement " Bhoktaram yagnatapasam sarvalokha maheshwaram, suhrudam sarva boothanam gynatva maam shantim ichhati" the lord krishna is the sole enjoyer of all the sacrifices and actions. also he is the primodial cause of all activities--" eshwaraa parama krishna sachidananda vigrah anadi adirah govindah sarva karana karanam" --mentioned in brahma samhita.
the atma , because of karma gets associated with prakriti and is controlled by the gunas. hence its action is not by its free will but because of the nature of its gunas it is controlled by. but the atma because of grace of the lord alone, can break from this bondage by bhakti and prappati.
this does not give us freedom to commit violence thinking, "i am not the cause of action" because, till our ahamkara is caught with samsara and we feel that we are our body , all the merits and demerits of action will cling to us. " ayuktha kamaa karena karma phale ni-bhadyate"
the person who has not realised his self as a sesha to narayana ,will, because of affection by the results of activies, get attached to the results and again become controlled by tri-gunas. the path of karma yoga is to slowly detach oneself from the results of activities. thus karma leading to gnyana and further to bhakti is the right path. " sanyaasam cha yogam cha ni shreya sakara ubhauv , tayostu karma sanyaasat karmayogou vishishyate" --- of both karma yoga and samkya , both are fruitful but of the two karma yoga is superior and easier.
also as said by yagnavalka maharishi" kayaane vachaa manasah indriyerva budhytmana va: prakritersvabavath, karomi yadyat sakalam parasmi narayanaayethi samarpayaami" with my body, speech , mind and buddhi and other organs , conditioned by prakriti, whatever actiion i perform i do it for the sake of narayana and let the results be for him alone.

savikalpa and nirvikalpa demystified by yathiraja

2007-12-13T03:44:00.000-08:00

savikalpa and nirvikalpa roughly means determinate and non determinate perception. mayaa vadins opine that in savikalpa perception subject object difference is perceived, in other words object is viewed as distinct from the perceiver. in nirvikalpa there is no subject or object as distinct but merged i.e the subject and object become one and perception is of an unqualified entity.
Ramanuja gives a better explanation grounded with logic and veritable principles of cognition. he says savikalpa is formed when you see an object whose prototype is already known . when we see cows of different colours we recognise them deterministically by comparing the memory of cow prototype and the present cow. In nirvikalpa , the object is seen for the first time so it is not cognized as some thing already known but as a new (non deterministic entity). suppose we see a a green animal with three heads and two tails, we dont cognize it but form a new perception called as nirvikalpa . this is accepted even by neoro science today. also ramanuja further opines that , perception can reveal only objects marked by difference. when we perceive some object we perceive it as something unique and different from rest. cognitive science agrees with the view that unless there is any difference between the environment and the object, the object can never be perceived by brain. also perception can never reveal an object without any attributes , for such an object can neither be proved to exist nor can be logically inferred.
Ramanuja further continues that a word that has a root and ending and is made up of different syllables can only point at a differentiated entity { meaning that if the entity has no attributes then no syllable is needed to describe it, for syllables point at some attribute or quality or a mixture} eg: {this is adiyens commentary-take amma or appa or any word the syllables a and ma shows a differentiated entity called mother and all words behave the same way. take the word unqualified and non differentiated , they are self destructive like the phrase -living corpse . they suffer from the same dosha .so the word "unqualified" has to point to an entity that is different from qualified entities and hence qualifies the object with the attribute "unqualified" and hence self destructive & non differentiated has to point to an object that is different from differentiated one and in both cases presence of another object different from the one implied by the words is proved and hence self destructive phrases} some may find it tough to comprehend this for it requires a knowledge on nyaya and tarkam to understand the significance of the afore said.
sentences made up of different words cannot describe a arrtibuteless object for the afore said reason. thus either by speech, words or inferrence only qualified objects can be perceived.
In short words with differentiated syllables & ,sentences with differentiated words cannot convey an idea of attributeless non-difference.
the method of deploying logic is mind bogling and the argument is presented to perfection with his unmatched dharshana in vedartha samgraha. the only other logician who can match this style is Vedanta Desika. Desika goes a step forward in satha dushini logically drawing out the prequisites for perception. he says the very need for perception arises because of difference. if there is a non differentiated un qualified object , what is the need for perception and who is the perceiver? what does that perceiver perceive? . why there is need to perceive a non diff -unqualified entity ? so desikan says the need for perception is to get cognizance on an object with attributes. desikan refutes the mayavadins view -that non difference is perceived .

the principle of samanaadikaranya of bhagavan sri yatiraja

2007-11-24T06:06:00.000-08:00

bhagavan shri bhashyakara , in his famous work vedartha samgraha , enlightens the meaning of the famous words " tath tvam asi" using unprecendented logic called samana adikaranya meaning coordinate predication. this principle can be explained with a simple example.
the mayavadin points out that in the cognition such as a purple rope, red rope etc, the rope alone is real and color is unreal. Ramanuja says that in explaning the term a purple or red rope the relationship between color and substance is {aprtak siddhi meaning inseparable} yet different. he says reduction or nullifying the attributes of a substance doesnt yield the nature of real substance. the substance has to be understood as a whole including attributes and the relationship between them. this is called as samana adikarnya. it necessitates that the attributes are different from each other and from the substance yet inseperable. like the purple and long lope, the color and size are different from eachother and from the rope but are inseperable.
the same way he explains the passage "tath tvam asi" meaning the Brahmam is the bastion where jeevatmas reside and they are his modes , inseparable yet different and this forms a whole {brahmam} but qualified by different atributes and expressions like prakriti , jeevatmas and his vishesha attributes like satyam jnayam, anantham, anandam, salubyam, aishwaryam etc.
from logical point of view , Ramanuja's use of samanadikaryna surpasses all the levels of excellence for it give a unitary view of upanishads and solves the conflict between passages conveying bedha and those conveying abedha.

A TRIBUTE TO SRI GOVINDA SESHAN{MATERNAL PITHAMAH}

2007-11-21T03:37:00.000-08:00

SHRI GOVINDA SESHAN , ADIYENS MATERNAL PITHAMAH, WAS A SIMPLE MAN WHO LAID EMPHASIS ON KARMA AND DISCIPLINE. RETIRED AFTER BEING A DEPUTY COLLECTOR AND LATER AS MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TAMCOF AND AAVIN, HE WAS A STERN DISCIPLINARIAN WHO WANTED PERFECTION IN ACTION. HE WAS A TIVRA ACHARYA BAKTHA AND SHOWED US IN ACTION THAT ACHARYA BHAKTI IS INDISPENSABLE FOR A MUMUKSHU. HE WAS A MUMUKSHU HIMSELF AND WAS ABLE TO TIME HIS DEATH INTUITIVELY AND WROTE A DOCUMENT OF THE KARMAS TO BE DONE AFTER HIS DEMISE. HIS STRESS ON DISCIPLINE AND HIS IRON LIKE CHARACTER TO STICK WITH HIS IDEALS , MADE HIM NEGLECT HIS HEALTH . HE USED TO DO MANASIKHA ARADHANA WHEN BODY WOULDN'T PERMIT HIM TO DO. HE BELIEVED TRUE TO HIS NAME THAT HE WAS A SESHA TO LAKSHMI NARAYANA AND WAS ALWAYS THINKING OF PARAMAPADAM AND PARAVASUDEVA DURING HIS LAST DAYS.
THE GREATEST LEGACY HE HAS LEFT US IS HIS BOOK OF LIFE ITSELF. FOR HIS ACTION SPEAKS GREATER THAN ANY WORDS.

A TRIBUTE TO SRI C.S KRISHNAMURTHY{ MY PATERNAL GRAND FATHER}

2007-11-21T02:40:00.000-08:00

SHRI C.S KRISHNAMURTHY , ADIYENS GRAND FATHER , AN EMMINENT SCHOLAR OF SANSKRIT , A TIVRA DESIKA FOLLOWER AND A BRILLIANT ORATOR , WAS INSTRUNMENTAL IN IMPARTING BRAHMA VIDYA TO OUR FAMILY MEMBERS . I GOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND A CONSIDERABLE PORTION OF MY TIME WITH HIM, WHICH HAS MADE ME EMBARK ON THE STUDY OF VISHISHTADVAITHA PHILOSOPHY.
SHRI C.S . KRISHNA MURTHY WAS WELL VERSED IN SHASTRAS, SMRITIS, SHRUTHIS , RAMAYANA , MAHABARATHA, BAGAVATHAM AND OTHER PURANAS, DESIKAN GRANTHAS AND DIVYA PRABANDAMS. HE DID RAMAYANA PARAYANA AROUND 50 TIMES IN HIS LIFE TIME.
HE WAS ALSO WELL READ IN SANKARA'S WORKS, WORKS OF KALIDASA, BATRUHARI AND LILASUKHA. HE STRESSED THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE AND A DEEP STUDY AND CONSIDERED KARMA WITHOUT JNAYNA AS A WASTE.
HE WAS A CLOSE WITH ANDAVAN AND ATTENDED SEVERAL OF HIS LECTURES. HE WAS KNOWN AS GITACHARI IN ASHRAM FOR HIS EXTRAORDINARY ABILITY TO NARRATE GITA. HE WAS INVITED BY GIANTS LIKE SREEVATSANGHACHARIAR FOR LECTURES ON A HIGHLY DIFFICULT WORK CALLED SHREE BASHAYA.
HIS TENURE WITH RAMAKRISHNA MISSION AS A PROFFESSOR GAVE HIM A NICKNAME -CSK AS HE WAS FONDLY KNOWN AMONG HIS STUDENTS.
HE WAS "EKA SANTAH GRAHI" AND HAD THE MEMORY OF AN ELEPHANT.
PHILOSOPHY APART, HE WAS A CRITIC OF HIGHEST ABILITY AND NEVER SPARED AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS HIS VIEW.
THE GREATEST LEGACY HE LEFT FOR US IS THE INTEREST IN PHILOSOPHY AND TRADITION AND A DESIRE FOR THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE.

vedanta desikan refutes advaita in sata dushini

2007-11-20T03:31:00.000-08:00

the lion among philosophers , shri desika has written innumerable works , poems, dramas in sanskrit tamil and prakrit and manipravala. his sata dushani is a highly philosophical work that refutes various forms of advaita and dwaita. desikan's logic and his darshana- style of presentation is unmatched till date . while bagavan ramanuja was the best at convincing through refutation, Desikan used to kill others in arguments that they either ran away or kept away or ofcourse got converted . sata dushini is soo powerful that even the first vadhaa is enough to send a shiver in the spine for a mayaavadin.
in first vadhaa, venketesha qualifies mayavadin as incompetent to speak about vedanta as there is nothing to see{ as per vedanta badrayanaa sutra} , for a form less , atributeless , undifferentiated entity cant be cognized or pondered over. there is no one to see , for its the only truth . when there is no one to see and nothing to see, why discuss vedanta? thus Desikan makes his nail marks even in first vadhaa and it continues till 66 vadhas of refutation of advaita.

bagavat Ramanuja against mayaa vadha

2007-11-19T22:07:00.000-08:00

bhagavat ramanuja's logic and his razor sharp mind is no where better illustrated than in his works- vedartha sangraha and shree bashaya.
the bedha-a bedha mayaavadin shows an example of how brahmam comes out of mayaa with the example of a man being chased by a tiger in his dream, and once he realises its a dream while dreaming itself, that knowledge liberates his fear. Ramanuja tears that argument with a single line - what if he then thinks that that knowledge is also in his dream, so it might be false &he might get the fear back because that knowledge arised out of his dream which is mayaa.
the hypothesis of mayaavadin requires that the mayaa is external to brahmam and trying to confuse it and brahmam realising it , escapes through knowledge, but then mayaa is not external as per mayavadha and mayaa is brahmams own ignorance.
thus Ramanuja explains that by no means can the mayaa be removed without external help for the unqualified, undifferentiated ignorant brahmam of the mayavadin.

the presence of god cannot be disproved

2007-10-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

our philosophy describes brahmam with three main qualities of existence, consciousness and bilss. to disprove brahmam means to disprove existence which is self contradictory for something non existent can be inferred only by an existing object which proves existence and even if existence is construed temporary or momentarily i.e bound to wheels of time then time exists on some permanent existence beyond time. conscious is self luminous but that it gets sublated with death is a weak logic because consciousness has to be disproved before it leaves the body, for one cant show a stone to disprove consciousness no more than one cant show night and justify the non existence of sun. in vedic philosophy the jiva means soul not the body . none can disprove brahmam because brahmam is one defined as that which is not perceived by sense organs, that which cant be deduced by logic and reason , for logic and reason is limited but the brahmam is infinite. even atheists agree that they exist, they can never prove they dont exist and this existence (which seems temporary) has to rest on permant existence(brahmam) for even logic says some TEMPORAL thing cannot come from nothing. the upAnishads say " POORNAM ADAH POORNAM IDAH POORNAT POORNAM UDACHAYATE , POORNASYA POORNAM ADAYAH POORNAM EVAVASHISHYATE" THIS BRAHMAM IS COMPLETE (INFINITE) , BRAHMAM AS UNIVERSE IS ALSO COMPLETE, THOUGH UNIVERSE COMES FROM BRAHMAM THE BRAHMAM STILL REMAINS COMPLETE .
also energy is neither created nor destroyed and this energy is what philosophy calls as god.

THE ADVAITIN SCHOOL OF THOUGHT -a brief summary

2007-10-10T03:20:00.000-07:00

THE ADVAITINS ALSO REFERRED TO AS VIVARTHA (MAYA) VADAS, BELIEVE THAT THE JNANA KANDA OF VEDAS ARE SUPERIOR TO KARMA KANDAS. THEY BELIEVE ALL OF UPANISHADS SPEAK ABOUT AN ATTRIBUTELESS(NIR VISHESHA) BRAHMAM, WHICH IS THE SUBJECT, WHICH IS SAT, CHIT AND ANANDAM ITSELF,WHICH IS UNDIFFERENTIATED CONSCIOUSNESS. THERE IS NOTHING APART FROM THIS BRAHMAM, AND THE WORLD AND ALL THE OBJECTS ARE DUE TO UPADHIS THAT GETS SUPERIMPOSED ON THE BRAHMAM WHICH IS CALLED AVIDHYA. THIS IS DUE TO A FORCE CALLED MAYA ( ANIRVACHANIYA) WHICH HAS THREE QUALITIES SATTVA, RAJAS AND TAMAS. THIS MAYA IS UNDEFINIBLE ELEMENT AND ANY DEFINITION RUINS THE CORE OF ADVAITHA. SAMKARA SAYS"BRAHMAM SATYAM JAGAT MITYA" - ONLY BRAHMAM IS TRUE AND ALL THE UNIVERSE WITH DIVERSE OBJECTS INCLUDING ISHVARA OR GODS ARE FALSE. SAMKARA OPINES THAT BRAHMAM DUE TO MAYA GETS AVIDYA AND UNDERGOES MODIFICATION(APPARENT) WHICH IS UNREAL(VIVARTHA). THUS THE ONE UNDIFFERENTIATED NIRVISHESHA BRAHMAM IMAGINES TO BECOME JIVAS AND MATTER . REALITY IS IN REALISING THE IDENTITY WITH BRAHMAM WHICH IS MOKSHA. EVEN ISHWARA IS LOWER TO BRAHMAM AND SOULS GOING TO HEAVENS OR BRAHMALOKHA FINALLY ATTAIN BRAHMAM AFTER DISSOLUTION. ISHVARA IS PARAMATMA BUT PARABRAHMAM WHICH IS DEVOID WHICH IS EXISTENCE ITSELF IS THE ULTIMATE REALITY. ALL SHASTRAS AND VEDAS ONLY HELP IN ATTAINING PARA VIDYA AFTER WHICH NEITHER VEDAS NOR THE WORLD EXISTS.
THE ADVAITINS THUS ESTABLISHED ON FIRM GROUND THE EXISTENCE OF A ATTRIBUTELESS BRAHMAM WHICH CANNOT BE DISPROVED BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING APART FROM IT TO DISPROVE OR VALIDATE.
THIS SCHOOL OF THOUGHT DEMOLISHED BUDDHISTIC AND JAINA PHILOSOPHIES WHICH WERE LOGILICALLY FLAWED. THIS SCHOOL BELIEVES THAT ONLY KNOWLEDGE IS THE ROAD TO SALVATION AND KARMA AND BKHAKTI ONLY LEADS A PERSON ON THE RIGHT PATH BUT ATE NEITHER ESSENTIAL NOR A PREREQUISITE FOR LIBERATION.

HOW TO READ INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

2007-10-04T03:50:00.000-07:00

VEDIC PHILOSOPHY IS MORE VOLUMINOUS THAN ALL THE LITERATURE OF OTHER PHILOSOPHIES PUT TOGETHER, MORE ESOTERIC THAN QUANTUM MECHANICS AND AS OLD AS EARTH. CONSIDERING THE SIZE, MANY AN APPREHENSION WOULD TWART THE EFFORTS OF AN AVERAGE INDIVIDUAL FROM ATTEMPTING A COMPHRENSIVE STUDY. APPROPOS THE TOOLS NEEDED TO COMPHREHEND IT, ONE NEEDS A THROUGH KNOWLEDGE ON SANSKRIT TARKA, MIMANSA, NYAYA , VYAKARNAM , VEDAS, UPANISHADS, BRAHMASUTRAS, SMRITIS, ITIHAS AND PURANAS. VEDAS ARE DIVIDED INTO FOUR MAJOR BRANCHES RIG, YAJUR, SAMAN, ATHARVANA. VEDAS ARE CLASSIFIED INTO SAMHITAS, BRAHMANAS, ARANYAKAS AND UPANISHADS. THESE UPANISHADS ARE 108 IN NUMBER THOUGH ONLY ABOUT 15 OF THEM ARE DEEMED IMPORTANT. THESE UPANISHADS WERE CONSIDERED TOO ESOTERIC AND WERE CONDENSED INTO BRAHMASUTRAS BY BADRAYANA OR VEDA VYASA. THESE BRAHMASURTAS ALSO KNOWN AS VEDANTA REQUIRED AN INTERPRETATIVE TRADITION AND WERE COMMENTED BY VARIOUS SCHOLARS LIKE SHAMKARA, RAMANUJA, MADAVA, NIMBARKA, VALLABA, ..... AND SO ON . APART FROM THESE VEDANTA SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT THERE WERE NYAYA, VAISESIKHA, YOGA, SAMKYA, BUDDHA , JAINA..ETC SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT. BUT VEDANTIC SCHOOLS OVER A PERIOD OF TIME BECAME MORE PROMINENT THAN THE REST. ....MORE TO BE CONTINUED.

FOR A BEGINNER INDIAN PHILOSOPHY BY S. RADHA KRISHNAN IS A GOOD STARTER

NARAYANA THE SUPREME

2007-09-20T23:43:00.000-07:00

AS PER VEDAS AND UPANISHADS THE SUPREME POWER IS PARA BRAHMAN. THE WORD 'BRAH' MEANS TO GIVE FORTH , HENCE THE NAME BRAHMAN. THIS BRAHMAN IS ONE AND ONLY SUPREME AND ALL LIVING BEINGS AND NON LIVING THINGS ARE SUBORDINATE TO IT.
THIS BRAHMAN IS NARAYANA : "NARAYSA AYANAM NARAYANAM" , " SHRUTHI SHIRASI VIDEPTE BRAHMANI SHREENIVASE" . ALL OF VEDAS ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE THE SUPREME & ITS RELATION WITH THIS WORLD AND MORTALS .
THIS BRAHMAM IS ALSO ADDRESSED TO AS PURUSHA . IN PURUSHA SOOKTAM OF RIG VEDA ,WE FIND A DAZZILING DESCRIPTION OF THE PURUSHA IN WHICH IS DESCRIBED THE INNUMERABLE QUALITIES OF MAHA VISHNU .