Rāmānujācārya and the Viśiṣṭādvaita-vāda (specific monism, non-dualism with distinctions, or purified monism)

Rāmānujācārya wrote the Sri-Bhāṣya, the first real challenge to the Śārīraka-Bhāṣya of Śaṅkarācārya. This commentary was the cornerstone of the Vaiṣnava refusal of the monistic philosophy.

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Rāmānujācārya - Viśiṣṭādvaita-vāda
(specific monism, non-dualism with distinctions, or purified monism)

Rāmānujācārya was born in the village of Śrīperumbūdūr (in the current state of Tamil Nāḍu, in the south of India) in an aristocratic family. He was married at the age of 16 and soon, after the death of his father, moved with his family to Kanchi, a city famous for being a center of learning, home of many great scholars. There, he became a student of Yādava Prakāśa, a scholar in the line of Śankarācārya.

Initially, Yādava was very impressed by Rāmānuja’s intelligence, but later he became inimical to him when he started to contest some of his monistic interpretations of verses from the scriptures. Yādava eventually decided to expel him, but changed his mind, fearing that he could open his own school and surpass him. Instead, he decided to, in cooperation with his disciples, kill Rāmānuja during a pilgrimage to Kāśī (Varanasi), but he was frustrated. Similarly, the envious king Kṛmikaṇṭha tried to imprison Rāmānuja and kill him, but his plans were also foiled, and he died a miserable death because of his offense. Eventually, Yādava Prakāśa and his disciples became his followers, and in this way, they were saved from a similar fate.

Once, a great Vaiṣnava called Kañcīpūrṇa visited Rāmānuja, begging for alms. Rāmānuja immediately understood his spiritual stature and acted very respectfully toward him. Although born in a family of lower social status, Kañcīpūrṇa was a disciple of the great saint Yamunācārya. Rāmānuja received siksa from him and repeatedly asked to become his disciple, but out of humility, Kañcīpūrṇa refused his requests.

Later, when Yamunācārya visited the city, he noticed Rāmānuja. When he heard from his disciples that he had written a devotional commentary on the sloka “satyam jñānam anantam brahma“ from the Taittirīya Upanisad, which completely defeated the philosophy of Śankarācārya, he understood he was divinely empowered. However, because at the time Rāmānuja was studying under Yādava Prakāśa, the two never met. However, just by attracting the attention of Yamunācārya, Rāmānuja imperceptibly attained his mercy.

The three wishes of Yamunācārya

When Yamunācārya was about to leave his world, he remembered Rāmānuja and asked Mahāpūrṇa, his most trusted disciple, to bring him before he left his body. Rāmānuja immediately agreed to come, but while they were on the way, Yamunācārya left, after giving his final instructions to his disciples: to always worship the deity of Sri Ranganātha, always remember his lotus feet, depend always on his mercy, and become free from false ego by always serving Vaiṣnavas.

Rāmānuja and Mahāpūrṇa arrived when the procession with the body of Yamunācārya had already reached the river, and they were preparing to put him in samādhi. His body was in a yoga posture, with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand joined and the other three fingers extended. The right hand was closed into a fist. No one could understand the meaning of such a posture, but Rāmānuja immediately understood its significance. He said, “The revered Yamunācārya has three wishes he wants to be fulfilled.”

The first desire, he mentioned, was to protect people in general from the onslaught of impersonalism and give them the nectar of the service to Lord Nārāyaṇa. As he spoke thus, one of the fingers of the dead body of Śrīla Yamunācārya closed back. He then mentioned the second desire, to write a commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, establishing the Supreme Person as the ultimate reality. As he spoke this, a second finger closed. He then proceeded to declare the third wish: To honor Parāśara Muni and other great teachers from the past. As he pronounced this, a third finger closed, confirming that this was indeed the third wish. It was a miracle.

Rāmānuja accepted the responsibility of fulfilling all three wishes, and all the other disciples understood he was empowered by Yamunācārya to take over his mission. Later, he was initiated by Mahāpūrṇa and left family life, becoming a sannyāsī. He was accepted by the disciples of Yamunācārya as their leader and became known as Rāmānujācārya. He preached extensively, establishing the devotion to Lord Nārāyaṇa as the correct path. He departed from this world when he was about 120 years old.

His last instructions to his disciples were:

a) Always remain in the company of devotees and serve them, just as you would serve your spiritual master.

b) Have faith in the words of the Vedas and the previous ācāryas.

c) Never become a slave of your senses.

d) Always strive to control the great enemies of self-realization: lust, anger, and greed.

e) Worship Lord Nārāyaṇa and take refuge in His holy name.

f) Service to pure devotees is the highest activity, and by it, one quickly attains the mercy of the Lord.

The Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy

Although Yamunācārya and Nāthamuni had previously propounded the Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy, Rāmānujācārya was the first to be able to do it on a large scale, traveling extensively, defeating numerous philosophers, and establishing the devotion to Lord Nārāyaṇa as the proper path according to the Vedas. For centuries, his followers in the Sri Sampradāya have been debating with and defeating proponents of the monistic philosophy.

Rāmānujācārya wrote the Sri-bhāṣya, the first real challenge to the Śārīraka-bhāṣya of Śankarācārya. This commentary was the cornerstone of the Vaiṣnava rejection of the monistic philosophy. Even today, Vaiṣnavas still draw arguments from his commentary when faced with opposing arguments.

The Advaita philosophy of Śankarācārya is based on the principle of absolute monism. Everything is Brahman, and there is nothing apart from Brahman, which is seen as homogeneous, undifferentiated, and without qualities or personality. The individual souls are nothing but the same Brahman under the influence of illusion, and the material world is ultimately false. When the soul becomes free from illusion, individuality ends, and one merges back into Brahman. Therefore, only Brahman is reality.

Rāmānujācārya strongly opposed these ideas, arguing that it’s not possible to cultivate knowledge about an object without qualities. Knowledge necessarily implies that the object of knowledge has certain qualities that can be known. Instead of an impersonal, undifferentiated Brahman, Rāmānujācārya brought the concept of a personal God, who has transcendental qualities. He is infinite, all-auspicious, omniscient, and omnipotent, and He is meant to be served by the infinitesimal souls.

He explained that the Lord appears in five different features:

a) As the arcā-vigraha, the deity in the temple.

b) In the form of the different Vaibhava (pastime) incarnations mentioned in the scriptures, such as Matsya, Kurma, Varāha, Nṛsimha, etc.

c) In the Vyuha incarnations: Vāsudeva, Sankarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha.

d) Inside the heart as antaryāmī, or the Supersoul.

e) As the impersonal Brahman, the effulgence of His transcendental body.

The Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy is defined as “non-duality with distinctions” or “qualified non-dualism” because while it accepts that everything is God, it makes distinctions between the different energies of the Supreme. In this way, although the souls and matter are also God in the sense of being His energy, there is a distinction between these different features of the Supreme. As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains:

“Kṛṣṇa should not be thought of as being alone but should be considered as eternally existing with all His manifestations, as described by Rāmānujācārya. In the Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy, God’s energies, expansions, and incarnations are considered to be oneness in diversity. In other words, God is not separate from all these; everything together is God.” (ToLC Intro)

According to Sri Rāmānujācārya, there are three truths (tattva-traya):

a) The sentient (the souls).

b) The non-sentient (matter).

c) The Supreme Lord.

The innumerable living entities, as a collective, are called the sentient energy of the Supreme Lord, whereas the cosmic manifestation is the non-sentient material energy of the Lord. Everything that exists is thus a combination of sentient and non-sentient, just like all living entities are a combination of the body (non-sentient) and the soul (sentient), and the universe itself is a combination of non-sentient matter (the planets, etc.), and the sentient Lord present everywhere as the Supersoul. This philosophy of differentiation, called Viśiṣṭādvaita-vada, introduced the idea of a personal God, the idea of the material world being illusory but not false, and the idea of devotional service to the Lord as the ultimate goal of life.

Śrīla Rāmānujācārya also propounded the idea that the soul, being infinitesimal, has the propensity to fall victim to ignorance, falling into this temporary and abominable material world. However, when ignorance is destroyed by the practice of devotional service, the soul becomes again liberated. Liberation, however, does not imply becoming equal with the Supreme Lord.

He also established that both the living entities and the material manifestation are parts of the Lord, and not something separated from Him. In other words, the Lord is everything, but He has different energies.

Śrīla Rāmānujācārya also reestablished the process of pāñcarātra, or worship according to regulative principles that had been almost stopped since the spread of Buddhism. Temple worship is extremely important since it is the process that helps regular people gradually elevate themselves to the path of devotion. Because Śankarācārya focused on defeating Buddhist philosophy, without teaching the principles of pāñcarātra, his followers had to contend with following a process of dry asceticism, which is very difficult and problematic. Starting from Rāmānujācārya, all Vaiṣnava ācāryas have been emphasizing the process of temple worship as essential.

Next: Madhvācārya - Śuddha-dvaita (purified dualism) »

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