Śrivaişņava and Dvaita Vedānta Polemics and Interpretations of the Rāmāyaņa as a bhakti Text (original) (raw)
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The Soul According to Rāmānuja
Religious Inquiries , 2017
Rāmānuja was the founder of Visistādvaita Vedānta School, which is one of the three main schools of Vedānta. According to Rāmānuja, the soul (cit), Brahman, and matter (acit) constitute the three principal ontological realities. Rāmānuja provides some proofs for the existence of the soul, which are mostly based on self-consciousness. The relationship of the soul with the matter, on one hand, and with that of Brahman, on the other, is similar to that between the body and the soul. Therefore, He is the Soul of souls. Using this idea, Rāmānuja explains God's action, which is the basis of the concept of God's grace and favor within the man. The main traits of the soul according to Rāmānuja are eternity, knowledge, bliss, incomprehensibility, individuation, the distinction from Brahman and other souls, simplicity, and free-will. In its pure state, the soul has these attributes in an unadulterated manner. However, they get contaminated by ignorance and its negative consequences. The emancipation of the soul from samsara depends on the self-recognition and its differentiation from acit or matter.
2022
This article examines the Ś rīvaiṡṅava validation of the doctrine of selfsurrender to the Supreme God Viṡṅu (prapatti). Prapatti is mentioned by Rāmānuja (traditional dates: circa 1017-1137 CE), the most authoritative teacher (ācārya) of the tradition, as an auxiliary to the path of devotion (bhaktiyoga) that he teaches as a means to mokṣa. After the time of Rāmānuja, prapatti was developed as an alternative means. However, the post-Rāmānuja teachers were committed to arguing that Rāmānuja teaches prapatti as an independent means. The article focuses on Vedāntadeśika (traditional dates: circa 1268-1369 CE), the most influential post-Rāmānuja teacher, and his interpretation of Rāmānuja's prapatti as a teaching of soteriological prapatti in Vedāntadeśika's under-researched Nikṣeparakṣā. Vedāntadeśika's interpretation reflects his harmonization of Rāmānuja's ambivalent statements regarding prapatti and synthetization of traditional authorities. This study thus contributes to the understanding of Vedāntadeśika's Nikṣeparakṣā and its development of the doctrine of prapatti and to his critical role in systematizing this doctrine. Keywords Self-surrender (prapatti) • The Nikṣeparakṣā • Vedāntadeśika • Rāmānuja • Śrīvaiṡṅavism • Hinduism The Ś rīvaiṡṅava doctrine of self-surrender to the Supreme God Viṡṅu (prapatti) was laid down by Rāmānuja (traditional dates: circa 1017-1137 CE), the most revered teacher (ācārya) of the tradition, in his Bhagavadgītābhāṣya, which is the commentary on the Bhagavadgītā, and his Sanskrit devotional prose poems, the
Journal of Indian Philosophy, 2011
The Pus : t : ipravāhamaryādābheda (PPM) by Vallabhācārya (1479-1531?) is a brief work (25 verses) written in Sanskrit in about the year 1500, which is accompanied by four Sanskrit commentaries and one Hindi (Brajbhās : a :) commentary. The most important and authoritative commentary is by Purus : ottama, written about two centuries after the original text. The article contains a translation of the PPM with long extracts from the commentaries, particularly the one composed by Purus : ottama. After an introduction placing the PPM's doctrine of the hierarchy of embodied souls (jīvas) and their eligibility to obtain states of devotion (bhakti) in a wider context of Vais : n : ava sectarian and philosophical schools, the text is presented along with the translation and notes to the text (including extracts from the commentaries). The article concludes with reflections on the PPM's doctrine of predestination, comparing it with those of other Indian religious sects and within the wider context of predestination in Western religions, where these discussions have been ongoing for more than 1500 years. An extensive bibliography is included at the end.
Vedāntadeśika's Interpretation of Rāmānuja's Prapatti: A Study based on the Nikṣeparakṣā
MA Thesis, 2016
This MA thesis examines the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition’s validation of the doctrine of surrendering oneself to a Personal God (prapatti). Prapatti was mentioned by Rāmānuja, the tradition’s most authoritative teacher, as an auxiliary to bhaktiyoga that he taught as a means to mokṣa. After the time of Rāmānuja, prapatti was developed as an alternative means. In order to validate the doctrine of prapatti, the post-Rāmānuja teachers were committed to arguing that Rāmānuja taught prapatti as an independent means to mokṣa (aṅgi-prapatti). I focus on Vedāntadeśika, the most famous post-Rāmānuja teacher, and his interpretation of Rāmānuja’s prapatti. I argue that, in his Nikṣeparakṣā, Vedāntadeśika reinterpreted Rāmānuja’s teaching of prapatti as a teaching of aṅgi-prapatti. Vedāntadeśika’s interpretation reflects his harmonization of Rāmānuja’s incoherent statements regarding prapatti and synthesization of both intra- and extra-traditional authorities. This study ultimately shows Vedāntadeśika’s intellectual contribution and the role of his interpretation in the doctrinal validation of aṅgi-prapatti.
According to a consensus amongst early Vedānta traditions, elaborated in commentaries on the Brahmasūtra 4.1.13-19, accumulated karman is destroyed and no further karman accrues after the attainment of knowledge of Brahman. The only exception is that karman which is already beginning to manifest its results (prārabdha-karman), which can only be exhausted through experiencing those results. The late Vaiṣṇava Vedāntins Viṭṭhalanātha (1516–1586) and Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa (ca. 1700–1793), however, insist that there can be no limitations on the absolute will of the Lord, and argue that some devotees can be freed of even prārabdha-karman without experiencing its results by the Lord’s grace. Through clever exegesis, they read this theory into the Brahmasūtra passage in question. This article examines their exegesis and highlights the influence of Viṭṭhalanātha on Baladeva, noting also the seeds of this theory in a poem of Baladeva’s predecessor, Rūpa Gosvāmin.
The path of prapatti or loving self-surrender traces its roots to Vedic texts, and was revealed again in the devotional oupourings of the twelve Alwars in the Tamil Divya-prabandhams. Their successors, Yamuna and Ramanuja gave concise and cryptic definitions of prapatti in writings such as the Stotra-ratna and the Sharanagati-gadya, which laid the foundations of more elaborate and structured commentaries by preceptors such as Vedanta Desika. The aspirant who follows the path of prapatti, known as a prapanna cultivates significant qualities of dependence on God, confessional feelings of helplessness, and a firm conviction that God alone will provide salvation and protection. This in turn affects the ways by which he or she behaves individually or engages with society to share the grace and benevolence of God.
BHAKTI AND PRAPATTI AS A MEANS TO LIBERATION: RAMANUJACHARYA
IAEME PUBLICATION, 2020
According to Ramanuja, the alternate ways of liberation is (Moksha Bhakti (devotion) and Prapatti (wholehearted self-surrender to God). In generally Bhakti means loving devotion towards God. The word Bhakti derived from the root bhaj, which means to share, partake, to enjoy etc., calls for a mutual relationship between the deity and the devotee. For Ramanuja Bhakti involves training one's mind and intellect towards love of God and it is not a mere emotional pursuit. Bhakti implies an unperturbed total concentration on God, and another word we can say that non-stop constant contemplation to God is the very essence of Bhakti. In the case of Bhakti, Ramanuja compares it to the continuous flow of oil poured from one vessel to another. But in another way, if we see, Prapatti is easier than Bhakti, which can be adopted by without any distinctions of caste, one and all, creed or sex, also at any time and place. Hence, all are eligible for Prapatti.