Advaitham,Theology of vedas,Smartas,vaishanavas,Sri vaishnavas

From the Bhakti List Archives

• June 13, 1998


 My "aneka koti prmanas to all sri vaishnavas again"
 
 The correct translation of the term visishtadhvaitham in english is "pan orgal 
monism"
 
the term visishtadhvaitham is derived(i donot have a basic knowledge of sanskrit 
though) like this visisthasya + advaitham = visistadhvaitham.

  so are we adhvaithins then?? yes we are 'cos according to shruthis one who 
appreciates difference will never get moksha and he'll always be on samsara 
cycle.
  
  so the real purport of shruthis  is "adhvaitham" and now we call ourselves 
"visishtadhvaithins" so how are we going to justify??
  
  yes of course the purport of shruthis is advaitham not dvaitham. is it pure 
pure advaitham as shri adhi shankara says?? no it is not our we are adhvaithins 
basically with the adjective visithasya.. 
  
  what shri adhi shankara (as we all know ) talks is nirvisesha advaitham and 
what shri bashyakara talks about is savisesha advaitham not pure advaitham (pure 
pure consciousness , jeeva bramha identity and iykiyam as shri adhishankara 
says)
 
 our dharshanam followed as per the sayings of dheva perumal(shri athigirinathan 
perarulalan varadharajan)  "dharshanam bedha evacha" is bedha dharshanam.
 
  yes it is dvaitham  but not as per dvaithins (or dualists). 
 
 what shri anandha theertha talks about is something non dependency of souls and 
bramhan and shri bashyakara talks  about  is dependency...
 
  how do we justify the above???
  
  it is like light and luminousity they are different concepts but there exists 
a permenant relation which can never be negated and they are cognised together 
always..(this is a vague comparison though)
  
  it is the sarira athma bhavam prakara prakari bhavam etc...
  
  the term sarira again needs a very big explanation as the other vedhanthins 
say that it has dhoshas...(fallacy) which will come as a seperate mesg..
  
  to simply say it is the body soul relation ship which is our "pradhana 
prathithanthram" that which is not found in other schools of thought...
  
  and i request other shrivaishnavaites to give more inputs and clarifications 
mean while to the list...
  
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  theology.... smarthas....sri vaishnavas
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  if any one calls himself as vedanthin he can never refute "narayana's" 
supremecy for it is very obvious and crystal clear.. so the vedas if at all we 
say that it talks about any religion it is vaishnavism and all those who call 
themselves as "vedhanthins" is none but vaishnavas..
  
  remember no vedanthin argues on supremecy of "shri narayana" but they argue 
only on whether it is  dvaitham/advaitham. 
  
   and ofcourse as emphatically and irrefutably (and the same strengthened by 
thoopal kulamani swami desika) it is "visisttadhwaitham" which balances both...
 
  one who follows shruthis and smrithis is called a smartha as we all follow 
shruthis and smrithis we are smarthas too.
  
  and now what is the diff between vaishnavaite and shri vaishnavite??
  
  the verse in purusha suktha identifies narayana like this
  
  "hrischathe laksmischapthnuyo" so the concept of shri finds an importnat place 
in our "sampradhayam".
  
  and our's is bramadhvaitham....
  
   just a minute just a minute dont the shruthis talk about only one 
paramathma??? 

  yes sir!!!! accepted.
  
   it is not two entirely  altogether different brahmans we are talking about 
... we are talking about the status as shri who participates in each thing like 
srishti stithi smaharam etc...along with narayana...
  
 so they are inseperable ...... 
 
   she is always seen with him all the avartharas (para,vyuha,archa,vibhava
   antharyami)
  
   and for whatever the state of shri is in shrivaishnavism it is somehow 
accepted unanimously by all shrivaishnavaites ( unlike other vaishnavaites) the 
importance of shri....
   
   ( for more details and arguments which are very complicated and  which doesnt 
seem to end at all i shall try and give the gist of this concept of shri)
   
  and again i reqest all the srivaishnavas in the list to give more details and 
clarifications mean while
  
   
   regs
   venkataraghavadhasan