VISISHTADWAIDA

VISISHTADWAIDHA


This system of philosophy evolves around Paramatma, Jeevatma and Jagat. All these three are considered as ‘anadhy’. When relating to Paramatma, the jagat is like a spiders web, emanating from Paramatma and the jeevatmas emanate like sparks from the fire. Consequent on some error on the part of jeevatmas they were lying motionless and without any feeling , in Paramatma’s abode and they were made to come down to jagat to start acting in the field of jagat. By the grace of Paramatma – Shriman Narayana – the jeevatmas again return to His abode to lead a life of praising Lord Narayana and enjoying His bliss.

Om Namo Narayanaya is the beeja mantra. By repeating the same mentally, jeevatmas get lifted gradually to Paramatma’s abode, after their existence in this jagat is over. In the word OM which consists of O, U and M, Paramatma and jeevatma are indicated by the first and last letter and the connection between them is indicated by the middle letter. ‘Namah’ indicates Na and Ma i.e. ‘Not I am’ or ‘Mine’ and the apparent meaning is namaskaram. Narayanaya indicates Paramatma. Jeevas are His property i.e. Narayanaya. Thus ‘Om Namo Narayanaya explains the connection between jeevatma and Paramatma and the selfless thoiught of ‘Not I am’.

Before getting initiated to the beeja mantra, one is advised to repeat the japa “shriman Narayana charanow charanam prapathye; shrimathe narayanaya namah. Here ‘shriman Narayana charanow’ is the expansion of OM, prapathye is the alternate for namah and ‘shrimathe Narayanaya namah’ is the expansion of Narayanaya. This japa can be chanted at any time without any special discipline.

Saranagathy and Prapathy are only synonyms, The sloka ‘sarva dharman parthyajya…’ gives the full purport of Saranagathy. Sarva dharman in the sloka means that karma yoga, gnana yoga and even bhakthy yoga (these three are considered as dharma) are to be outlived and mamekam saranam in the sloka indicates Paramatma alone is to be sheltered as saranam for emanicipating from all papas (i.e. punya karmas as well as papa karmas – difference between the two being one is a gold cuff and the other is an iron cuff with which human beings are bound and caught in the vicious cycle of birth and death),. The difference between Karma and dharma is that when karmas are performed with the conscious thought of Paramatma they become dharma and karmas assume the names of karma yogam gnana yoga and bhakthy yoga. Lord declares that without doubt one gets moksha by doing saranagathy. Escapism is not meant by the declaration ‘parithyajya’. Escapism is tamasic in nature. What is meant here is satwik parithyajya i.e. even while performing the dharmas as karma yogi etc., one shoud leave the part of dispensing the result to Lord Narayana. This is the purport of sarva dharman parithyajya. Thus karmas which we perform with ego sense should be transformed as dharma by bringing God’s thought and the resuilt of these dharmas we should relegate to God.

Jeevatma and Paramatma never merge as adwaithins claim. They are distinct and even after saranagathy and after the end of one’s existence here in the jagat, the jeevatma gets a unique status of mukta in the abode of Shriman Narayana and the jeevatma lives there forever praising the Lord and doing kaingaryam. Jeevatma has all the power and status of Lord in the macrocosmic aspect except ofcourse Lakshmeethwam which Lord alone possess.(mukthas dare not aspire for it and the story of Ravana desiring Seetha pratti – another form of Lakshmi – is well known.

Saranagathy explained in the sloka ‘sarva dharman parithyajya’ was expounded in dwapara yuga by Lord Krishna while narrating Geetha. In the yuga of Sri Rama (tretha yuga)a similar sloka appears when describing vibeeshana saranagathy. ‘sakritheva prapannaya thava asmi yachathe; abhayam sarva bhoothebhyo dadami yetat vritam mama'’(means: if one surrenders to me once and once only, I will protect him forever from any one and any trouble) Here surrender to be done once only just like brahmastra and the question of second or third surrender never comes and if done they will be otiose like brahmastra. Yet there is another saranagathy sloka in Varaha purana. Lord Lakshmivaraha declares ‘sthithe manasi, swasthasta sareere, yo nara smarah, khasta bhasham sannibham, tham aham smarami, math bhaktham nayami paramamgathim (means:even if one is similar to a log or stone, by developing sthitha pragna and swastha sareera and constantly contemplate on me – aham smarami – he is my bhaktha and I lead him to vaikunda.

In the first sloka (as in Geeta) Lord assures that without doubt one gets moksha by sacrificing dharmas and surrendering to Him. In the second one (as in vibheeshana saranagathy) Lord assures protection from all men and from all troubles and in the third one Lord Lakshmivaraha emphatically declares that He will lead that bhaktha to Vaikunda. How beautiful the slokas are and the meaning they convey.

Unlike adwaitha theory, Lord Narayana has attributes (gunas)which comprises the jagat and beyond and are in macrocosmic status. Jagat constitutes non-conscious form of Lord and jeeva is the conscious form. Jeeva manifests out of his own essence as already indicated – like sparks from the fire or waves of the ocean or rays from the Sun. It is one with the Lord but yet separate. Lord makes unconscious jeevatmas manifest and to become conscious. Lord projects the jagat like the spiders web.

Savikalpa samadhy is the one advocated by this system of philosophy. Paramatma is compared to the main lamp from which different lamps are lighted. The lamps will remain distinct and ofcourse the supremacy is to the main lamp being Paramatma from which only other lamps could light.

Sanchita and Agami karmas get burned once saranagathy is fulfilled. With regard to prarabdha, the punyas go to the well-wishers and men of satwik nature and papas get transferred to evil doers. Thus on saranagathy one is cleansed of all the categories of karma and he qualifies himself to reach the abode of Lord Narayana.

The exponents of this system interpret the mahavakyas differently. They claim that in the vedas mahavakyas are not given as such. For e.g. the mahavakya ‘Tat twam asi’ is a conjunction of Tat asi and twam asi appearing in different places in the vedas.

The analogy of serpent-rope, mirage-desert are adopted by adwaithins wherein the serpant and the mirage are concluded as maya or vivartham. In the system under discussion the ocean and waves appear to be a near example. Water represents Paramatma; ocean is viswam and the waves are jeevas. The ocean and waves are anadhy along with water. They are manifestation – vibhoothy, they form part of water and yet they are distinct.

As long as one has body-consciousness, nirvikalpa samadhy cannot be attained. For all practical purposes the concept of visihtadwaitha is to be accepted.

As in other systems, visishtadwaitha also commands performing good deeds and avoiding bad deeds. It also recommends tatwa-vichara and to have utmost faith in the supreme Lord Narayana. One should also realise his helplessness which is a prelude to saranagathy. It also advises not to do paradevada upasana, probably for the reason that the mind should not get distorted by sankalpas regarding various Gods. While seeing other Gods they should entertain the thought that the antharyami in those Gods is Shriman Narayana alone.

It is said that bedha sruti is adopted by Shri Madva to evolve dwaida philosophy and Sri Sankara adopted abeda sruthy to establish adwaitha. Shri Ramanuja synthesised the above two and adopted kataka sruti.