Shri Ramanujacharya: The marvelous miracles of Lord Madhava

Bhagavad Ramanujacharya (rAmAnuja-AcArya, 1017 A.D.-1137 A.D.) was the great proponent of Vishishtadvaita philosophy in the eleventh century. His service to the cause of Vedic sanAtana dharma (eternal religion of the Vedic scriptures) is one of the most unparalleled. He was also a great proponent of the Bhakti movement, and a social reformer par excellence. The tradition propounded by this great Acharya continues to live on today as the Srivaishnava (shrIvaiSNava) tradition, many of whose followers have their roots in South India. Let us prostrate and salute this great savior of the eternal Vedic religion with the following sloka (verse) composed by his direct disciple shrIvatsA"nka (in Tamil: kUrattAlvAn):

yo nityaM acyuta-padAmbuja-yugma-rukma

vyAmohatas tad itarANi tRNAya mene |
asmad guror bhagavato 'sya dayaika-sindhoH

rAmAnujasya caraNau sharaNam prapadye ||

English translation (thanks- http://sriramanujar.tripod.com/):  "I take refuge at the feet of our guru Bhagavaan Ramanuja, that ocean of mercy who, infatuated with the gold-like, lotus feet of the Lord, considered all else as mere blades of grass."

 Ramanujacharya's image in a Temple

Srimad Ramanujacharya has produced a remarkable commentary on the Bhagavad Gita for the benefit of this world. Before him, his grand-guru Yamunacharya (Sanskrit: yAmunAcArya, Tamil: ALavandAr) produced a terse metrical exposition on the essence of the Bhagavad Gita, dedicating one verse to each chapter of the Gita, known as gItArtha sa"ngraH. Sri Vedanta Desika Acharya (a.k.a ve"nkaTanAtha), who lived a little more than a century after Sri Ramanuja, has produced an elaborate sub-commentary known as tAtparya candrika, upholding the spiritual lineage.


We will now look at how the great acharya of the Srivaishnava tradition, Sri Ramanuja, has attested to the Lord's attributes of Transcendence (paratvam), Immanence (antaryAmitvam), and Creator-hood (jagatkAraNatvam) that we saw in the second and the third posts using Sri Ramanujacharya's commentary to the Bhagavad Gita. Thankfully, there is a good English translation of the same available on the web, and I am depending on the same [1]. Elaborating on verse 5 of Chapter 9 in the Gita, Sri Ramanujacharya writes:

"Lord Hari says: 'I do not support the beings as a jug or any kind of vessel supports the water contained in them. How then are the beings contained in Me? By My will. Behold My divine Yoga power, namely, My wonderful divine modes, unique to Me alone and having no comparison elsewhere'. What are these modes? 'I am the upholder of all beings and yet I am not in them --- My will sustains all beings.' The meaning is, 'I am the supporter of all beings, and yet I derive no help for Myself whatever from them. My will alone projects, sustains and controls all beings.' "

(Ramanuja's bhagavad-gItA-bhASya, 9.5)

The Acharya then says that the Lord is now going to give an illustration to show how all beings depend on His will for their being and acts. To the next verse in the Gita, Sri Ramanuja writes:

"The knowers of the Veda declare thus: 'The origin of clouds, the waters of the ocean remaining within bounds, the phases of the moon, the strong movements of the gale, the flash of lightning and the movements of the sun --- all these are marvelous manifestations of the power of Vishnu.' The meaning is that they are all the marvelous miracles which are unique to Vishnu."

(Ramanuja's bhagavad-gItA-bhASya, 9.6)

He proceeds thus in his commentary to the next verse:

"All the mobile and immobile entities enter into the primordial matter owned by Lord Krishna at the end of a cycle, namely at the end of Brahma's life in accordance with the Lord's will." 

(Ramanuja's bhagavad-gItA-bhASya, 9.7)

and then,

"Lord Hari, operating His Prakrti (primordial matter), with its wonderfully variegated potency, develops it eightfold and send forth this fourfold aggregate of beings: the devas, animals, men and inanimate things, time after time." 

(Ramanuja's bhagavad-gItA-bhASya, 9.8)

We turn to the natural question - How does our dear Lord Hari work these great miracles without physical effort? Before we investigate, let us learn a little bit more about Sri Ramanujacharya's glorious school.

The Divya Prabandha (divya prabandha) is an anthology of 4000 devotional hymns on Lord Hari in Tamil, written by South Indian saints known as Azhwars (pronounced as AlvArs in our transliteration scheme). Traditionally, the lifetimes of these saints are said to have spanned several thousand years BC till somewhere around the 7th/8th Centuries AD. The works of these twelve poets, rich in devotion, philosophical depth, and universal brotherhood concepts, are celebrated as "Dravida Vedam (drAviDa vedam)" by great scholars of Sri Ramanujacharya's tradition. This is indeed no exaggeration and hence is not to be taken lightly, as the Divya Prabandha works do indeed get into the depths of the philosophy and theology of the Vedas, albeit in poetic Tamil. However, unlike the Sanskrit Vedas, the Divya Prabandhas do not require very strict regulations on chanting, and in fact, can be learned by anyone irrespective of caste, creed, gender, etc.

 An illustration of the lives of ten of the twelve Azhwars

The very first successors and disciples of Sri Ramanujacharya include the following Acharyas in the following order: (1) Sri Embar (a.k.a. Govinda Bhattar), the cousin of Sri Ramanujacharya; (2) Sri Parasara Bhattar, the disciple of Sri Embar and the son of Sri Kurattalvan; (3) Sri Nanjeeyar, disciple of Sri Bhattar, and (4) Sri Nampillai, disciple of Sri Nanjeeyar. Sri Nampillai wrote a commentary (known as nampiLLai iiDu in Tamil) on "Thiruvaimozhi (tiru-vAy-moli)", a work of Saint Nammalwar that belongs to the Divya Prabandha.

Acharya Nanjeeyar

Sri Nampillai's guru and Sri Parasara Bhattar's disciple, Sri Nanjeeyar, is initially said to have been an advaitin known as mAdhavAcArya, and eventually became the disciple of Sri Parasara Bhattar owing to the latter's brilliant exposition of "Thirunedum-Thandakam" (tiru-neDum-tANDakam) which also belongs to the 4000 Divya Prabandha and is composed by one of the AlvAr saints known as "Thirumangai Azhwar" (tiruma"ngai AlvAr). Thirunedum-Thandakam is a very beautiful composition that combines both "masculine" philosophical exposition and "feminine" devotional adoration in a balanced manner, in one single work. It combines both Vedantic descriptions of Lord Hari as well as the adoration of His form, as he resides in sacred shrines located all over India. In one verse, Saint Tirumangai Azhwar says:

indirarkkum piramaRkkum mudalvan-tannai

irunilamkAl tInIrviN pUtam aintAy,

cen-tiRatta tamizhOsai vaDa-soll-Agit

ticai nAnkumAyt ti"nkaL ~nAyiRAgi,

antarattil-tEvarkkum aRiyal AgA-

andaNanai, andaNar mATTu andi-vaitta-

mandirattai, mandirattAl maRavAdu enRum

vAzhutiyEl vAzhalAm maDa ne~njE!

(Thirunedum-Thandakam 4, Divya Prabandha 2055)

The above verse means: "Hey you foolish mind! If you want to live, live chanting the name of the Lord using the sacred eight-lettered mantra ending with 'namo nArAyaNAya' - the name of the Lord who is (1) The Lord to even great devatas such as the four-faced Brahma and Indra, (2) Who is the inner controller and inner-dweller (antaryAmin) for everything made of the five elements - earth, water, fire, wind, and space, (3) Who pervades all directions, the sun and the moon, (4) Who is very hard to comprehend even for the great devas from Brahma, Indra, etc. (5) Who is praised by the Sanskrit Upanishads and the Tamil Divya Prabandha, (5) Who is the Lord known through the wealth of the learned scholars - the Vedas." Thus, Thirumangai Azhwar is confirming the doctrine of the Lord Narayana being the antaryAmi or the inner-soul and inner-controller of everything in the universe, the Lord of all, and is known through the Vedas and Tamil Divya Prabandha texts.

Since the last post, we have discussed about the marvelous miracles of Lord Madhava (another name of the Supreme Lord Hari).With His unlimited unfathomable power, He creates, sustains, and dissolves the entire universe consisting of all beings. This shows that we are entirely dependent on Him and should thank Him for our existence, prosperity, and enjoyment in this life and the next.

(to be continued)

Bibliography

[1] English Translation of Ramanuja's Gita Bhashya, Dr. S. Sankaranarayanan. (Thanks: Gita Supersite 2.0)
[2] Sudarshanam Editor Sri Puttur Krishnaswami Iyengar's book, "Thirunedum-Thandaka Vivaranam" (திருநெடுந்தாண்டக விவரணம்), Thanks: http://www.maransdog.org

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Lord Hari - the Creator, Sustainer, and Dissolver of the universe (Jagatkaranatvam)

In the last post, we started exploring how the great Acharyas of the Vedantic traditions have described the glory of the Supreme Lord Narayana. We saw that Adi Sankara and other Acharyas have described Him as both

1. Transcendental i.e., beyond the realm of the material universe comprising the five elements.
2. Immanent i.e., pervades in and controls all of His creation, as the inner-soul (antaryAmi), and hence is praised by the Vedas as the one who has all the three worlds as His body.

Let us now proceed to explain further the relationship between Lord Hari and his creation, the material universe. The Vedantic Bhakti traditions praise Him as the creator, sustainer, and dissolver of the entire universe. Let us examine this aspect, like we did last time, from the works and quotations of Acharyas.

The great philosopher of the dvaita tradition (dualistic school of Vedanta), Srimad Madhvacharya
(madhvAcArya, also known as Anandatiirtha or pUrNapraj~na AcArya) writes in his commentary to the Brahma Sutra (I-i-2) that Hari, described in the Veda as Brahman, is the first great cause of the world. Adi Sankara Bhagavatpada Acharya also says in the introductory chapter of the Gita Bhashya: "AdikartA nArAyaNAkhyo vishNuH", meaning "the first creator, Vishnu who is known as Narayana". For now, let us return to the nectar, in the form of the following scriptural quotations, offered by Srimad Madhvacharya in I-i-2 of Brahma Sutra Bhashya:

"The person - from whom the origin, subsistence, and dissolution, order, enlightenment, the cover of gloom, bondage, and liberation proceed - that Primordial Lord is none other than Lord Hari."

 (Skanda Purana)

"To Him is (our) obeisance made, in whose abdomen has grown up the lotus, the prop of the worlds, as referred to in the Sruti (Vedas): 'In the navel, of the Unborn' - unto Him the glorious Vishnu who is the cause of all the states of the world and the sole author of the universe"

(Skanda Purana)

"In the navel of the Unborn, that thing is set on which all the worlds stand."

(Rig Veda X-lxxxii-6)

"He who is our immediate progenitor and father, who is the maker and who is cognizant of all the worlds and the things abiding therein."

(Rig Veda X-lxxxii-3)

 

We next take a look at Shankara Bhagavatpada Acharya's elaborate commentary on the Brahma Sutras, where he quotes the following passages in his explanation to the sUtra II-i-1:

"Hear thence this short statement: The ancient Narayana is all this; he produces the creation at the due time, and at the time of re-absorption he consumes it again."

(Brahmanda Purana I.174)

"I am the origin and the place of reabsorption of the whole world."

(says Lord Narayana as Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, VII.6)

"From Him spring all bodies; He is the primary cause, He is eternal, He is unchangeable"

 (Apastamba Dharma Sutra, I.8.23.2)

Kambar, respectfully and quite aptly known in Tamil Vaishnavite circles as "kambanATTAzhvAr", starts his bhakti-laden poetic work rAmAvatAram (now popularly known as Kamba Ramayanam), the medieval Tamil version of the original Ramayana written down by Valmiki, with the following prayer:

ulagam yAvaiyum tAm uLa Akkalum nilai peRuttalum niikkalum nI"ngalA alagu ilA viLaiyATTu uDaiyAr avar talaivar annavarkkE caraN nA"ngaLE.

உலகம் யாவையும் தாம் உள ஆக்கலும் நிலை பெறுத்தலும் நீக்கலும் நீங்கலா அலகு இலா விளையாட்டு உடையார் அவர் தலைவர் அன்னவர்க்கே சரண் நாங்களே.

The above prayer translates into English as: "We only surrender to that One who is the Lord (of all), and whose timeless, unlimited divine play involves the creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the entire universe."


For the pleasure of the readers, I have attempted to translate the following two similar invocatory verses found in the major works of two Acharyas of the Advaitic tradition:

(1)

Srimad Rama Tirtha, a medieval advaitic scholar, also began one of his philosophical works with a similar tribute to the Lord's avatAra as Rama:

praNamya rAmAbhidaM AtmadhIpadaM jagat prasUti-sthiti-samyamAyanam

 (Invocatory verse of upadesasAhasri padayojanikA)

My translation: "Salutations to the One known as Rama, who is the object of cognition for the soul, the abode of creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the universe."

(2)

Nyaya Makaranda, a work by a 11th/12th-century scholar named Anandabodha, commences with a similar prayer to the Lord:

yadbhAsA nikhilaM vibhAti  viSayo yo na svayaM jyotiSAM    |

yasya AhuH bhuvanodbhavasthitilayAn liilAmayAn sUrayaH     || 

yaM cAgocaramAmananti manasAM vAcAM ca vishvAtmane  |

tasmai shuddhasukhAdvitIyavapushe shashvannamo viSNave     ||

My translation: "That splendor by which the entire material universe, which by itself is devoid of any luminosity, shines - to the one whose oblations - who creates, sustains, and dissolves the universe sportingly - who is beyond the imagination of (even) the greatest of sages and devas - to that Vishnu who is the Supersoul for the entire universe - to that immaculate Vishnu who is without an equal to Him, we offer our salutations."

All of the above hymns have their basis in the vedic mantras such  as Taittiriya Upanishad, which says that Brahman creates, sustains, and dissolves this entire universe:

"Try to know that Brahman, from whom all beings are born ; in whom, they are sustained ; into whom they enter after dissolution."

(Taittiriya Upanishad III-i-1)

Thus, we should meditate on Lord Narayana, the Supreme Parabrahman as the one who creates, sustains, and dissolves the entire universe. Being totally self-contented and having no craving for any achievement, He performs this threefold action as a mere play of His (liilA in Sanskrit). Such is His might and power!

(to be continued)

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Lord Narayana - The Supreme Transcendental and Immanent Lord (Paratvam, Antaryamitvam)

May we contemplate on the Supreme Lord Vasudeva so that we may begin this journey without hurdles.


As we promised in the last post, we are now ready to embark on a journey filled with enjoyment of the Lord's Glories. What I am going to write in this series is from whatever sense I have made, with my tiny brain, of this great tradition of Sanatana Dharma. I am just a novice in these matters. All the faults belong to me, and whatever little good comes out of my writing belongs to the great teachers and preachers who I have been fortunate enough to listen to.

Contemplation on the Lord's Divine Attributes and enjoying the same with fellow devotees is one of the best ways of serving Him, and gives immense bliss to the everyone. Two of His primary attributes are: His Lordliness and His Accesibility. Everyone is familiar with the Divine Names of the Supreme Lord of the Universe - the Vedas describe Him as Narayana, Vishnu, Vasudeva, and Hari. We all are familiar with His Divine Incarnations, Divine Form, and His Divine Sportive Acts. All these prove that He is quite accessible to His devotees. In order to understand and appreciate this fully, one first needs to understand His Lordliness in a proper manner.

Let us then investigate: How then, is He intimately related to His creation? How is He to be contemplated as the Supreme Lord? We shall now see how one of the great Acharyas of the sanatana dharma, Shri Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada answers this questions for us.

Bhagavatpada Acharya says in his benedictory verse for the introductory chapter to the Bhagavad Gita:

nArAyaNaH paro'vyaktAd aNDam avyakta-sambhavam |
aNDasyAntas tv ime lokAH sapta-dvIpA ca medinI ||

Narayana is beyond the seed of material existance. From this seed, the cosmos comes to exist.
Within the bounds of this cosmic egg are the seven worlds and this earth.

[nArAyaNaH - The Supreme Lord, paraH - is beyond, avyaktAd - the primordial matter known as avyakta or mUlaprakRti (avyakta literally means "the undeveloped"). aNDam - the cosmic egg from which the entire material creation emanates, avyakta-sambhavam - is born from this primordial nature, andasya - of this cosmic egg, antaH - within the bounds, tu - verily, ime lokAH - these worlds, sapta-dvIpA - the seven islands (according to puranic literature of Hinduism, the earthly regions in the universe are classified into seven islands), ca - and, medinI - the earth in which we live (belonging to the solar system of the Milky Way, according to modern science).]

In this introductory verse, the AcArya says that the Supreme Lord Narayana is beyond the material universe consisting of the primordial matter known as avyakta or mUla-prakRti, and that it is the mUla prakRti that gives rise to the Cosmic Egg, within the bounds of which material existence belonging to the category of effects is confined to. I will try to explain the concepts and terminology in creation are further in next paragraph, which may be skipped for those who are not curious about the same.

From puranic literature, it is well-known that the first thing in the realm of effects to be created by Lord Narayana is the avyakta principle. Subject to the Lord's control and as per His volition (sa"nkalpa), the avyakta principle then evolves into mahAn, then to aha"nkAra, followed by the five subtle elements or tanmAtras (sabda, sparsha, rUpa, rasa, and gandha - sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell respectively) and the five gross elements or pancabhUtas (akAsha, vAyu, agni, Apa, and pRthvI - ether, wind, fire, water, and earth). The Lord then performs pancIkaraNa, the process of intermixing the five gross elements for creation to proceed. From this, the principles of five sensory organs and five motor organs arise. The Lord then forms a body known as Hiranyagarbha, which is then taken up by one of the several baddha jIvas or souls that are to be born in the world of samsAra (existence in the realm of effects) selected by the Lord based on their karma or actions. This jIva taking up the name and form known as Hiranyagarbha is none but Lord Brahma, who then proceeds to create further bodies based on the Lord's instructions. The jIvas are then assigned to different bodies by the Supreme Lord Narayana himself, again based on their past karma.

From the above, it is clear that Supreme Lord Narayana is different from creation, which is in the category of effects (known in Sanskrit as kArya vastu). In other words, the Lord is the kAraNa (cause) and the entire universe is His kArya (effect). Shankaracharya has also explained elsewhere (BSBh. IV.iv.19-20) in his commentary to the Brahma Sutras, that the Highest Lord is not confined in any way to this mundane universe:

"Moreover, according to scripture, there is also an eternal form of the highest Lord which does not abide in effects", and

"Scripture and Smriti both declare that the highest light does not abide within effected things".

In the previous section in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya, he says that the liberated soul is reabsorbed into the world of Parabrahman Narayana, and also that it is the purest, Highest Place of Vishnu (paramapada, vaikuNTha, or brahmaloka), which is beyond the realm of effects.

Another aspect of His lordliness is that though He exists beyond the material universe, He simultaneously exists as the manifest universe in two ways: (1) with the entire cosmos is His body, and (2) as the inner-controller of every particle and every being/creature. This is part of his divine pastime, and in no way compromises his Lordliness.

Mundaka Upanishad 2-1-4 says:

The indwelling Self (Atman) of all is surely He of whom the heaven is the head, the moon and sun are the two eyes, the directions are the two ears, the revealed Vedas are the speech, air is the vital force, the whole Universe is the heart, and (It is He) from whose two feet emerged the earth.

In the penultimate sentence of the commentary to the same verse, Bhagavatpada Acharya says:

"this dEva, (known as) Vishnu or Ananta, is the first to have a body in this universe, and has all the three worlds as his body. He is the inner-dweller of all elements."





We will explore the concept of inner-dweller (antaryAmi/antarAtmA) in a little while. It is worth comparing the statement made by Bhagavatpada Acharya to that of his immediate disciple Totakacharya, who further adds the following lines in the last verse of his work shrutisArasamuddharaNa. This famous verse is now recited by everyone who chants Vishnu Sahasranama, in the dhyAnam section just before "shAntAkAram bhujaga shayanam", even though it does not belong to the original Sahasranama text in the Mahabharata:

bhUH pAdau yasya khaM codaramasuranilaH candra sUryau ca netre
karNAvAshAH shiro dyaurmukhamapi dahano yasya vAstavyamabdhiH |
antaHstaM yasya vishvam suranarakhagagobhogigandharvadaityaiH citraM
raMramyate tam tribhuvanavapuSaM viSNumIsham namAmi ||

(shrutisArasamuddharaNa, 179)

"I bow down to Lord Visnu (Vishnu), whose body comprises the three worlds. His feet are the earth, the cavity of His belly is space, his vital breath is the wind, and His eyes are the sun and the moon. His ears are the directions, His head is the heaven, His face is the fire, and His bladder is the ocean. Within Him this universe delights with its variety of gods (divinities created by Supreme Lord), human beings, birds, cows, snakes, celestial beings, and demons. To that Visnu I offer my salutations."


The above principle that the Lord has the material universe as (one of) His body (ies), or in other words, that He is the supersoul of all of His creation, is known as sharIra-sharIri bhAva in vishiSTAdvaita vedanta school of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya. In this school, the Lord is aptly called "ubhaya-vibhUti nAtha", meaning both the material universe (liilA vibhUti) and His own transcendental realm (nitya vibhUti a.k.a. vaikunTam or paramapadam) are His bodies.

The Vedas further affirm that the Lord entered into his creation as the inner-controller of all as he created. The name Vishnu is significant here since it means "all-pervading". Hence, Lord Narayana, having created the material universe, entered into each and every particle of creation as the antaryAmin, which menas inner-controller. This is confirmed by Shankaracharya in his commentary to the antaryAmi brAhmaNa section (Chapter 3, Section 7) of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, where he says:

"Such is the Lord, who controls from within, known as Narayana, who dwells from within the earth and controlls it, whom the earth-deity (prithvI) does not know. He is also the inner-controller of everyone, including you, myself, and all beings." (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Bhashya 3.7.3)






Sureshvaracharya, another disciple of Adi Shankaracharya (as attested by himself in his works), confirms this further in the antaryAmi brAhmaNa section of his vArtika (metrical exposition) on Bhagavatpadacharya's commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:

"Krishna Dwaipayana (Veda Vyasa), desiring welfare for all creatures, has repeated this time and again: Lord Narayana is beyond the avyakta, the cosmic egg is born from it. Salutations to Lord Narayana, the inner-dweller of all the dEvatas (divinities created by the Lord). It is to Him that the Narayana chants in the Vedas are addressed to." (Brihadaranyaka Bhashyavartika, Verses 39-42 expounding Section 3.7)

Anandagiri or Anandaj~nAna, a medieval advaitic scholar and a disciple of shuddhAnanda, wrote a Tiika (gloss) on the vArttika. To the above, he says: "The author of the vArtika says that the glory of the Supreme Lord Narayana is evident not only from the purANic and Agamic texts, but also in the Vedas." Anandagiri then quotes the first verse in the Narayana Sukta of Taittiriya Aranyaka (Section 10.11) to his support.

The Acharyas of yore have thus praised the Lord as the Supreme Transcendental (beyond material existence) as well as Immanent (who pervades and controls everything) God. Such is his greatness, as understood in the Vedantic texts.

 (to be continued)

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