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anthraDhikaraNam -1-1-7



Suthra-21-anthah thaddharmO padhEsAth-1-1-21



The one within (the Sun and the Eye is Brahman) because of the
characterstics mentioned therein.



The opponent argues that the creation may not be possible for jivas with
less merit but those with  great merit like the Sun, Indra and
PrajApathy( the creator Brahma) it could be possible.



  The text 'ya esho anthrAdhithyE purushah dhrsyathE hiraNyasmasru
hiraNyakesah ApraNakhAth sarva Eva suvarNah; thasya yaTHA kapyAsam
pundarikam EVa akshiNee; thasya udhithi nama sa esha sarvEbhyah
pApmabhyah udhithah.' (Chan.I-6 to 8)



This means  the golden person seen inside the Sun with goldenbeard and
hair ,whose eyes are like full blown lotus and who is named 'uth,' has
risen above all evil. Later the text goes on to say that rk and saman
are his joints and He is the Lord of all worlds beyond the Sun and all
objects desired by the gods.



The passage continues with the text ' aTha ya EshO antharakshiNi
purushah dhrsyathe , there is this purusha who is seen in the eye ,' and
this purusha is mentioned as the same who is seen in the Sun.



Now the doubt is whether this person is Brahman or the individual
self.The poorvapakshin argues that it must be the jiva on account of
being mentioned as possessing a body. When the jiva attains moksha, that
is, attains brahmanhood, because the individual self is none other than
Brahman,  there is no embodiment in its natural state. This is
substantiated by the struthi 'na ha vai sasarirasya sathah priyApriyayOh
apahathirasthi; asariram vA va santham na priyApriyE
sprsathah,(Chan.VIII-12-1) there is  no relief from pleasure and pain
for the jiva as long as it is in the body but once it is free from
embodiment joy and sorroow do not affect it.' Though it may not be
possible for a soul bound by karma to possess supreme powers like
creation and mastery over the world ,  highly evolved souls like the sun
,moon and the like may possess such powers, final evolution being unity
with Brahman, which is the real state of the individual self described
by 'asthoolam anaNu, neither gross nor subtle etc.



The suthra antharthaddharmopadesath refutes this. The words 'sa Esha
sarvebhyahpApmabhyah udhithah' in the passage about the purusha in the
Sun clearly indicates the Supreme self only as apahathapApmathvam means
free from karma which does not apply to individual soul however evolved
it may be. So this denotes the attribute of Brahman only. Ramanuja here
quotes the texts to prove this. 'Esha AthmA apahatha pApmAvijarO
vimrthyuh vishoko vijighathso apipAsah sathyakAmah sathya sankalpah,
(Chan.VIII-1-5) He is the inner self of all, free from evil,old
age,death, grief,hunger and thirst, of infallible desire and will.' and
Subala upanishad speaks of the ineer self of all as Lord Narayana.' Esha
sarvabhoothAnthrAthmA apahathapApmA divyO deva EkO nArAyaNah.'



Ramanuja further says that the other characterestics mentioned in the 
vedic texts like 'sO akAmayatha bahu syAm prajAyeya, it desired to
become many, which denotes Brahman creating by will, being sathyakAma
and sathya sankalpa, and other attributes like being the cause of fear
and fearlessness, possessing transcendental bliss inexpressible by
speech or thought, do not apply to the jiva.



The argument that because the purusha in the Sun is mentioned as having
a body it must be only an individual soul is not tenable, says,
Ramanuja, because Brahman being sathyakAma and sathya sankalpa can
assume any body at will whereas the embodiment of the individual soul is
subjected to karma and not controlled by the jiva. Moreover the argument
may hold good if the sarira described is prAkrtha, made up of three
guNas. But the sarira of the Lord Narayana, who is synonymous with
Brahman of the upanishads, says Ramanuja, is not prAkrtha. He is the
embodiment of bliss, free from all imperfections, possessing infinite
auspicious qualities unparallelled and as such He takes wonderfully
resplendent, beautiful, fragrant, graceful exquisite youthful forms to
grace His devotees because He is the ocean of mercy, magnanimity,easy
accessibility, love and other divine qualities. This is why sruthi
proclaim Him to be 'ajAyamAno bahuDhA vijAyathE,' the one who manifests
in many forms eventhough He has no birth. Ramanuja quotes profusely from
the scripture to show that there are abundant sruthi texts to prove his
point. ' na thasya kAryam karaNam ch vidhyathE na
thathsamaschAbhyaDHikascha dhrsyathE; parAsya shakthirviviDhaiva
srooyathE svAbhAvikee jnanabalakriyAcha'(SVET.6-8), He has no action to
be performed nor needs any instrument of action, there is no one equal
or superior, His power is supreme and diverse and His knowledge,power
and action are His inherent nature.



Smrithi texts like that of Bhagavatgita substantiate this and Ramanuja
quotes from  chapter IV of the Gita the following: 'ajO pi san
avyayAthmA bhoothAnAm eesvarOpi san;prakrthim svAm avashtabhya
sambhavAmi Athma mAyaya, though I am unborn and immutable and the lord
of all, I assume my own nature and manifest myself through my own
mAya.This, the Lord says, He does for the protection of the good and
destruction of the wicked, 'parithrANAya sAdhoonAm vinAsAyacha
dushkrthAm.'

  Ramanuja gives an elaborate elucidation of this passage. 'sadhavah hi
upasakAh, thathparithrANamEva uddhesyam, Anushangikasthu dushkrthAm
vinAsah, sankalpamAthrENApi thadhupapatthEh.' The people referred to as
sAdhu are his devotees and their protection is the main purpose of
manifestation and the punishment of the wicked is only a natural
consequence because it could be achieved by mere will.



What has been outlined above is a beautiful offshoot  of visishtadvaita
doctrine. If the Lord wished to kill Hiranya kasipu or Ravana or even
Kamsa He could have done it without undergoing the travails of an
avathAra. But it was to protect PrahlAda he took NrsimhAvathAra, to
prove the words of His devotee that the Lord existed everywhere in a
pillar or a blade of grass. Also to protect the words of Brahma. who is
also His devotee, He had to take so much trouble in fulfilling all the
conditions  of the boon given to Hiranyakasipu. Similarly RamAvathAra
was to provide  protection to those who surrendered to Him because He
could have killed Ravana from Ayodhya itself without straining Himself
and going to DandakAraNya, which was mainly to promise protection to the
rshis there.Likewise KrishNa incarnated as the son of vasudeva to shower
His grace on His devotees , while annihilation of the wicked was
ancillary.





Suthra-22-bhEdhavyapahEsAccha anyah-1-1-22



It is different ( from individual self) because of the distinction made.



The Supreme self is distinguished from the beings like the Sun by sruthi
texts that speak of it as the inner self of all. 'ya AdhithyE thishTan
AdhithyAth antharah yam AdhithyO na vedha yasya Adhithyah sariram ya
Adhithyam antharo yamayathi, He who being in the Sun is different from
the Sun, whom the Sun does not know, whose sarira is the Sun,and who
controls the Sun from within.' Similar expressions are found with
respect to Athman, earth and other entities. Further Ramanuja quotes
from subAla upanishad the following text.'yo aksharam anthare sancharan
yasya aksharam sariram yam aksharam na vedha, yO mrthyum anthre
sancharan yasya mrthyuh sariram ya mrthyuh na vEdha, Esha
sarvabhoothAnthrAthmA apahathpApmA divyo deva Eko nArAyanah, who is
moving inside the imperishable (the individual self)  whose body is the
imperishable, whom the imperishable did not know, who moves inside
death, of whom the death is the body, whom death did not know, He is the
Self of all beings , free from all evil, the divine Lord Narayana. Hence
Brahman being the Self of all from HiraNyagarbha down to individual
jiva, is different from them. Thus ends the antharaDHikaraNam.















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 
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