Srivaishnava Network

Purushottama Yogam – Chapter 15 – Bhagavad Gita.

Sri Ramanujaya nama:

The aSvattam or the figurative Banyan Tree (arasa-maram in Tamizh) refers to the
eternal insentient matter (moola-prakRti) for which the
Purushottama (Supreme Person or Bhagavaan kRishNa) is the Inner Controller (antar-yAmi).

The root of the tree is the catur-mukha-brahmaa and its branches are the countless
bonded beings (kshara) transmigrating in the samsAra re-incarnating in
Human/Plant/Animal/Divine bodies according to their past deeds.

The vedas represent the ”leaves” of this metaphoric Banyan tree,
because the karma-khaaNDa or the rituals portion of the vedas,
prescribe various sacrifices ( such as putra-kaameshTi, jyotishToma etc)
which only help to grow the branches of samsAra even further.

But a true knower of the veda-s is the one understands the means of
setting oneself free from the samsAric Banyan Tree.

The same vedas also instruct that all same vedic sacrifices,
if done without any attachment or selfish motive,
become true devotional worship (bhagavad-aaraadhanam) .

Once Bhagavaan Purushottama, being pleased by detachment,
grants liberation from transmigration in various human/animal/divine bodies.

Now how does one truly understand the import of the vedas?

Bhagavaan KaNNan explains that in the same chapter called the
Purushottama Yoga ( Chapter 15, verse 4).

”… tam-eva ca aadyam Purusham prapadya-iyata: pravRtti: praSrtaa puraaNii.” (BG 15.4)

One gets to know the true import of the vedas, through approaching a sad-guru
in the lineage of ancient sages (pravRti: puraaNii) who had surrendered
to that Supreme Person, KrishNa, and freed themselves from the samsAra.

RECAP:

Kshara-s are the individual beings transmigrating in the samsAra.

Akshara-s are the individual beings that either got liberated (mukta-s) or
were never in samsAra (nitya-suuri-s) .

Purushottama/ISvara/ParamAtmA is Sri KrishNa, as He declares in 15.15 and 15.16,
the Supreme Being, WHO exceeds, excells and controls
all the Kshara-s and Akshara-s at His Own Will.

The key message is that the transmigrating beings (kshara-s) should Surrender to Sri KrishNa / Sriman nArAyaNa,
through approaching a true Sad-Guru in the lineage of ancient sages.

Examples of ancient sages include Sri Swami SaThakOpa Nammazhvar, Sri ParASara Maharshi, Srimad Naatha Muni and
like who truly understood the import of the vedas as NishkAmya buddhi (Detachment )
and Surrender to the Grace of the Supreme Person.
Source(s):
Sri Ramanuja GitA Bhasyam – translated by Sri Adidevananda

I would to know if there are more than one member in the administrator group? If so, they can alternatively take responsibility in either cleaning the spam groups/posts or set a moderation privilege for posts, so that unwanted ones don’t show up. The posts can be reviewed and made available once a week, if the administrators are busy in their schedules. As, there are many new aspirants joining this forum, let us keep this forum strictly spiritual.

namO namO YAmunAya YAmunAya namO nama: |
namO namO YAmunAya YAmunAya namO nama: ||

Contribution of Sri YAmunAcharya to Vishishtadvaita.

Sri ALavandhAr (916-1041 A.D) was the grandson of NAthamuni. Sri ALavandhAr is also known as YAmunA Muni or YAmunAchAryA. YAmunA is the grand spiritual preceptor of Sri RAmAnujA. Let us remember his contributions on the occasion of his thirunakshatram (birthday) today.

CatusslOki is the shortest of the works of Sri ALavandhAr. This stotram that contains 4 slokas, explains the vital position of Sri or Lakshmi as the consort of Lord NArAyanA. In the first sloka, Lakshmi is glorified as BhagavathI, with equally glorious qualities as Her dear Lord in Her eternal aspect (nitya-vibhUti) and shares with Him in their dynamic aspect (leela-vibhUti) of the evolution and the control of the Universe. In the second sloka, Sri YAmunA stresses that Her unbounded mercy and love (redemptive aspect) helps in saving the souls who submit to Her in surrender. In the next sloka, She is described as the most graceful (protective aspect), upon whom the status of humanity lies. Last stanza summarizes that Lakshmi, though functionally distinguishable from the Supreme Being, is philosophically part and parcel of Him, and there is no aspect of His that is not associated with Sri. This work is an inspiration for similar sri-stutis of later sri-vaishnava AchAryAs.
Enjoy ChatusslOki from the links:
http://prapatti.com/slokas/sanskrit/chatussloki.pdf
http://prapatti.com/slokas/mp3/chatusslokii.mp3

Stotraratna (Gem of Stotras) is a hymn on the Lord in 65 stanzas. It is considered as a sequel to CatusslOki. Though, Sri ALavandhAr expresses his devotion in the style of Alwars, he succinctly establishes the greatness of surrender/prapatti. In the first 20 verses, YAmunA explains that the Supremacy (paratvam) and as well as easy accessibility (soulabhyam) of the Lord, proves Him to be the savior (loka-saranyA) of humanity. In the next 30 verses, YAmunAr analyses the Dvaya mantra in a systematic and in-depth manner. In the last 15 verses, ALavandhAr makes the declaration of being Lord’s unconditioned, eternal servant and entrusts his entire burden on Him and feels relieved. He emphasizes that prapatti/saranAgathi is the only means of attaining the Highest, which is the objective of the Carama Sloka. This stotra is the forerunner for the Rahasya-trayam of the Sri Vaishnava philosophy. When Sri RAmAnujA heard the chanting of StrotraRatnam by Sri MahApUrna, he got attracted towards YAmunA. One may also see YAmunA’s influence on Sri RAmAnuja in the usage of generous adjectives in Gadya Trayam to glorify the Lord and His mistress.
Enjoy Stotraratnam from the links:
http://prapatti.com/slokas/sanskrit/stotraratnam.pdf
http://prapatti.com/slokas/mp3/stotraratnam.mp3

GitArtha sangraha consisting of 32 slokas, is a concise summary of Bhagavad Gita, which already encompasses the sri-vaisnava conception of un-alloyed Bhakti and Surrender. Sri YAmunA divided the 18 chapters of Gita into 3 sections of 6 chapters each (shatka/hexad). According to YAmunAr, the first shatka is devoted to the 2 paths of discipline, that of action (karman) and knowledge (jnAna), that leads to self-realization. The second hexad emphasizes Bhakti yoga, and the last one describes the nature of prakruti, Lord and of surrender. YAmunA’s work provided a frame-work for Sri Ramanuja’s GitA-bhAshya. Both agree that God can only be attained through bhakti, for which the disciplines of karman and jnana are the indispensable means, is the essence of Gita.
http://prapatti.com/slokas/sanskrit/giitaarthasangraha.pdf

Siddhi-traya happens to be the largest and the most important work of YAmunA. This work can rightly be said to be the source-book of Sri RAmAnujA’s SribhAsya. The term ‘siddhi’ stands for conclusive ascertainment after careful investigation through arguments. As the very name suggests, the Siddhi-traya consists of three parts devoted to the establishment of the Atman (the individual Self), Isvara (Supreme Being) and Samvit (knowledge as distinct from object), which are known as Atma-siddhi, Isvara-siddhi and Samvit-siddhi respectively. The Atama-siddhi seems to be a digest of Nyaya-tattva of NAthamuni. Here YAmunA establishes the vishishtaadvaitic concepts thus refuting the other schools of thought. It looks like some of the portions of the book are lost.

Agama-prAmAnyA is a work in which YAmunA tries to establish the antiquity and authority of the PancarAtrA literature . YAmunA also tries to prove that Pancaraatras revealed through NAradA and SAndilya muni are as valid as the Vedas, since they are derived from the same source, the divine Person, NArAyanA.

The other two philosophical works that are also lost are Purusha-nirnaya and kasmIra-Agama-pramAnyA. Also, the portion of the VedArthasangraha of Sri RAmAnujA dealing with the supremacy of Vishnu is based on the Purusha-nirnaya.

The devotion and regard which Sri RAmAnujA had for this great teacher and his compositions, can well be understood by the following verse:
“yat padAm bhOruhad dhyAna vidhvasta asesha kalmasha:|
vastutAm upayAtO aham yAmunEyam namAmi tam||
which means,
“I offer my salutation to YAmunAchArya by meditation on whose holy feet, I have all my blemishes destroyed and attained to the status of my current existence.”

References:
Contribution of YAmunAchAryA to Visistadvaita, Dr.M.Narasimhacharya
Ramanuja on the BhagavadGita, Van Buitenen
Sri Sadagopan Swami’s website:
http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/sundarasimham/ebooks/ASRatnam.pdf
A history of Indian philosophy, Surendranath Dasgupta (google this)