Sri Baashya Srukku-3. ..

Suthra-2.Janmaa dyaasa Yethaa-From whom origin etc proceeds..

This means, from whom all these beings originate, by whom they are sustained and into whom

they merge back at the time of pralaya, know that to be Brahman.

 

 

the word Brahman denotes one entity only the

attributes also denote the same entity because a person who has never seen a cow, on

hearing, the cow is that which is ‘khanda munda purNa sringah gouh,’ broken -horned,

hornless or fully horned, understands it to denote different entities

Ramanuja clinches the argument by saying

 

‘yathO vA imAni bhoothAni jAyanthe’ ithyAdhi kAraNa vAkyeEna prathipannasya

jagajjanmAdhi kAranasya brahmanah sakalaitharavyAvrtthamam svarupam abhiDHeeyathesathyam

jnAnam anantham brahma ithi.’

That is, while the Brahman is defined as that, from which all these beings are born etc., by the

words ‘existence, knowledge and infinity, the svarupa, nature of Brahman, is described as

being other than the world of sentient and insentient, the latter being subject to changes and

the former on account of the association with it. The released souls are also excluded because

of their limited knowledge that existed while in bondage. In the statement ‘sathyam jnanam

anantham brahma,’ the word jnAna denotes the eternal, complete knowledge of Brahman, the

word sathya is to show that Brahman is the absolute unconditional existence and the word

anantha refers to the characteristic of not being limited by time, place or entity, ‘dEsakAla

vasthu paricchEdha rahithathvam.’ Hence the three words that show the nature of Brahman

are the svarupanirupaka dharmas, inseparable attributes of Brahman. Defining the nature of

Brahman. So the objection that Brahman cannot be defined is refuted by Ramanuja.

S

UTHRA-3-SASTHRAYONITHVATH:

OF WHOM THE SCRIPTURES ARE THE SOURCE OFKNOWLEDGE

 

source of knowledge   Thasya bhAvah sAsthrayonothvam. thasmAth=sAsthrayonithvAth, therefore scripture is the

 sAsthryOnih=sAsthram yasya yOnih;kAraNam pramAnam; of whom the scriptures are theInference is also out of question, says Ramanuja, due to the absence of sign, linga, which is

proof of Brahman.

Sense perception through sense organs is not possible inthis case. 

 

necessary for creating inferential knowledge

 

Ramanuja concludes by saying

‘athah prmAnanthara agocharathvena sAsthraika vishayathvAth,- yathO vA imani bhoothAni

ithyAdhi vAkyam- ukthalakshaNam brahma prathipAdhayathi ithi siddham’.

Since Brahman cannot be proved by any other means of knowledge and scripture being the

only source, the texts such as ‘from whom all this originate’ etc. give authoritative knowledge

of Brahman.

S

AMANVAYADHIKARAN

AM

 

S

UTHRA-4 THATTHU SAMANVAYA

TH

 

  

Thath thu- but that (the scriptures alone are the pramANa for establishing Brahman) is

samanvayAth because it is the main purport (of the sruthi.)

The attainment is compared to that of a man who is told that there is a

treasure under the grounds of his house or to the situation where a prince getting lost and

being brought up by a brahmin, instructed in all the sasthras is told ” your father, endowed

with all the kingly qualities, is waiting for you at the door step.” The implication here is that

the treasure which is our birth right, that is, moksha, is just waiting to be found and we are like

the prince who lost his identity.

Ramanuja ends the samanvayADHikaraNa saying that the texts like ‘yathO vA imAni

bhoothAni jAyanthE’ etc. teach the existence of Brahman as being the cause of the world, free

from all imperfections and endowed with infinite auspicious qualities and of the nature of

unparalleled bliss.

 

EE

KSHATHYADHIKARAN

AMEEKSHTH

 

ER NASABDHAM 1-1-5

   

 

 

Therefore the term ‘sath’ can

denote only the omniscient omnipotent Supreme Person, the Brahman. Thus in all places

where creation is mentioned we find texts like ‘ sa eekshatha lOkAnnu srjAa ithi,sa imAn lo

kAn asrjatha,'(Aitr.Aran.II-4-1-2) and ‘sa eekshAm chakre sa prANam asrjatha,(pras.6-3) He

created them and He willed to create the worlds and He willed and created the vital air.’

SUTHRA

 

– 6- GOUNASCHETH NA ATMASABDHA

TH

 

It is not secondary due to the word Atman being used.

This suthra refutes the argument that the ‘eekshaNa’ the act of seeing can refer to praDHAna,

taken in the secondary sense. The later text ‘aithadhAthmyam idham sarvam, sa athmA, all this

is ensouled by that,which is the Self of everything’ refers to ‘that’ which is denoted by the word

‘sath.’ As the insentient praDHAna cannot be termed as the sentient self it means only

Brahman. This meaning is further strengthened by the text

‘hanthAham imAh thisrah devatha anena AthmanA anupravisya namarupe vyAkaravaNi,

Let me enter into these three deities as their self and give them name and form.’ So the

eekshaNam cannot be contrived as being figurative but is only in the primary sense

S

UTHRA-7- THANNISHTASYA MOKSHOPADHESATH

-1-1-7

 

Because release is the teaching here to one who is desirous of it. In the passage referred to

here, the student svEtha kEthu is being instructed by his father about salvation. After

imparting the knowledge ‘that thou art,’ he is told that there will be delay only till this body is

discarded. This will not be appropriate if pradhAna is the subject matter of the passage. Even

to Sankhya, pradhAna is not instrumental to release.

 

SUTHRA-8-HEYATHVA AVACHANACCHA-1-1-8 

Also because there is no mention of disca rding it ( s a th) means that if pradhAna is the meaning of ‘sath,’ since it is not conducive to moksha the mumukshu, aspirant for release would be advised to give it up. But here it is not so. On thecontrary, he is instructed ‘thou art that’.UTHRA-9 PRATHIJNAVIRODHATH1-1-9 

It is contrary to prathijna. Pradhana is not the purport of the passage because it would beto the promissory statement, prathijna, of knowing everything by the knowledge ofone. As pradhana can only be the cause of the insentient beings the knowledge of it will notlead to that of the sentient beings.UTHTRA-10 SVAPYAYAATHBecause of merging with the self. The text 

ஸ்ரீ ஸ்ருதி பிரகாசர் திருவடிகளே சரணம்
பெரிய பெருமாள் பெரிய பிராட்டியார் ஆண்டாள் ஆழ்வார் எம்பெருமானார் ஜீயர் திருவடிகளே சரணம்

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