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srI:
SrI  upakAra  sangraham â?? 34
--- 
adikAram â?? 1
poorva upakAra paramparai
(The Foremost Series of Favours) 
---   
SECTION â?? 5 (5) [continued] 
(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for
MOKSHAM)  
-----  
        While mentioning the fifth favour done by the Lord in
the form of saving the Vedic scriptures, Swami Desikam
referred to "anya-shAstra-s" created by the Lord to
divert the attention of opponents of the sAttvika,
virtuous persons:

" sAttvika-viruddha-vyAmOhanArtha-mAka
anya-shAstrangaLai  sruShtikkac  ceitE "

        What are those "anya-scriptures"?  It is but natural
if this question is raised. 
The creator of these is also the Lord Himself, may not
be directly, but through some highly respectable
philosophers. 

        Let us have a look at these philosophies and how
these were tackled by our Saints and AchAryas.  SwAmi
Desikan has left us a work under the name, "Paramata
Bangam" -- Refutation of other systems of Philosophy. 

        In it, he has handled a number of systems and shown
how they are defective. Some of them fall outside the
Vedic system and others, though based on Vedic
scriptures, went wrong in their views. 

        SwAmi Desikan enriched his work with Sanskrit and
Tamil Verses. A collection of Tamil verses occurring
in this work is being recited by Sri Vaishnavites
regularly. It is titled "Paramatha Bangam", the same
as that of the main work. 

        In one verse, he lists out the defects found in those
systems in general: 

        They indulge in perverse disputes in which they use
misleading statements and speak out only those facts
which are in their favour. In this group are the
followers of  KanAda, Goutama, VaiyAkaraNa, MImAmsa
systems. 

        There is another group which includes the followers
of the Bhaskara-YAdava  systems of advaita. They deny
the reality of  objects of the senses. cArvAka,
Bhouddha and Jaina systems say the VedAs are human
creation, while the established fact is that they have
not been any body's creation, including the Supreme
Lord's. 
        
        The followers of SAnkya, Yoga and Saiva systems claim
these were created respectively by Kapila, Brahma and
Pashupati and follow these systems for certain
material benefits. 
        These are four types of defects as categorized by
SwAmi Desikan. 

        Taking up the cArvAka system, SwAmi Desikan says
that according to it, only pratyakSha (perception) is
the only authority. Those things which do not come
within the perception are unreal. So, the dharma,
non-dharma, Ishvara (God), upper worlds which are not
perceived by our senses are false, according to their
theory. 
        However, SwAmi Desikan criticises, cArvAkas infer the
presence of fire on the hill which is not visible to
the eyes, on the basis of the smoke that is visible to
the eyes. They also accept as true a thing when
another person says he has seen it directly. In the
same way they can also accept the inference and verbal
authority as true, SwAmi Desikan points out. 

        SwAmi Desikan next takes up the different sections of
Bhuddhism.  They are four: MAdhyamika, YogAcAra,
sourAntika and Vaibhashika.

        The MAdhyamika  theory is that nothing really exists.
According to it, no authority (PraMaNam) exists to
prove the existence of any vastu. There is no vastu,
as well, which can be known through an authority. 
Thus this peculiar theory is not accepted by  devas
and humans, who dismiss it as ridiculous. Acharyas
condemned the MAdhyamik's theories and protected the
Vedic philosophy. 

        For the YogAcAra, knowledge alone is reality. But
there is no knower and also there is no object which
can be known by knowledge. According to him, knowledge
appears and disappears every moment. But, our AchAryas
refuted this theory and proved the realities of
cEtana(jIvAtma), acEtana(matter) and Ishvara (God) on
the basis of the established authority. 

        The third type of bhouddha, sourAntika's theory did
not accept theory of non-existence of objects proposed
by the YogAcAra. According to him, objects, though
exist, disappear; but they can be known through
inference. Though this knowledge exists for a moment
only and then disappears. Even then, the experience of
the colour etc. of the objects that existed for a
moment, remains with us. Our AchAryas rejected this
theory, saying it is like a child that is breast-fed
by its breast-less mother; like the speech without a
mouth; and like the feet walking with a headless body.
              
        The fourth bhoudhist is VaibhAshika. Acording to him,
knower of an object is unreal, while the knowledge and
the object which is known by that knowledge are real.
This theorist accepts the reality of knowledge and the
object known through that knowledge, but says the
objects have no attributes. This is
self-contradictory. This theory also did not stand
before the arguments of our AchAryAs. 
        
        Next come the philosophers who accept the Vedas, but
base their theories on wrong interpretations of the
Vedic statements. One of them is the advaiti, who
accepts the reality of Brahman as established by the
Upanishads, but does not accept the truth that the
Brahman has attributes and a body. Also he does not
accept the reality of individual souls and the
material world, as both are as unreal. According our
AchAryas, the advaiti is no different from Bhoudhists.

           Then, another non-Vedic religion, Jainism,
was also dismissed by our Acharyas as full of
un-acceptable theories which cannot stand the test of
logic. Jains do not accept the reality of God. They
say the universe originated from what they call
big-atoms (param-aNus). They say, every object in the
world is real as well as unreal at the same time; is a
combination of both difference and non-difference. 
These are self-contradictory theories which can not
stand the test of logic. 
        
        The Advaita philosophies of Bhaskara and Yadavacharya
were also rejected by our AchAryas as they were
self-contradictory and against the established truth
of Upanishads. Similarly, VaiyAkaraNa's theory also
was rejected as a combination of Advaita, YAdavaism
and bhouddha theories in a basket. 
        
        According to the theory of kaNAda, inference
(anumAna) is the only authority; and not the verbal
testimony (sabda). Similarly, the Nyaya theory of
Goutama, is defective. It can be accepted after
correcting its several defects. 
        
        The poorva-MimAmsa does not accept the importance of
Ishvara and deva-s. According to it, the karmas, like
yajna etc., are enough for humans to get their desired
benefits such as heavenly life etc. The yajnA-s
performed by men creates a subtle entity, which they
call as "apoorva" which reserves the intended benefits
and gives to the person concerned later, after his
death. The poorva-mImAmsaka does not give importance
to the uttara-mImAmsa which deals with the means for
liberation and the attainment of Brahman by individual
souls. 
        
        Our AchAryAs established that both poorva and uttara
mImAmsa-s are a single shAstra and have to be studied
together. The first part of the mImAmsa is known as
karma kANda, while the latter is called Brahma kANda.
The followers of the first part claimed that it is a
separate shAstra and they didnâ??t accept the
Brahma-kANda. It was pointed out that the karma bereft
of the important Ishvara is like a body without the
head. At the same time, the mere uttara-kANda  without
karama-kAnda is akin to a head without the body. So,
both the parts are equally important and should be
studied in the order. 

        SwAmi Desikan then takes up the SAnkhya system. Even
though, it accepts verbal testimony along with
pratyaksha (direct perception) and anumAna (inference)
as valid authority of knowledge (pramANa). However, it
does not accept Ishvara, but accepts jIva and
prakruti.  prakruti is a combination of sattva, rajas
and tamas which are not attributes, but substances
(dravya-s). When all the three are in equal
proportions, it is known as moola-prakruti, which is
eternal and non-sensible. It is enjoyed by the jIva.
Moola-prakruti  is all pervasive; ever changing and is
the first cause and itself changes into various
entities from  mahAn  onwards. jIva is eternal; all
pervasive; without any attribute; in the form of
knowledge; not active; different from body to body.
With his association alone, prakruti attains changes.
Just as a blind walks with the help of a lame person,
with the help of the jIva who is of the form of
knowledge, prakruti does it activities. Thus, by this
combination of jIva and prakruti alone, the world
exists. Hence, there is no need to imagine an entity
called Ishvara. If a person knows these 25 tatva-s,
i.e., moola prakruti, mahAn, ahankAram, five elements
-- space, air, fire, water and earth; five tanmAtras -
intermediary entities before the evolution of these
elements; five senses of knowledge; five senses of
action; mind; and jIva, he can attain liberation even
before his death. 
        The SAnkhya theories are condemned for not believing
in righteousness, un-rightiousness and Ishvara, like
the ignorant prattles of hunters in a slum. They are
against the Vedic principles and hence have to be
dumped by the scholars of Upanishads. 

        Next comes, the Yoga system. Though it believes in
the existence of Ishvara, jIva and prakruti, it does
not accept the Vedic concept of the Ishvara as endowed
with all natural auspicious qualities. According to
Yoga philosophers, these qualities are not natural for
the Ishvara. They also give prominence to the theory
of direct realization of jIvAtmA rather than
ParamAtmA. However, they use the Ishvara in furthering
the ashtAnga-yoga for the self-realisation, which they
call as "kaivalya mOksha", enjoying the bliss of Self
alone, bereft of the Ishvara. 

        SwAmi Desikan next deals with the PAsupatha system of
Shiva, a distortion from the Vedic ideology. Shiva is
the Ultimate Reality to be attained by the individual
souls, as proposed in this system. 
         
        In order to save the Vedic ideology from being
destroyed by these newly developed systems, the Lord
himself taught the PAncarAtra shAstra.  In this
shAstra, SrIman nArayaNa is the Ultimate to be
attained by jIva-s. He Himself is the means to attain
Him. Prapatti or saraNagati or surrender at His feet
is the effective means for one and all for attaining
mOksha. In the mOksha state, the liberated jIva-s
enjoy the eternal Bliss in the company of SrIman
nArAyaNa. 

        SwAmi Desikan indicates this: 

"vEdarakShai paNNinatuvum;"  --  The Lord Himself
saved the VedAs and conferred the favour on the
virtuous jIva-s.   

(To continue)
dAsan
Anbil S.SrInivAsan
----- 

   
            
                    
 








      
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