The Philosopher-Saint Ramanujacharya

The 1005th birth anniversary of Sri Ramanujacharya was celebrated on 6th May 2022. The date of his birth anniversary is decided on the basis of the Tamil solar calendar. Ramanujacharya was considered a great saint philosopher, thinker, and social reformer. He infused equality and devotion among the common people and organized the concept of monotheism based on Prasthana Traya.
Ramanujacharya was born in 1017 AD in Sriperumbudur village, Known as ‘Ilaya Perumal’ (Ilaya Perumal), meaning- ‘Luminous’. He is considered the most respected teacher of Vaishnava philosophy. He is famous as the originator of ‘Vishishtadvaita’ in the Vedanta philosophy tradition. Ramanuja was a worshiper of Saguna God. He carried forward the tradition of ancient Bhagavata (Vaishnava) religion through his ideas and gave it a philosophical basis.

The Early Life of Ramanujacharya:

From a young age, he showed amazing talent and was kind to everyone. He got married at a young age, and after the death of his father, Ramanuja and his family moved to the neighbouring town of Kanchipuram. He took Initiation from Yadava Prakaasa, a famous scholar of Advaita. Historical data show that since Ramanuja emphasized the idea of ​​Advaita, Bhakti contradicted Yadava Prakaasa’s knowledge. Seeing this as a threat to the school of philosophy, he decided to kill young Ramanuja. But, one of his cousins Gobind Bhatt discovered the conspiracy and saved him. He was inspired by Yamunacharya, he saw his corpse in a position three-finger folded and initiated the theory of three tasks. Ramanuja took Yamunacharya as his grand-acharya and spent six months learning the philosophy of Acharya and Vishishtadvaita, as taught Yamunacharya to his disciple Mahapurna.
Soon, Ramanujan realised that his married life is interfering with his philosophical goals, so he surrender his married life and sent his wife to her home.

Ramanujacharya and His Writing:

 Ramanuja wrote nine works including his famous commentary on the Vedanta sutra known as Sri Bhashya. Vedarthasangraha (literally, “The Summary of the Vedas”), Sri Bhashya (Review and Commentary on the Brahma Sutras), Bhagavad Gita Bhashya (A Review and Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita), and there are short works called Vedantadipa, Vedantasara, Gadiya Triyam (which is a compilation of three texts called Sarnagati Gayadam, Sriranga Gadyam and Srikanta Grandam), and Nitya Grantham which explain the glory of surrender as a means to salvation. Ramanuja received Knowledge from five different people, whom he considered his teacher, is Periya Nambigal, Thirukkottiyur Nambigal, Thirumalai Nambigal, Tirumalai Andan and Thirukachi Nambigal, from each of whom he learned various ‘secrets’ of the Vaishnava tradition.

Ramanujacharya and his Philosophy:

1. Medieval Vibhuti Ramanujacharya strongly challenged the ‘monism’ of Adi Shankaracharya on intellectual grounds and propounded ‘Vishishtadvaita’. In this, the three elements namely Ishvara (Brahm), Jiva (Atman) and Prakriti are considered to be eternal.
2. According to this view, although both the world and the soul are different from Brahman, they arise from Brahman and they are related to Brahman in the same way as its rays are related to the sun. Therefore Brahman, though one, is many.
3. Under this, the Mayavad of Adi Shankaracharya has been refuted. Shankaracharya has described the world as Maya and described it as false. But according to Ramanuja, the world has also been created by Brahma, so it cannot be false. According to him, Maya means the wonderful creation-power of God and Avidya means ignorance of the soul. Ramanuja has given seven arguments to refute Shankaracharya’s Mayavada, which are called ‘Saptanupati’.
4. Ramanuja considers ‘knowledge to be a substance’ and gives three means of its attainment – direct, guess and word. The most important of the knowledge ideas of Vishishtadvaita is – ‘All sciences are real’.
5. According to Ramanuja, Brahma or Ishvara is a sagun element. There are some distinct differences between Atman and Brahman. The soul is the atom and Brahman is Vibhu (omnipresent). Unlike the soul, Brahman is complete and infinite, the soul is part of and dependent on Brahman. Just as the part can never be complete, quality can never matter, in the same way, the soul can never be Brahman.
6. According to this view, there are three types of souls – conditioned soul, muktatma and nityatma. ‘Conditioned soul’ means the body-conditioned soul existing in the material world, ‘Muktatma’ means attaining the company of God and ‘Nityatma’ means being constantly engaged in the service of God in Vaikuntha with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They are not reborn.
7. The third element in Ramanuja’s philosophy is ‘Prakriti’, which is inert or unconscious. It is a non-knowledgeable and perishable substance. God creates the world from the seed of nature and from the accumulated actions of the souls. Sattva, Raja and Tama are the three qualities of nature and all worldly things have a mixture of these three qualities.

Conclusion:

Ramanuja has described Bhakti as the best means of attaining salvation, which is always accessible to all. Ramanuja has described Bhakti as the stylish means of attaining deliverance, which is always accessible to all. According to them, in the state of deliverance, the soul doesn’t combine with the Supreme Soul( Brahma) but becomes akin to the Brahman.