VENDANTA-THE TRINITY

VEDANTA -THE TRINITY

SAI SUDHA

Vedanta is a combination of two words.' Veda' which means 'knowledge' and 'anta' which means 'the end of' or 'the goal of'. Knowledge here means the knowledge of God as well as the knowledge of our own divine nature. Then Vedanta is the search for self-knowledge as well as the search for God. Vedanta is a philosophy taught by the Vedas, the most ancient scriptures of Santana Dharma or Veda Dharma. Its basic teaching is that our real nature is divine. God or Brahman as it is called exists in every being.

The following are some of the main tenets of Vedanta. God is one without a second, absolute and indivisible. We are primarily consciousness, part of the cosmic consciousness. All manifestations of God on earth are actual embodiments of divinity. There is no accident in the cosmic universe. Human destiny is governed by the law of karma (cause and effect). There is a higher state of consciousness, which can be achieved, in this human birth. Not only this is possible, it is inevitable. God realization is our birthright. Vedanta affirms that all religions teach the same basic truths about God, the world and our relationship to one another. Thousands of years ago the Rig Veda declared "Truth is one, sages called it by various names " Even though Vedanta is the philosophical foundation of Santana Dharma (Hinduism), it is universal in its application and equally relevant to all countries, all cultures and all religious backgrounds.

All ethics are merely a means to the end of finding God within us. 'Right' action is one, which brings us nearer to the knowledge of God. 'Wrong' action leads us away from that knowledge. Our idea of 'good or 'evil' are therefore only relative values and must not be used as an absolute standard by which we judge others. Each of us has an individual problem and individual path of development. But the goal is the same for all.

There are three major schools of thought in Hindu philosophy about the relationship between humans and the truth- Dvaita, Advaita and Visistadvaita, which means in English, Dualism, Non-Dualism and Conditional non-Dualism respectively. The three great Hindu sages who contributed to these three concepts were Madhwa Acharya, Sankara Acharya and Ramanuja Acharya in the same order.

DVAITA: (Dualism) Madhwacharya said, "Man is a servant of God" and established his Dvaita philosophy. He was born in 1199 A.D at Velali, a few miles from Udipi in the district of south Karnataka in south India, in a Tulu Brahmin family to Madhya Geha and Vedavati. Madhwa is regarded as an incarnation of Vayu, the wind God. He took to the study of Vedas and Vedangas and became well versed in them. He took sannyasa in his twenty fifth year and initiated by Achyuta Prakashacharya. Madhwacharya is the great exponent of Dvaita School of philosophy. His Vaishnavism is called Sad-vaishnavism in order to distinguish it from Sri-Vaishnavism of Ramanujacharya. According to Dvaita, the Supreme Being is Vishnu or Narayana. The worship of Vishnu consists of Ankana, marking the body with His symbols; Namakarana, giving the names of the Lord to children and Bhajana, singing His glories. Madhwa stressed on constant practice of the remembrance of God (smarana). He says then only it will be easy for us to remember Him at the moment of death. The aspirant should equip himself with the study of Vedas, control of senses, dispassion and perfect self-surrender, if he wants to have the vision of the Lord.

VISISTADVAITA:(conditional non-dualism) Ramanujacharya said, " Man is ray or spark of God " and established his Visistadvaita philosophy. Ramanuja was born in 1017 A.D in the village of Perumbudur, about 20 miles west of Chennai (Madras). His father was Kesava Somayaji and his mother was Kantimathi. After his father's death, Ramanuja went to Kancheepuram to study the Vedas under Yadavaprakasha, a teacher of Advaita philosophy. About the end of the tenth century, his Visistadvaita philosophy was well established in south India and the followers of this creed were in charge of important temples of Kancheepuram, Srirangam, Tirupathi and other important places.

Yamunacharya, a great sage and profound scholar and was also the head of the Mutt at Srirangam. Yamunacharya before his death, he left instructions that he had three wishes, which Ramanuja was to be requested to fulfill, viz; that a Visistadvata Bhashya should be written for the Brahma sutras of Vyasa, and the names of Para Sara, the author of Vishnupurana and saint Sadagopa should be perpetuated. Ramanuja was deeply touched, and in the cremation ground itself, before the dead body of Yamunacharya, he made a solemn promise that God willing, and he would fulfill all the three wishes of Yamunacharya. Ramanuja lived 120 years, and in the course of his long life, he fully redeemed his promise by fulfilling all the three wishes of Yamunacharya.

Ramanuja proceeded to Thirukottiyur to take initiation from Nambi for japa of the sacred Mantra " Om Namo Narayana. After a long struggle and difficulties he was initiated by Nambi and was told by Nambi " Ramunuja keep this Mantra secret. This Mantra is a powerful one. Those who repeat this Mantra will attain salvation. Give it only a worthy disciple previously tried ". But Ramanuja has a very large heart. He called all the people irrespective of caste and creed to assemble before the temple. He stood on the top of the tower above the front gate of the temple of Srirangam and shouted on the top of his voice, the sacred Mantra to all of them. Nambi after he came to know of this became furious. Ramanuja said " O my beloved guru! Please prescribe a suitable punishment for my wrong action, I will gladly suffer the torture of hell myself, if millions of people could get salvation by hearing the sacred Mantra through me ". Nambi was very pleased with Ramanuja and blessed him.

After traveled through the length and breadth of India to dissipate the path of devotion, Ramanuja finally reached Srirangam and settled there. Ramanuja refers to three realities, viz; God, Soul and Matter. The first alone is independent and the other two being dependent on Him. He pointed out that we experience temporary separation from the Lord, which can be overcome through the method of devotion. Devotion is also a severe discipline and hence’ Yoga’ the starting point as well as the final movement in Ramanuja's 'Bhakti Yoga' is faith in a loving God. At the same time Ramanuja cautioned that the personal God must not become a fetish leading to intolerance.

ADVAITA:(Non-Dualistic theory) Sri Adi Sankara said, " Man is identical with Brahman or eternal Soul " and established his Kevala Advaita philosophy. According to Sankara, there is a screen of illusion (Maya), which separates man from God. As soon as man realizes his folly and comes out of his illusion. He is one with the infinite.

Sri Sankara was born in a very poor Brahmin family in 788 A.D in Kaladi village near Cochin in Kerala. His parents were Sivaguru and Aryamba. There is an un-ending controversy about Ankara’s birth date even today. According to one great man, it was Panchami; a Sunday in the month of Vaishaki of the year Nandana in the early hours of the morning during 'Brahmamuhurtha' Sankara was born in Kaladi village in God's own country, Kerala. We were very fortunate to visit Sankara's birthplace on the closing days of 2003, where his mother's samadhi is also present. There was Telugu speaking priest at the Ashram and he explained all the important events and showed the places of Sankara's early life. It is a place worth visiting in one's life if possible.

The period of Sankara's birth was witness to the spiritual degradation of India and a mass adaptation of atheistic philosophies by Indians. Atheistic forms of Buddhism were rampant and denying the existence of God. His father died when Sankara was seven years old. One day Sankara and his mother went to bathe in a river. Sankara plunged into the water and felt that a crocodile was dragging him by the foot. He shouted out to his mother " O dear mother! a crocodile is dragging me down. I am lost; let me die peacefully as a sannyasin. Let me have the satisfaction of dying as a sannyasin. Give your permission now ". His mother allowed him to take sannyasa. Sankara took Apath-sannyasa (the adoption of sannyasa when death is near) at once. The crocodile let him go un-harmed. He left his mother under the care of his relatives and gave away his little property to them. Before he left told his mother to think of him at the time of her death, so that he will come and perform her funeral rites.
Sankara met Swami Govindapada in Badrinath in the Himalayas. Govinda was very much pleased with Sankara and initiated him. Swami Govinda taught him the philosophy of Advaita. After teaching all the philosophy Govinda asked Sankara to go to Kashi. He has written the commentaries on the Gita, the Upanishads and the Brahma sutras in Kashi when he was sixteen years of age. Then he became a master of all the philosophies and theologies. Sankara’s philosophical conquests are unique in the world. He had his triumphant tour all over India. He convinced and won over the leaders of different schools of thought. He went to all celebrated seats of learning. His arguments with Madana Misra were noteworthy. It lasted several days and Sankara won the contest and Madana Misra became his follower and sannyasin. Sankara ascended the seat of omniscience after inviting Vedic scholars from all parts of India and answering their numerous questions. Sankara by vanquishing all the religious opponents of his day and they belonged to no less than seventy two different schools and establishing his superiority of the Vedic Dharma, has become the Jagadguru of all. Because of his glorious achievements, he is acclaimed as the very incarnation of Lord Shiva. In Kashi, while having 'darshan' of the presiding deity, Viswanath, Sankara offered the following prayer, " O Lord! I have come to you for the expiation of my sins ". What? sins for Sankara! Yes Sankara himself gave the answer as follows: " O Lord Shankara! My first sin is that in spite of my knowing and teaching others that God is beyond mind and speech, I have tried to describe you through several hymns composed by me. This betrays lack of conformity between my thought and word. Next, having been convinced that God pervades and permeates everything in the manifested universe, I have been preaching this truth to one and all. Nevertheless, I have come to Kashi to have your Darshan. This shows that my thoughts, words and deeds are at variance with one another. This is my second offence. Thirdly, I have firm belief that one and the same Atma (self) is immanent in all beings and there is no difference between Jivatma (individual soul) and the Paramatma (God) While I have been proclaiming this truth in all my discourses, I have now come here to stand before you as if we two are separate and different from each other. This is my third sin. Hence I pray that I may be absolved of all these three sins, of which I am guilty ". So even Adi Sankara had sins!

When Sankara was giving a spiritual discourse, one young man asked him why all human beings in this world should not be regarded as equal, since the same kind of blood flows in them? Sankara told that it is not possible for man to distinguish between permanent and impermanent things. One can adopt the notion of non-duality (Advaita) in one's thoughts and attitudes, but it is not possible to put everything in the world into practice. The young man protested that it does not seem right. To explain clearly, Sankara asked the young man whether he had mother, wife, sister and mother-in-law. He asked whether he was treating them equally and if in particular, he was treating his mother as his wife and his wife as mother. Vedanta philosophy is really that intricate.

Sankara returned to Kaladi as he promised, before he left that he would be with her in the last minutes of her death. He encountered serious difficulties in performing the funeral rites to his mother and he him self carried the body on his shoulders to the back yard of their house and cremated. Then Sankara returned to Sringeri where he established a Mutt before. After words he went to Ujjain to put down the atrocities of the Bhairavas who were shedding human blood. He then proceeded to Dwaraka and established a Mutt there. He then went to the Himalayas, and built a Mutt at Joshi and a temple at Badri. He then proceeded to Kedarnath higher up in the Himalayas. He became one with the Linga in 820A.D in his thirty second year.

Sringeri peetha in Karnataka is one of the oldest monasteries of the world flourishing for over twelve centuries now. It is the first of the four seats of learning established by Sri Sankara, the other three being, Puri, Dwaraka, and Joshi Mutt, each of them representing the four Vedas of Veda Dharma ( Sanatana Dharma) i.e.-Hinduism Sankara's Kevala Advaita philosophy can be summed up in the following words-
BRAHMA SATYAM, jAGAT MITHYA, JEEVO BRAHMAIVA NA APARAH- Meaning Brahma is real, the world is unreal, Jeeva is identical with Brahman. Sankara is the foremost among the masterminds and great souls, which Mother India has produced. Of all the ancient systems of philosophy, that of Sri Sankara will be found to the most congenial and most easy of acceptance to the modern mind.

Apart from the Trinity of Vedanta, namely, Madhwa, Ramanuja and Sri Sankara described above, there are a couple more worth mentioning. Vallabhacharya, the founder of Vaishnavite cult of Rajasthan, and Gujarat was born in 1479 A.D at Champaranya, Raipur in Madhya Pradesh. He was a Telugu Brahmin and a contemporary of Sri Chaitanya Maha Prabhu. He is regarded as an Avatar of Agni (Fire God) According to his Pure Monism or the Shuddadvaita school of philosophy; Sri Krishna is the highest Brahman. Last but no means least is Nimbarka, son of Aruna Muni and his wife Jayanti Devi who lived in Vaiduryapattnam, on the banks of Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. He flourished in eleventh century A.D Sri Nimbarkacharya is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Hari's Sudarshana chakra or Discus. The Nimbarka sect is found mostly in Brij Bhumi, viz; Brindavan, Nandigram, Barsara and Govardhan etc.

All the above Acharyas were Great Souls. We cannot say Sankara was greater than Ramanuja or Vallabha was greater than Nimbarka. All were Avatar Purushas. Each one incarnated on this earth to complete a definite mission, to preach and propagate a certain doctrine, which was necessary to help the growth of certain type of people who flourished at a certain period, who were in a certain stage of destination. All schools of philosophy are necessary. We, the Human Race are very fortunate to have these divine personalities in Sanatana Dharma of our Golden Heritage

Modern Vedanta is exemplified in the lives and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna a great prophet of nineteenth century India (1836-1886) and Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), his foremost monostic disciple Swami Vivekananda was the first teacher of Vedanta in the west and taught Vedanta in USA and Europe between 1893-1897 and between 1899-1900. If one describes Sri Sankara arguably as father of Sanatana Dharma, then Swami Vivekananda must be the beloved son of Hinduism.


GLORY TO THE ACHARYAS, GLORY TO VEDA DHARMA, MAY THEIR BLESSINGS S SHOWER UPON ALL OF US.

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AUM LOKAH SAMASTHAH SUKHINO BHAVANTHU