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Sribhashya of swamy Ramanuja
Introduction
The principles of the philosophy of visishtadvaita are expounded in the interpretation ofthe Brahmasuthra by Ramanuja. His commentary on Brahmasuthra, otherwise known asVedanta suthra, is his monumental work, the Sribhaashya. Ramanuja establishes thetenets of visishtadvaita firmly in Sribhaashya while refuting the views of other schools ofphilosophy effectively.
Ramanuja opens Sribhashya his commentary on the Brahmasuthra with aninvocational verse,
AkhilabhuvanajanmasthembhangaadhileeleVinathavidhithabhootha vratharakshaikadheeksheSruthisirasi Vidheepthe brahmani sreenivaasebhavathu mama parasmin semushee bhakthirupaa'May my intellect,
semushi,
be engrossed in devotion,
bhakthirupa bhavathu
, on LordSrinivasa, the Supreme Brahman, brahmani srinivase, who is shining on the crown ofthe vedas,
sruthisirasi Vidheepthe
, who has vowed to protect all beings who bow downto Him and follow His path
vinathavidhitha bhothavraatha rakshaika dhikshe
, and forwhom the acts like creation sustenance and annihilation are mere sport,
akhilabhuvanajanmasthemabhangaadhileele.'
As in vedharthasangraha here also Ramanuja uses the name Srinivasa as a synonymfor Parabrahman. Srinivasa could be taken to have reference to the Lord of Thirumala,but considering the subject matter dealt with in this work Srinivasa can be construed assriyahnivasah, the abode of Sri, that is Lord Narayana, Paravasudeva, the Brahman ofvisishtadvaita.
Bhavathu mama semushi bhakthirupa
implies that bhakthi is the sole means ofsalvation. Jnana as a result of bhakthi is stressed in visishtadvaita. Srinivasa orBrahman crowns the sruthi, Veda, as its chief import Srutisirasividheepte. Veda is theonly source of knowledge about Brahman and Brahman is the only purport of the Veda.Brahman or Narayana is described as having taken the diksha, vow of protecting Hisbhakthas
, vinatha vidhitha bhoothavraatharakshaikadheekshe.
Bhootha, all beings,who are Vinatha, surrender to Him and vidhitha, follow the path of devotion. May it beman bird or beast, as can be seen in the case of Vibheeshana, Gajendhra and Jatayu?It is His
only vow as Rama says when Vibheeshana surrenders to Him,Sakrdheva prapannaanaam thavaasmi ithi vadhinaam abhayamsarvabhoothaanaam dhadhaami ithi vratham mama
'It is my vow to give protection to all beings whoever surrenders to me saying, "I amyours." ‘As SudharsanaSuri puts it His vow to protect is, to give them Mukthi ultimately.The reason for this vow is denoted by
akhila bhuvanjanmasthemabhangaadhileele
.The creation, janma, the sustenance, sthema and the annihilation, bhanga all are Hisleela, done without effort, and hence He feels responsible for the beings He Himselfcreated when they turn to Him for protection. He not only creates sustains andannihilates but also enters into the beings as their Self. This is implied by aadhi padha,
 
bhangaadhi, and annihilation and so on. The word akhila is used instead of any otherword of the same meaning, like sarva or nikhila because the letter 'a,' akaara denotesauspiciousness and represents the Lord Himself. Khila means sesha, remnant, whileakhila is asesha, all inclusive.
Sribhashya- paadha 1-adhikaraNa-1
 
JijnasaadhikaraNam
 
Suthra-1 ' aTHaatho brahma jijnaasaa’--- 
Then, therefore the inquiry of BrahmanSri Ramanuja starts his SribhAshya with the words
'athra ayam aTHa shabdhah AnanthyaaryE bhavathi.'
Before we examine the meaning of these words we have to understand a little ofthestructure of the vedas, each of which basically consists of two parts.
The purva bhaga
, deals with the Ritualistic portion while
The uttarabhaga
, known as Vedanta consists of upanishads.The interpretation of the ritualistic texts and clarification of the doubts therein is calledPurvamimAmsa or karmamimamsa and it was prepounded by Jaimini in the form ofsuthrasWhile the study of the nature of Brahman and other concepts of Vedanta are calledUttharamimAmsa consisting of the Brahmasuthras of BAdharAyaNa. Brahmasuthrashave been interpreted by Sankara and Madhwa according to their siddhanatha while thacommentary of Ramanuja is based on Bhodhaayana vritthi and is in accordance withVisishtadvata.Now coming to the sentence'
athra ayam aTHa sabdhah AnanthryE bhavathi,'
means that the word
'aTHa'
is used here in the sense of 'then', that is, 'after something.'The cryptic suthra should be understood as follows.Then,
aTHa
-after the study of purvamimamsa, therefore, athah-knowing that the result ofthe rituals done for specific purpose are finite and transitory,inquiry of Brahman,brahmajijnAsA-to be taken up because the knowledge of the real nature of Brahmansecures infinite and eternalresult, that is moksha. So the Ananthrya referred to ihere is after the study ofkarmamimamsa.Then ramanuja explains the word 'athah' thus:
'Atha sabdhah vrtthasyahethubhAve'
Vrttha refers to the meaning of 'aTHA' which is 'then' and the word 'atha' explains thereason for the previous word-meaning. If the aword 'atha' is removed,the suthra wouldmean that the inquiry of Brahman is to be taken then, but it would not justify the action oftaking up the inquiry without the word athah, meaning 'therefore', which implies the needof the knowledge of Brahman because the knowledge rituals alone will not secure therelease from bondage.
 
Ramanuja explains as to why the study of Brahman comes after that of karmakanda ofthe vedas. When the vedas are learned along with their angas, the karmajnana aquiredthereby produces results which areof alpa, trivial and asthira, transitory. So to one who isdesirous ofattaining moksha,
sanjAtha mokshAbhilAshah
, the inquiry of Brahman,brahmajijnAsa,is anantharabhAvinee, subsequent to vedhAdhyayana.Next Ramanuja
analyses the word ' brahmajijnAsA.
' It is jijnAsA, desire to knowBrahman, 'brahmaNah jijnAsA.' he word brahmaNah is in genitive case denotingsambandha, connection or relationship as in
'rAjnah puthrah,'
the son of the king. Buthere the rule
'karmaNi shashati'
is applied and the word brahmaNah is used in thesense of an object. It is because the act of knowing requires an object and by knowingwhat is Brahman includes knowing about Brahman also.
A bhashya must have five requisites,
namely,
PadhacchEdha
, splitting the words like separating the suthra as aTHa, atha, etc.
PadhArthkthivigrahah,
etymological meaning of the words as in brahmNah jijnAsA,
vAkyayojanA,
it must consist of full sentences,
Akshepasya samAdhAnam
, reply to any possible objection and vyAkhyAnam,commentaryon the text.In Sribhashya also we see that according to the abovelakshana Ramanuja presupposesthe possible objection from the opponentand answers them after explaining about theword 'brahma.'
The adjectives anavadhika and asankhyeya
with reference to His wonderful, athisayaand infinite, anantha kalyANa gunagana, auspicious qualities, show that they areinconceivable by vAk and manas. Avadhi is limit and Sankhya is number. His qualitiesare anavadhika, not limitedby words or thiught and asankhyEya , countless, as Desika says in YadhvAbhyudhaya,Ramanuja outlines the basic concept of visishtadvaita by his explanation of the word'brahma.' He says
BrahmasabdhEnacha svabhAvathah nirasthanikhiladhoshah anavadhika athisayaasankhyEya kalyANagunaganah Purushotthamah abhidheeyathE
The word 'brahma' refers to the supreme Purusha
, NArAyaNa
, who is naturally devoidofall defects, (this eliminates other relalised,muktha, everfree, nitya, souls), andpossesses infinite,wonderful, inconceivable auspicious qualities. These words serve todeny the concept ofnirguNabrahman. By this statement he declares without any ambiguity that the wordbrahma is synonymous with NArAyaNa, removing any doubt to the contrary.(devathAntharavyAvrtthyarTHah-Sudarsanasuri)The adjectives anavadhika and asankhyeya with reference to His wonderful, athisayaand infinite, anantha kalyANa gunagana, auspicious qualities, show that they areinconceivable by vAk and manas.
Avadhi is limit and Sankhya is number
. Hisqualities are anavadhika, not limited by words or thought and asankhyEya, countless, asDesika says in YadhvAbhyudhaya, 'yadhEkaikaguNaprAnthE shrAnthAhnigamavandhinah yathAvath VarNanE asya,' the vedas
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