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Re: Digest Number 563 ( Once upon a time... )

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mani2 • March 19, 2002 


--- In bhakti-list@y..., "tg_ram"  wrote:
> Per the "evakaara"  in the quote below, should we infer that 
nirguNa-
> brahma (=akhila-heya-pratyaniika-brahma) is not to be worshipped?
> 
> rAmAnuja-dAsa
> //Ramkumar
> 
> > It is pointed out in the purANa ghattam that Sri vyAsa
> > maharshi ( sutra kAra ) also indicated that in all
> > para vidyAs, only saguNa Brahma has to be worshipped".
>                ****
> > 'para vidyAsu sarvAsu saguNa mEva BrahmOpAsyam. phalam
>                                 ***
> > caika rUpamEva atO vidyA vikalpaha".

Dear Ramkumar,

Not quite.  As the Advaita school and Sri Sankaracharya
explain it, the 'nirvisesha brahman' (theory of the 
Absolute as totally bereft of any attributes or qualifications)
is absolutely unworshippable, since at that level there
is no notion of knower, known, and knowing. That is to
say, since the 'nirvisesha brahman' is totally without
any distinctions and is absolute, bare, consciousness,
how can one say that one worships, knows, or experiences?
One cannot, Sri Sankara says. One can only declare it to
be pure consciousness, of the nature of awareness (jnApti-mAtra).
In fact, Sri Sankara's commentary on the famous Yajnavalkya-
Maitreyi dialogue brings out this very point.

Certainly Sri Ramanuja rejects this idea as being wholly
discordant with the general tenor of the Veda, Vedanta,
smritis, and itihAsas.  The very idea of nirvisesha brahman
is totally without foundation, according to Sri Ramanuja,
so it has no place in philosophy.  So the question of
worship of nirvisesha brahman can arise neither in Sri Sankara's
philosophy nor in Sri Ramanuja's philosophy.

What the above vAkya means is that only Lord Vishnu, the
Brahman who is inherently 'saguNa', endowed with all manner
of auspicious attributes, is a suitable object of meditation.
There is an entire section in Sri Vishnu Purana known as
the 'subhASraya prakaraNa' where a vivid description of
the symbolism of meditating on Lord Vishnu is described.
Since only Vishnu is totally and eternally bereft of any defiling
characteristic, and only Vishnu bears all the 'kalyAna-guNas'
that make one worthy of meditation, Vishnu alone is worthy of 
being meditated upon. Sri Ramanuja emphasizes this point several
times in his Vedarthasangraha, Sribhashya, and Gitabhashya. 

The implication is that no lesser entity is truly worthy of 
meditation apart from Vishnu, since they are beings who are
in samsAra and who are affected by the guNas.  Even for the
realization of the bliss of the individual self in
quasi-isolation, a state technically known as 'kaivalya',
or blissful aloneness, the Lord must be meditated upon
and the jIvAtma must be meditated upon as being ensouled
by the Lord. In all meditations the Lord must be included,
even if not directed toward the highest goal.

I request learned members to correct any errors in my
words,

With regards,
aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
Mani



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