UBHAYAVEDAANTA This term is quite familiar to all the Srivaishnavites or at least we have seen it in any wedding invitation whenever a swamin is addressed there is the prefix U.V.before the name. What does it denote? The history behind the term Ubhaya-Vedaanta is most significant because it describes the hymns of Azhvars-The Holy Four Thousand (Nalaayira Divyaprabandham) came to be revered as Vedas in Tamil language and the rich meanings are as important as Vedantaas.Swami Desikan names his treatise on Nammaazhvar’s Thiruvoimzhi as Dramidoupanishad saaram and Dramidoupanishad taatparya rathnavali. Sri Manavaala Maamunigal in his magnum opus “Aachaarya Hrdayam”says in unequivocal terms that Tamil is as anaadi (without beginning-eternally revered) as Sanskrit so also Vedas and Prabandhas.Even though the authorship of Prabandhas is known unlike that of Vedas the hymns of the Azhvars are considered in our Srivaishnava tradition to be with from the beginning (aadi)from the Azhvars only in the sense that they were revealed by Him only and Azhvars were only instruments through whom His will is revealed to us. A true Srivaishnavite is supposed to have mastered both Vedas and Hymns of Azhvars and as this two-pronged learning makes him an Ubhaya-vedanthi through traditional training (Kaalakshepam) under a learned achaarya who imparts knowledge to him with emphasis on Sri Bhashayam and Bhagavad vishayam.The first one is for understanding the various interpretations of Upanishads where the Supreme Being is described as Brahman. Upanishads are esteemed Sruthi vakya-s par excellence. But a superficial study may result in coming to a conclusion that the vakyas are inconsistent and the greatest Vedantic philosopher Sri Ramanuja harmonized them through interpretation and elucidation. The second one is to focus on the works of Azhvars which are the sources for the systemization for Sri Ramanuja in the establishment that the Brahman is none other than Lord Narayana. After Sri Ramanuja, we see in our Sri Vaishnaava samradaya two Acharya Paramparas –Sri Bhashya Parampara and Bhagavad vishaya parampara and this tradition flourished side by side. These two traditions blended together in the name of Ubhayavedanta explicating the Srivaishnava sampradhaaya.The Achaaryans who are proficient in both traditions are revered as Ubhayavedantacharya.

We will see in our forthcoming “Between Me, You and Beyond” columns the importance given to Acharya in our tradition.

As a sequel to our earlier topic UBHAYA VEDAANTA it is but natural for a student of Sri Vaishnavism to ponder with a question whether Tamil has been given equal importance as Sanskrit in our tradition. For any outsider Vaishnavism is more or less synonymous to Sanskrit and both are intertwined and intermeshed. But the truth is it is only partly correct. Tamil is given parallel importance in our tradition as Sanskrit and our Azhvars and acharyaas have bestowed on the progeny many literary religious works par excellence in Tamil. “The Holy-4000”-the Nalaayira DivyaPrabandham can rightly designated by this name- is a collection of hymns by the twelve Azhvars of antiquity considered and revered in our tradition as God’s own words. The Tamil handled by them is lucid, chaste, and intelligible and with the innate transparency they make known what is concealed in Vedas. Our acharyans have rightly named Vedas as MARAI (மறை) in Tamil as they are not explicit in defining what Brahman is but the Tamil counterpart” The Holy 4000” is vividly makes it that the Brahman (ப்ரஹ்மம்)  is only Lord Narayana.That is why Swami Desikan the most colorful personality in the post-Ramanuja period of Vaishnava Philosophy declares in his "Adhigara Sangraham" “seyyat tamizh maalaigal naam theliya othi theliyatha marai nilangal thelikinrome” (செய்ய தமிழ் மாலைகள் நாம் தெளிய ஓதி தெளியாத மறை நிலங்கள் தெளிகின்றோமே!) The unintelligible meanings of Vedas are clearly understood by us through the garland of Tamil hymns woven by the Azhvars! A better encomium to Tamil and The Holy 4000 we cannot perhaps find anywhere else! The Azhvars have not only sung the greatness of Vishnu but also they have glorified Tamil to a very great extend equating the language itself to Him. We see in Perumal Thirumozhi of Kulasekara perumal “Amarargal thanthalaivanai anthamizhin inbapaavinai, avvadamozhiyai “-Thou art sweet as the songs of Tamil language, O! Lord! (1.4) Azhvar says clearly that the Lord Kannan is the northern language (Sanskrit) and the poem of sweet joy in Tamil pleasing to all senses! Another quote from Thirumangai Azhvar”s Thiru neduntandakam (stanza 4) “Irunilam kaal, thee.neer, vin bootham ainthumai Senthirattha thamizh osai vadasol aagi”

-Oh! Lord! You are the five elements –Earth, water, fire, air and space, the poetry of Tamil and the Sanskrit Vedas. Madurakavi who has composed hymns only on his preceptor Nammazhvar says about his guru, « Arul kondadum adiyavar inbura arulinan avvaru maraiyin porul Arulkondu aayiram inthamizh paadinan arulkandeer ivvulakinil mikkathai » By His grace my guru sang thousand songs in lucid Tamil and a bigger grace you cannot show for he did grace the Vedas! We can quote innumerable instances to show the importance given to our language in our tradition and we, the vaishnavites stand second to none in the upkeep of the language for centuries about which we can be proud of! There are several other instances to quote as references to consolidate the point that Tamil has always had its right place in our Tradition.Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar the younger son of Vadakku thiruveethi Pillai who along with his elder brother Pillailokacharya had done commendable services to the cause of Vaishnavism, about which we will discuss later, drives home elaborately the point that Tamil is as eternal as Sanskrit in his work Aachaarya Hrdayam. We find corroborative evidences in the trans-lingual book-Lilatilakam –a Malayalam grammar book where Nammazhvar’s Thiruvoimozhi is referred as Dravida Veda.

Subsequent to our discussing the topics on Ubhaya Vedaanta and the Importance of Tamil in Sri Vaishnava tradition in this forum the focus now will be on Manipravaalam which is only the natural offshoot of our tradition’s acceptance of two religious languages which were given equal and parallel acknowledgement. Manipravalam was a literary style that was dominating the medieval liturgical texts in South India in which a South Indian language is mixed with Sanskrit. So we have Manipravala style in Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu apart from Tamil literature.Manipravaalam literally means “pearl and coral” meaning a blend of two languages .In Tamil they are Tamil and Sanskrit and in Malayalam it is Malayalam and Sanskrit. The term Manipravaalam is applied to the Tamil prose literature of the Vaishnavas and Jains which came into existence between the twelfth and fifteenth century. The Vaishnava Manipravaala takes its origin soon after the period of Ramanuja when Thiru Kurugai Piraan Pillan wrote the first ever commentary on Nammazhvaar’s Thiruvoimozhi “Thiru Aaraayirappadi”in Manipravaala style an admixture of Sanskrit and Tamil and it is the first Manipravaala prose in Vaishnava literature. This was followed by many Vaishnavite Acharyans for almost three to four centuries but by efflux of time the style changed with more words from Tamil dominating the text. For instance if we take Pillan’s work “Thiru Aaraayirappadi”it has long compound sentences with more of Sanskrit words and all the Sanskrit words are provided with Tamil endings In this context mention should be made about the style of writing texts in those days and how the text derived its name. A PADI is a collection of 32 letters excluding the “otrezhuthu”-like ik, ich, ip etc in Tamil. As Pillan’s commentary had six thousand padis it is named Thiru Aaraayirappadi –the prefix being added to denote that it paved the path for a series of commentaries on Thivoimozhi like Onbathinaayirappadi etc. Nanjiyar’s commentary on Thiruvoimozhi “Onbathinaayirappadi”avoided long sentences replacing with simple sentences but Sanskrit words were still very many.Vadakku thiruveethippillai and Periavaachaanpillai used more Tamil vocabulary in their Thiruvoimozhi commentaries-36000 padi and 24000 padi respectively. Pillai Lokacharya used more of Tamil words introducing sutra style while Vedanta Desikan reverting to the old style of texts with more Sanskrit words but he has shown his exemplary scholarship by writing many prabandhams in pure Tamil and slokas in Sanskrit. Azhagiya. Manavaala perumal Nayanar followed his elder brother Pillai Lokacharya in giving the texts in sutra style but with more Tamil words. Later Manavaala Maamunigal used the simplest prose style of all Achaaryaas.Thus we find a considerable variation in the style and structure of Manipravaala literature by our Achaaryaas. There may arise a question why our Aacharyaas chose this language and style. As we know Ubhaya vedantaa means acknowledgement of both the religious languages Tamil and Sanskrit and because the inner meaning of the scriptures of Azhvars were to be made known to all Vaishnavites it was the responsibility of our great Aacharyaas to take the messages to all diverse people and for this noble task they needed a convenient medium so that both ordinary people and intelligentsia understood well. This combination of Pearl and Coral was very handy for them to serve all! 

The Acharya –paramparaa in our Sri Vaishnava sampradhaaya is very extensive .It is one of the well organized, well developed and perennial systems that is followed up to now from the days of Sri Ramanuja. Starting from Lord Lakshmi Narayana who is considered the First Acharyan this lineage comes down uninterruptedly up to the present Acharyan It is customary to commence any auspicious Sri Vaishnavite ritual with the recital of Guru-paramparaa – sloka which is chanted in two ways- Either starting from the Primary Acharyan and going down to the present Acharyan in the descending order or starting from the present Acharyan and rising up to Lord Narayana in the ascending order.

 In the last chapter we had the exposure to our Acharya Paramparaa - the lineage from Sriyapathi to the present day Acharyan –the link that is maintained uncut in our tradition –and the importance of it from our Vaishanavite point of view. The primary doctrine of Visishtadvaita is intertwined with The Five Basic Prerequisites of our life more specifically known as ARTHA PANCHAKAM- which are classified as
1) to realize about oneself (svaswarupa)
2) to understand His essential form (Paraswarupa)
3) to understand the essential form of the goals of mankind (Purusharthaswarupa)
4) to know of the exact means of obtaining the goal (Upayaswarupa)
5) and to know what are the impediments that stand in between (Virodhiswarupa).
The entire Thiruvoimozhi of Nammazhvar, it can be said, is directed towards explaining these five fundamental tenets which is explicit from the Taniyan to the holy prabhandam மிக்க இறை நிலையும் மெய்யாம் உயிர் நிலையும்
தக்க நெறியும் தடையாகித்க் தொக்கியலும்
ஊழ்வினையும் வாழ்வினையும் ஓதும்
குருகையர்கோன் யாழினிசை வேதத்து இயல் 
This can be explained as follows.
உயிர் நிலை- Svaswarupam
இறை நிலை—Paraswarupam
தக்க நெறியும்- Upayaswarupam
தடையாகி-Virodhiswarupam
வாழ்வினை-Purusharthaswarupam
These five truths of life are always taught to us by the Acharyan only. This is called Artha Panchaka jnanam and for a Mumukshu-one who desires ultimate bliss-Moksha- this knowledge is essential and without an Acharyan it is highly unimaginable to get to know of these or to say even to think of Moksha.So in our tradition the Acharyan is the ultimate ladder who carries us to the Bliss or so to say lifts us from this ocean of samsaaram. The only requisite for this is Acharyan’s love on us and that is why Pillai Lokacharya who has blessed us with Eighteen Rahasya Granthas (ASHTADASA RAHASYA GRANTHAS) says in magnum opus ARTHA PANCHAKAM –that “Acharya abhimaname Uththrakam”( ஆச்சார்ய அபிமானமே உத்தாரகம்) --Teacher’s love only can uplift The role of a teacher does not cease here but it has many facets which we will see in our next issue.

     We have seen in the previous chapter that it is no exaggeration that there is nothing on earth that we can specify as gratuity to be paid to the Acharyan for his services. The only way we can repay is that we should life long be indebted to him and be a tool to propagate his fame and Vaibhavam. The Acharyan should also live up to the expectations of the disciples in both jnanam and anushtanam
As per old sayings the Acharyan should know the meaning of Saasthraas who can teach his wards in a systematic manner and he should also follow what he is teaching the students. He alone is the Acharyan.
"Aachinothi cha saastraarthaan Sishyaan saadhayate sudhee  Swayam aacharti chaiva sa Aacharya iti smruthaa "
Another popular sloka about Acharyan also runs in the same line
AaseenOthihi saastraarthaan AchErasthabayEtyEbhi
Swayam aacharathE yasmaath – Thasmaath aachaarya uchyathE"
Deeply analyzing the esoteric meanings of the Saastraas, understanding them in the correct perspective, evaluating what is to be followed in day today life and practicing the same in his life thereby setting an example to others are some of the qualifications set for the Acharyan.
That is why Manavaala Maamunigal says that once such an Acharyan has been found and taken refuge Lord Narayana will automatically grant Sri Vaikunttham, the ultimate liberation for a man. ஞானம் அனுஷ்டானம் இவை
          நன்றாகவே உடையனான
குருவை அடைந்தக்கால், மா நிலத்தீர்
தேனார் கமலத் திருமாமகள்
            கொழு நன் தானே வைகுந்தம் தரும்
Now the questions arise what is Jnanam (ஞானம்) and what is Anushtanam. (அனுஷ்டானம்)
Jnanam or Knowledge is not referred to ordinary knowledge. It is the knowledge about Lord Narayana, his swarupam-the essential nature. The true knowledge lies in realizing that He alone is the Supreme and all other cetana and achetana (sentient and non-sentient) in this Universe are subservient to Him. First the Tatvathryam is to be clearly understood. There are only three fundamental tatavas “cit, acit and Isvara. Our sampradhayam is known as Srivaishnavism-the word “Sri” is attached as prefix as Ramanuja, who propounded the doctrine “Visitadvaita” could not imagine Vishnu without Mahalakshmi (Sri) as she is always dwelling on His chest, speaks of SARIRA-SARIRI bhava which is most important and significant doctrine. Swami Desikan the most colorful personality in the lineage of Acharyas in the post-Ramanuja period in his Rahasyatraya Saaram calls it Pradhana Pratitantra –the most unique fundamental principle of Vaishnavism expounded by Ramanuja. Here the concept is that all the sentient (cit) and non-sentient (acit) creations of God are considered a part of His body. Both the sarira bhava (body aspect) of the Jeevatma and sariri bhava (soul aspect) of the Paramatma are the spring board from where the entire philosophy takes off. A true realization of this is the key to liberation .That is why Swami Desikan vividly makes it clear in his Tamil prabhandam Amrutha Ranjani
முத்திக்கு அருள்சூட மூன்றைத் தெளிமுன்னம்
இத்திக்காலேற்கும் இதம்
The gateway to liberation is the knowledge about the three fundamentals and that is the only solace for all.
Acharyan, as we have seen earlier, educates us about the Arthapanchakam the five rudimentary requirements one Vaishnavite should know. This basic knowledge of five principles leads him to know the Rahasyatrayam which are three mantras which are
1) The eight syllabled phrase Ashtaaksharam - Aum namo naaraayanaaya
2) Dvayam- the mantra of two phrases
a) Srimannaraayanacarnau saranam prapadye
b) Srimate narayanaaya namah
3) Carama slokam –the final sloka – which is from Bhagavad-Gita Ch 18 sloka 66
Sarvadharman parityejya maam akam caranam vraja I
Aham tva sarvapaaprbhyah moksyisyaami maa sucha II
About these three mantras and their meanings we will see in our subsequent issues.
The Acharyan exposes us to the three Rahasya Mantras which are the key to salvation as they rid us of the bondage from samsaara after making ourselves clear of all our anxieties. In his own inimitable way Swami Desikan vouchsafes for this

மூன்றிலொரு மூன்றும் மூவிரண்டும் முன் நான்கும்
தோன்றத்தொலையும் துயர்.
Hence our tradition keeps the Acharyan in a supreme stage and in a paramount place as he is the path maker for our salvation almost a bridge between the cetana and the Lord.
We can recollect here the words of Madhurakavi Azhvar in his lucid” Kanninun Siruthaambu “which speaks only about the glory of Nammaazhvar
நாவினால் நவிற்று இன்பம் எய்தினேன்
மேவினேன் அவன் பொன்னடி மெய்மையே
தேவு மற்று அறியேன் குருகூர் நம்பி
பாவின் இன்னிசை பாடி திரிவனே.

     The topic cognate to the earlier chapter of ACHARYA VAIBHAVAM should be naturally the discussion on the contribution of the Acharyan in shaping the character of his disciples by exposing them to the rudimentary elements of our philosophy and then uplift them spiritually true to the axiom ‘’ ACHARYA ABHIMANAME UTHTHARAKAM’. The primary doctrine of Visishtadvaita as envisaged by Swami Ramanuja has the following major pedestals as the base on which the entire Srivaishnavism structure stands. We can also say the Rahasyagranthas of our earlier Acharyas also mostly revolve round the same concepts. The knowledge about these basic principles are always imparted to any one by the Acharyan only and once they are understood in clear terms then the disciple stands as a classic example for a Mumukshu – a Mumukshu is one who aims at total liberation or Moksham –and nothing could stop him from his goal. The basic concepts on which the entire Visistadvaita philosophy is based can be summarized as follows. 1) SARIRASARIRIBHAVA 2) PRAPTTHI 3) PURUSHAKAARAM OF SRI 4) PRAPATHTHI To cognize the above in entirety the primary requirement for a cetanan is the knowledge about the tattvas, the rahasyas and ultimately Arthapanchaka which are revealed to him by the Acharyan. The Acharyan teaches us quoting from purvacharya’s granthams the three entities (tattvas) – animate matter (cit), inanimate matter (Acit) and the Lord (Isvara) Ramanuja discusses extensively in Sanskrit these three entities as the basic categories of Visistadvaita but later Acharyans like Pillailokacharya and Vedanta Desikan who accepted his philosophy in toto have made them available for a wider circle because of the Manipravala language in which they chose to write. As regards to the tattvas and their qualities and functions there are different views but the irony is that all the different views are drawn from the same source Upanishads. Upanishads are sruti –vakyas par excellence but on surface they look contradicting and inconsistent. When Buddhism became wide spread with its anti-Vedic tenets and Jainism was also gaining ground the preceptors of our faith did realize the danger to our religion and did want to challenge the non-Vedic religions by their forceful and logical interpretations of and from Vedas and Upanishads and the first great scholar in the hierarchy was Adi Shankara (788AD to 820AD) and he was the first philosopher to consolidate the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of Vedanta.. His teachings are based on the unity of the soul and Brahman, in which Brahman is viewed as attribute less. According to Adi Shankara, God, the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Brahman is the One, the whole and the only reality. Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are false. Brahman is at best described as that infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, impersonal, transcendent reality that is the divine ground of all Being. Brahman is often described as neti neti meaning "not this, not this" because it cannot be correctly described as this or that. It is the origin of this and that, the essential truth, unchanging, eternal, the absolute. How can it be properly described as something in the material world when itself is the basis of reality? Brahman is also beyond the perception-, it would be akin a blind man trying to correctly describe color. It is of course grammatically neutral, but always treated as masculine, though not a substance is the basis of the material world, which in turn is its illusionary transformation. Brahman is not the effect of the world. Brahman is said to be the purest knowledge itself, and is illuminant like a source of infinite light. Due to ignorance (avidya), the Brahman is visible as the material world and its objects. The actual Brahman is attribute less and formless- Nirguna Brahman. It is the Self-existent, the Absolute and the Imperishable and not generally the object of worship but rather of meditation. Brahman can only be described as "Sacchidananda" (merging "Sat", "Chit” and "Ananda"), that is to say a combination of Infinite Truth, Infinite Consciousness and Infinite Bliss). This is the sum and substance of the concept of Brahman in Advaita philosophy which emphasizes non-dualism (abheda) and in contrast to this view Madhvacharya) maintained that there is an eternal distinction between the individual self and the absolute. Difference or bheda is a cornerstone of his theology and scriptural interpretation. Madhvacharya espoused a Vaishnava theology that understands Brahman to be endowed with attributes and a personal God. By Brahman, he referred to Vishnu. For him Vishnu is always the primary object of worship and all others are regarded as subordinate to Him. While each thing is unique, Dvaita philosophy notes five categories of difference (bheda): * Between the Lord (Isvara)) and the self (jiva))
* Between innumerable selves
* Between the Lord and matter (prakriti)
* Between the self and matter
* Between phenomena within matter Sri Ramanuja’s visitadvaita strikes at a convincing balance between these two as it accepts both bheda as well as abheda theories and we will see how convincing and plausible his logic is in subsequent editions.                                           

The topic cognate to the earlier chapter of ACHARYA VAIBHAVAM should be naturally the discussion on the contribution of the Acharyan in shaping the character of his disciples by  exposing them to the rudimentary elements of our philosophy and then uplift them spiritually true to the axiom ‘’ ACHARYA ABHIMANAME UTHTHARAKAM’.

The primary doctrine of Visishtadvaita as envisaged by Swami Ramanuja has the following major pedestals as the base on which the entire Srivaishnavism structure stands. We can also say the Rahasyagranthas of our earlier Acharyas also mostly revolve round the same concepts. The knowledge about these basic principles are always imparted to any one by the Acharyan only and once they are understood in clear terms then the disciple stands as a classic example for a Mumukshu – a Mumukshu is one who aims at total liberation or Moksham –and nothing could stop him from his goal.

The basic concepts on which the entire Visistadvaita philosophy is based can be summarized as follows.

1) SARIRASARIRIBHAVA

2) PRAPTTHI

3) PURUSHAKAARAM OF SRI

4) PRAPATHTHI

To cognize the above in entirety the primary requirement for a cetanan is the knowledge about the tattvas, the rahasyas and ultimately Arthapanchaka which are revealed to him by the Acharyan.

The Acharyan teaches us quoting from purvacharya’s granthams the three entities (tattvas) – animate matter (cit), inanimate matter (Acit) and the Lord (Isvara) Ramanuja discusses extensively in Sanskrit these three entities as the basic categories of Visistadvaita but later Acharyans like Pillailokacharya and Vedanta Desikan who accepted his philosophy in toto have made them available for a wider circle because of the Manipravala language in which they chose to write.

As regards to the tattvas and their qualities and functions there are different views but the irony is that all the different views are drawn from the same source Upanishads. Upanishads are sruti –vakyas par excellence but on surface they look contradicting and inconsistent.

When Buddhism became wide spread with its anti-Vedic tenets and Jainism was also gaining ground the preceptors of our faith did realize the danger to our religion and did want to challenge the non-Vedic religions by their forceful and logical interpretations of and from Vedas and Upanishads and the first great scholar in the hierarchy was Adi Shankara (788AD to 820AD) and he was the first philosopher to consolidate the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of Vedanta.. His teachings are based on the unity of the soul and Brahman, in which Brahman is viewed as attribute less.

According to Adi Shankara, God, the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Brahman is the One, the whole and the only reality. Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are false. Brahman is at best described as that infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, impersonal, transcendent reality that is the divine ground of all Being. Brahman is often described as neti neti meaning "not this, not this" because it cannot be correctly described as this or that. It is the origin of this and that, the essential truth, unchanging, eternal, the absolute. How can it be properly described as something in the material world when itself is the basis of reality? Brahman is also beyond the perception-, it would be akin a blind man trying to correctly describe color. It is of course grammatically neutral, but always treated as masculine, though not a substance is the basis of the material world, which in turn is its illusionary transformation. Brahman is not the effect of the world. Brahman is said to be the purest knowledge itself, and is illuminant like a source of infinite light.

Due to ignorance (avidyā), the Brahman is visible as the material world and its objects. The actual Brahman is attribute less and formless- Nirguna Brahman. It is the Self-existent, the Absolute and the Imperishable and not generally the object of worship but rather of meditation. Brahman can only be described as "Sacchidananda" (merging "Sat", "Chit” and "Ananda"), that is to say a combination of Infinite Truth, Infinite Consciousness and Infinite Bliss).

This is the sum and substance of the concept of Brahman in Advaita philosophy which emphasizes non-dualism (abheda) and in contrast to this view Madhvacharya) maintained that there is an eternal distinction between the individual self and the absolute. Difference or bheda is a cornerstone of his theology and scriptural interpretation. Madhvacharya espoused a Vaishnava theology that understands Brahman to be endowed with attributes and a personal God. By Brahman, he referred to Vishnu. For him Vishnu is always the primary object of worship and all others are regarded as subordinate to Him. While each thing is unique, Dvaita philosophy notes five categories of difference (bheda):

• Between the Lord (Isvara)) and the self (jiva))
• Between innumerable selves
• Between the Lord and matter (prakriti)
• Between the self and matter
• Between phenomena within matter

Sri Ramanuja’s visitadvaita strikes at a convincing balance between these two as it accepts both bheda as well as abheda theories and we will see how convincing and plausible his logic is in subsequent editions. 
 

 

After Sarira Athma Bhavam which is one of the basic concepts of Visitadvaita let us now analyze yet another unique perception- Dharma Buta jnanam of the soul or the Jeevatma. As per Sri Ramanujar's philosophy soul or Jeevatma, as was seen earlier, is different from Paramatma even though both are souls. JEEVATMA- As per Sri Ramanuja's concept Jeevatmas are eternal and ever-existing. They are innumerable in number. There is no difference between two jeevatmas-be it human or a worm and the variation we find only in bodies. Body only differentiates man, woman, or animal or bird. All souls are identical to one another .Jeevatma is not a creation of Brahman and is self -existent. It is atomic in size (anu) and subtle (sukshma).It is not destructible. It is referred as “self “and always denoted by” I”. It is different from twenty four tattvas or reals.It is pure and is the knower.-that is to say having knowledge as its attribute. It has the capacity to experience and enjoy and is capable of desiring for the Ultimate Bliss .It can be commanded by the Supreme and can realize that it is the Brahman's slave. The soul is not only the knower but also a doer and experiencer. The Jiva is the finite or individual self.According to Ramanuja the individual self is the knower unlike in Advaita where it is pure consciousness that knows everything.In Vedartha sangraha he describes that jiva is anaadi,avidya,beginninless and due to accumulation of karma,both good and bad,it enters into different bodies-devatriangmanushya adhi-divine beings,beasts or human beings.The embodied soul gets totally identified with the body it has entered and suffers the misery of samsaaraa.Only spiritual knowledge can help one to get rid of this sasaara cycle which frees one from the transmigration from one body to another. Jiva is not only the knower but also the experiencer. In Rahasya Thraya Saaram Swami Desikan puts it more vividly as “ the self is atomic(anu),subtle(sukshma),indestructible,and is different from other twenty four tattvas and also from Iswara.Self is competent to desire the supreme end that is moksha and he is fit to be commanded by the Supreme being and he is fit to render service.he has in him the power to have direct perception of all things and is entitiled to have unlimited bliss.He is the master of certain things only but ever a servant to the Supreme being.He is also the sesha of the devotees of the Lord and never is independent.He is steeped in ignorance which makes him feel he is master but when the Avidya is destroyed he understands he is only a dependent on the Lord.He has to follow the Upayas to reach the Lord ultimately for which Visistadvaita recommends two paths bhakthi and prapathi. This expanded and contracted knowledge of his is because of Dharma buta jnanam about which we will see in our next issue.