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Ramanuja and Vishishtadwaita

Dr. M. V. Kamath

My dear Gauri,

Two centuries were to pass before another great philosopher could be born in South India. That philosopher was Ramanuja.

Ramanuja originally studied under a great adwaita scholar called Yadavaprakasha who lived in Kanchi. But soon he came to disagree with his master’s teaching and took to studying on his own. It was then that his saintly character and profound scholarship came to be noticed by the head of the Srirangam monastery, Yamuna. Yamuna wanted Ramanuja to be his successor and sent one of his disciples, Mahapurna, to persuade Ramanuja to migrate to Srirangam. It was Mahapurna who initiated Ramanuja, who till then was a grihastha (a married man), into Shri Vaishnavism. Thereafter, Ramanuja renounced the worldly life, became a sanyasi and wrote his Shribhasya, rejecting the adwaita philosophy under which he had been brought up.

Reaction to Ramanuja’s apostasy was swift. Tradition has it that he was persecuted by the then Chola monarch who was a Shaiva and Ramanuja was forced to flee his home and go to Karnataka, where he was received with the dignity and honour befitting a great savant and saint. It was here that he received not only refuge but royal patronage as well. Vishnuvardhana, the Hoysala King, became a convert to Shri Vaishnavism which inevitably helped in the establishment of the religion on a firm footing throughout Karnataka.

At first Ramanuja lived in a place called Tondanur but later he went to Melkote where the beautiful Cheluvanarayana temple was subsequently built.

Ramanuja lived even longer than the Buddha if certain historical accounts are to be believed and was 120 years’ old when he died in A.D. 1137. He must have been the most loved and respected man of his times with a large and distinguished following. The basis of his teachings was the Prasthanathraya consisting of the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Gita. Ramanuja held that Vishnu was the deity of supreme worship, accompanied by Shri or Lakshmi who represents Divine Grace, which is why the philosophy that he advocates is called Shri Vaishnavism. He considered Lakshmi as mediator between man and God. God is saguna Iswara -one with attributes- and He is parama purusha or the highest individual. Human beings derived their reality from God and moksha was a state of fellowship with Him.

Ramanuja advocated total surrender to God. He called it sharanagati –taking refuge in Him. This implied following the will of God, not crossing Him and believing Him and seeking help from Him and Him alone. This is Vishishtadwaita or qualified monism.

In this context, Professor Hiriyanna writes: “The inclusion by Ramanuja in his doctrine of a means of salvation, which is accessible to all, explains the wide popularity it (vishishtadwaita) has always commanded; and the social uplift of the lower classes to which it has led is of great value in the history of India.”

In Vishishtadwaita, man surrendered himself completely to God. This was, however, not the same as the adwaitic Brahmasmi –I am Braman. Ramanuja held that Brahman and the individual were two separate identities. But in the act of total surrender to God, man made God his prisoner! (Bhakta paraadeena.) God of His own sweet will pledged Himself for our salvation the moment we surrendered ourselves unreservedly to Him. Between God and the self was a relationship and a responsibility. In the process God came down from heaven to reach the abode of man. As a scholar put it: “The only true objective of human life is the ardent love for the Highest. It is the true, the good and the highest end of human life”.

The appeal of Ramanuja’s philosophy proved irresistible to the people. One had only to pursue the path of true devotion to be accepted by God.

In my next letter I shall tell you about the last of the three great philosophers, Madhwa.

Your loving,

Ajja