Introduction to Sri Ramanuja's Gita bhashya
Introduction--
Sri Ramanujar was the foremost acharya of Sri Vaishnavaites who has to his credit the honour of popularising Sri Vaishnavism tremendously and propogating Visishtadvaita philosophy far and wide .He lived between 10 th and eleventh century AD .He was born in Tamilnadu and resided there for most of his long life which comprised of a full 120 years of age.
He wrote a commentry on Gita in sanskrit which came to be known as Sri Gita bhashyam.
I had the good fortune to acquire the English translation and the meaning of SriRamanuja Gita bhashya recently.It is written by late Swami Adidevananda who belonged to Ramakrishna mutt.The late swami who passed away in 1983 originally hailed from a Srivaishnavaite family hence , he is said to have to translated Gita bhashya as per Sri Vaishnavaite traditions and philosophy he had inherited by birth.
I have read the bare literal translation of Gita in English several times .It was on reading Sri Ramanujar's commentry which explains the meaning of the slokas lucidly ,easily and in a detailed manner that i could actually comprehend as to what Sri Krishna was imparting through his teachings in the Gita.
Firstly the translation of word Yagna in the pocket edition was always refferred to as sacrifice, which i thought meant the sacrifice of wealth, energy , knowledge and ego .But Ramanujar makes it clear that Yagna means yagna in true sense viz conducting homams which involves propitiating the deities through the good offices of Agni by kindling fire in a homa kunda to the accompaniment of mantras from Vedas.
He also explains that Karma which i took to mean to refer to ones secular duty is only a part of the main Karma of a individual .The main Karma or actions or duties of a person is to follow the rituals mentioned in the Vedas which a person has to do daily known as Nitya karma as well as those he should do occasionally as well as those rituals which are desire oriented which are performed to obtain a specific object of desire known as kamya karma.
So this clearly establishes that Gita is a religious text of Hindus.It gives preeminence to conducting Vedic rituals as a fundamental step towards attaining knowledge of Atma or self and thence forward graduate upwards towards a tougher mode which is bhakthi or pure unstinted devotion to the supreme in order to liberate the individual atma from the vicious cycle of Samasara--repeated births and deaths and restore the atma's freedom and bliss .
As per Gita ,desire and anger are a hindrance ,to Liberation of a atma which keeps getting trapped in earthly bodies .
What is desire?What is anger ?How is it caused ? All this is explained clearly by Ramanujar from a very human point .He seems to have observed human nature very keenly and has explained the stumbling blocks to liberation in such a easy and clear manner that anyone can identify one's emotions with his observations and nod in agreement .
The Bhagwad Gita on a plain reading is quite confusing to a lay person like me. This is owing to the fact that in many of its 18 chapters , the fruit off doing certain acts or the results of a particular mental attitude will be mentioned first at the beginning of the chapter and sections itself and then proceed on to eloborte on the act s and mental attitude in succeeding sections.This descending order is quite confusing to one who is not a scholar .It is at these junctures that Ramanujar steps in and explains to the reader at the very beginning of each chapter as to what the following slokas are about to impart by giving a introduction and heading to a group of sections which clears the confusion and helps the reader to read those important sections as a whole and not in isolation of each other.
In short he gives coherence to a inverted method of putting across the philosophy and advise of Sri Krishna.Ramanujar specifically mentions as to what slokas have to be read as a whole in a particular chapter as well as interlinking and synthising it with rest of Gita as a whole.
Now the question arises as to why Ramanujar lay so much emphasis on Vedas and rituals in his commentry .Viewing this from a historical perspective i can only assume that he ardently felt the need to restore Vedas whose emininece in Hindu's life was being belittled by the powerful influence weilded by other non vedic religions like Jainism and Buddhism ,in the times he lived .Adi Shankaras tremendous efforts to re establish Veda and its practises in 7 th century AD was slowly sinking into oblivion by 11 th century AD .More over many verses in Gita on a plain reading can be interpreted to undermine the importance of Vedas and shastras .Hence Ramanujar took upon himself the onerous task of re- establishing the importance of Vedas in Hindus life.
Ramanujar is known as a great social reformer who brought a large swathes of people outside Vedas to Sri Vaishnavism fold .It was his motto like preceding Sri Vaishnavaite acharyas and aazwars that a devotee of Sriman narayana whatever his social and economic status be is worthy of respect and regard .He widened this perspective in a bold and reformative manner .Despite this reform Ramanujar didnot move away from the Vedas and its practises .He never decried them.He followed them till his end.
Then the question also arises since Krishna has laid so much emphasis on Vedas and shastras as a method to achieve ultimate liberation was he excluding the fourth station and women from liberation .As per vedic traditions the fourth station and women are not competent to read the vedas or perform yagnas, so was he condemning them -a vast majority to eternal bondage ?That is not the case .Sri Krishna himself in a sloka assures specifically to those outside the Vedas that they need only to take refuge in him with whole hearted devotion in him and he will grant them moksham.
Till i read Gita bhasya ,i was paying mere lip service to Sri Ramanujars eminence.Every one .viz scholars ,acharyas and historions down the ages have reiterated that he was great acharya and a,philosopher and that every Sri Vaishnavaite is indebted to him I was mouthing others observations , respect and gratitude for this man who lived 10 centuries back, mechanically, like so many others around me.It was only after reading his commentry that the significance of assigning to him such a exalted position in Hindu philosophical schools of thoughts dawned upon me ,
His explanations and interpretations touched my mind and heart.His vast knowledge of our ancient scriptures and his intellect is apparent in each and every explanation he adduces to the slokas in Gita .More over his explanations are not mere dry intellect but also shows a deep insight into human emotions .It is this combination that made me accept him whole heartedly as my acharya ,making me salute him mentally at every juncture of my reading his amazing products of deep ponderings expressed with tranquil clarity
Acharya means teacher of philosophy and traditions.Sri Ramanujar has lived upto the tittle conferred upon him.He has taught that which has been already taught by the original acharya--Sri Krishna.Ramanujar has understood the full importance and meanings of the teachings of this original Guru of all and has with kindness and immense patience spoon feeds the philosophical gems of Gita to lay persons.This compassionate nature of Sri Ramanujar is discernible through out his commentry.
Note:Restrictions to performance of homams/yagnas owing to one's station viz caste in life and gender that could have existed 1000 years back during Ramanujar's times or 8ooo years or earlier period during which Krishna taught the Gita ,no longer exist .
At present any person desirious of performing yagna or yagnas and has the capacity to afford the bill can do so.The person's caste no longer hinders the performance.In certain regions [like Maharashtra] gender restrictions have also been brushed away .
Note ;The archeological and geological explorations made in seabed near Dwaraka[Gujarat] few years back revealed ancient structures .Carbon dating which is recognised world wide as a scientific method of determining the age of materials revealed that these structures were more than 8000 years old.The epic Mahabharata in its last chapters states that Dwaraka the seat of throne of Krishna was engulfed and consumed by the violent waves of the sea towards the end of his reign.Hence it is reasonable to assume that the ancient structures lying in the sea bed off Dwaraka are the remanants of Krishna's empire and that his chronology can be safely fixed at 6000 BC viz 8000 years back .Mahabharat means The great story of Bharata clan.Bharat was the son of Shakuntala and Dushyant .He ruled this country .It is his name that our country is named after viz Bharat.Pandavas and kauravas -around whom this epic revolves were his descendants Gita is incorporated in this epic.This epic gives in detail the names , life history of a long list of successive rulers who have ruled over Bharat since time immemoriol .It also has innumerable words of wisdom that has made scholars equate it with the Vedas and call it the fifth Veda.
Gita bhashya by Sri Ramanuja
Chapter 1 --Arjuans spiritual conversion through sorrow.
Sri Ramanujar starts the commentry on the first chapter of Gita with prayers to his preceding acharya -Alavandar /Yamnua charya and Sriman Narayana.
Prayer to Yamunacharya:
I offer my salutations to Yamunacharya .By meditating on his holy feet i have all my blemishes destroyed and have attained a authentic existence.
Prayer to Sriman Narayana ;[this prayer tells about the advent of Gita]
Hari Om !Narayana is the consort Sri.He is wholly auspicious and is antognistic to all that is evil.His essential nature consists purely of infinitude, knowledge and bliss.
He has a divine form which is both agreeable and worthy of Him.He is full of radiance , beauty, fragrance, tenderness,with all prevading sweetness and youthfulness.
He is adorned with divine ornaments which are worthy of Him.He is equipped with divine weapons which are appropriate to Him.He is constantly praised by countless suris who are joyfully subservient to Him.
His nature and qualities transcend all thoughts and words .He dwells in imperishable Supreme heaven which is full of wonders.His sportive delight brings about origination, sustenation and dissolution of entire cosmos.
He is supreme .He is Narayana!
He created the entire world beginning from Brahma down to immobile things .He shaped his own figure into likeness of various creatures without giving up his supreme nature and got incarnated in the world of creatures and received their worship and granted Dharma,Artha,Kama and Moksha as per their desire.
Under the pretext of relieving the earth of its burdens he incarnated in this earth as Sri Krishna though his real intention was to make Himself available to us.He thus became the visible object for the sight of all .He performed divine actions.He vanquished demonic persons like Kamsa and others .He spread soothing happiness over the entire world with the ambrosia of his glances and gentle speech conveying His compassion , love and friendliness.
With the oestensible intention of imparting the sons of Pandu the fighting spirit , he actually brought about the descent of Yoga of Bhakthi directed to Himself, promoted with the aid of Gyana yoga and Karma yoga which has been promulgated by Vedanta as the path to release .
When war broke out between Pandavas and Kauravas , He The Lord , The Supreme person , Lord Of all Gods who had taken upon Himself a mortal human form for helping the world owing to His overwhelming love for His devotees who have taken refuge in Him , that Supreme Person made Arjuna the master of the chariot and Himself the charioteer, so that He could be seen by all people.
*************
On the instruction of Arjuna who wanted to see all the combatants Krishna drove the chariot to the middle of the battle field between the two armies
sloka 47-chapter 1. Sanjaya uvacha..Evam uktvarjunah samkhye rathopastha upavisat /
visrijya sasharam capam shoka samvigana -manasah//
Sanjaya said --Having spoken thus in the battle field Arjuna threw aside his bow and arrows , his heart overwhelmed with grief.
Commentry by Ramanuja-- Sanjaya continued .The high minded Arjuna who was extremely kind ,deeply friendly and supremely righteous , having brothers like himself , though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people[sons of Dritharashtra who was listening to Sanjaya's minute to minute relay on the happenings in the battle field] like burning lac house etc and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of Supreme person , neverthles said "i will not fight".
Arjuna felt weak overcome as he was by love and extreme compassion for his relatives .He was also filled with fear that slaying his clan members would lead to corruption of women which will ultimately result in stop ping the Shradha ceremony towards his anscestors and thus incur sin. He didnot know what was right and what was wrong.His mind was tortured with grief at the thought of separation from his relatives , so he flung his bow and arrows and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.
to be contd
.
Sri Ramanujar was the foremost acharya of Sri Vaishnavaites who has to his credit the honour of popularising Sri Vaishnavism tremendously and propogating Visishtadvaita philosophy far and wide .He lived between 10 th and eleventh century AD .He was born in Tamilnadu and resided there for most of his long life which comprised of a full 120 years of age.
He wrote a commentry on Gita in sanskrit which came to be known as Sri Gita bhashyam.
I had the good fortune to acquire the English translation and the meaning of SriRamanuja Gita bhashya recently.It is written by late Swami Adidevananda who belonged to Ramakrishna mutt.The late swami who passed away in 1983 originally hailed from a Srivaishnavaite family hence , he is said to have to translated Gita bhashya as per Sri Vaishnavaite traditions and philosophy he had inherited by birth.
I have read the bare literal translation of Gita in English several times .It was on reading Sri Ramanujar's commentry which explains the meaning of the slokas lucidly ,easily and in a detailed manner that i could actually comprehend as to what Sri Krishna was imparting through his teachings in the Gita.
Firstly the translation of word Yagna in the pocket edition was always refferred to as sacrifice, which i thought meant the sacrifice of wealth, energy , knowledge and ego .But Ramanujar makes it clear that Yagna means yagna in true sense viz conducting homams which involves propitiating the deities through the good offices of Agni by kindling fire in a homa kunda to the accompaniment of mantras from Vedas.
He also explains that Karma which i took to mean to refer to ones secular duty is only a part of the main Karma of a individual .The main Karma or actions or duties of a person is to follow the rituals mentioned in the Vedas which a person has to do daily known as Nitya karma as well as those he should do occasionally as well as those rituals which are desire oriented which are performed to obtain a specific object of desire known as kamya karma.
So this clearly establishes that Gita is a religious text of Hindus.It gives preeminence to conducting Vedic rituals as a fundamental step towards attaining knowledge of Atma or self and thence forward graduate upwards towards a tougher mode which is bhakthi or pure unstinted devotion to the supreme in order to liberate the individual atma from the vicious cycle of Samasara--repeated births and deaths and restore the atma's freedom and bliss .
As per Gita ,desire and anger are a hindrance ,to Liberation of a atma which keeps getting trapped in earthly bodies .
What is desire?What is anger ?How is it caused ? All this is explained clearly by Ramanujar from a very human point .He seems to have observed human nature very keenly and has explained the stumbling blocks to liberation in such a easy and clear manner that anyone can identify one's emotions with his observations and nod in agreement .
The Bhagwad Gita on a plain reading is quite confusing to a lay person like me. This is owing to the fact that in many of its 18 chapters , the fruit off doing certain acts or the results of a particular mental attitude will be mentioned first at the beginning of the chapter and sections itself and then proceed on to eloborte on the act s and mental attitude in succeeding sections.This descending order is quite confusing to one who is not a scholar .It is at these junctures that Ramanujar steps in and explains to the reader at the very beginning of each chapter as to what the following slokas are about to impart by giving a introduction and heading to a group of sections which clears the confusion and helps the reader to read those important sections as a whole and not in isolation of each other.
In short he gives coherence to a inverted method of putting across the philosophy and advise of Sri Krishna.Ramanujar specifically mentions as to what slokas have to be read as a whole in a particular chapter as well as interlinking and synthising it with rest of Gita as a whole.
Now the question arises as to why Ramanujar lay so much emphasis on Vedas and rituals in his commentry .Viewing this from a historical perspective i can only assume that he ardently felt the need to restore Vedas whose emininece in Hindu's life was being belittled by the powerful influence weilded by other non vedic religions like Jainism and Buddhism ,in the times he lived .Adi Shankaras tremendous efforts to re establish Veda and its practises in 7 th century AD was slowly sinking into oblivion by 11 th century AD .More over many verses in Gita on a plain reading can be interpreted to undermine the importance of Vedas and shastras .Hence Ramanujar took upon himself the onerous task of re- establishing the importance of Vedas in Hindus life.
Ramanujar is known as a great social reformer who brought a large swathes of people outside Vedas to Sri Vaishnavism fold .It was his motto like preceding Sri Vaishnavaite acharyas and aazwars that a devotee of Sriman narayana whatever his social and economic status be is worthy of respect and regard .He widened this perspective in a bold and reformative manner .Despite this reform Ramanujar didnot move away from the Vedas and its practises .He never decried them.He followed them till his end.
Then the question also arises since Krishna has laid so much emphasis on Vedas and shastras as a method to achieve ultimate liberation was he excluding the fourth station and women from liberation .As per vedic traditions the fourth station and women are not competent to read the vedas or perform yagnas, so was he condemning them -a vast majority to eternal bondage ?That is not the case .Sri Krishna himself in a sloka assures specifically to those outside the Vedas that they need only to take refuge in him with whole hearted devotion in him and he will grant them moksham.
Till i read Gita bhasya ,i was paying mere lip service to Sri Ramanujars eminence.Every one .viz scholars ,acharyas and historions down the ages have reiterated that he was great acharya and a,philosopher and that every Sri Vaishnavaite is indebted to him I was mouthing others observations , respect and gratitude for this man who lived 10 centuries back, mechanically, like so many others around me.It was only after reading his commentry that the significance of assigning to him such a exalted position in Hindu philosophical schools of thoughts dawned upon me ,
His explanations and interpretations touched my mind and heart.His vast knowledge of our ancient scriptures and his intellect is apparent in each and every explanation he adduces to the slokas in Gita .More over his explanations are not mere dry intellect but also shows a deep insight into human emotions .It is this combination that made me accept him whole heartedly as my acharya ,making me salute him mentally at every juncture of my reading his amazing products of deep ponderings expressed with tranquil clarity
Acharya means teacher of philosophy and traditions.Sri Ramanujar has lived upto the tittle conferred upon him.He has taught that which has been already taught by the original acharya--Sri Krishna.Ramanujar has understood the full importance and meanings of the teachings of this original Guru of all and has with kindness and immense patience spoon feeds the philosophical gems of Gita to lay persons.This compassionate nature of Sri Ramanujar is discernible through out his commentry.
Note:Restrictions to performance of homams/yagnas owing to one's station viz caste in life and gender that could have existed 1000 years back during Ramanujar's times or 8ooo years or earlier period during which Krishna taught the Gita ,no longer exist .
At present any person desirious of performing yagna or yagnas and has the capacity to afford the bill can do so.The person's caste no longer hinders the performance.In certain regions [like Maharashtra] gender restrictions have also been brushed away .
Note ;The archeological and geological explorations made in seabed near Dwaraka[Gujarat] few years back revealed ancient structures .Carbon dating which is recognised world wide as a scientific method of determining the age of materials revealed that these structures were more than 8000 years old.The epic Mahabharata in its last chapters states that Dwaraka the seat of throne of Krishna was engulfed and consumed by the violent waves of the sea towards the end of his reign.Hence it is reasonable to assume that the ancient structures lying in the sea bed off Dwaraka are the remanants of Krishna's empire and that his chronology can be safely fixed at 6000 BC viz 8000 years back .Mahabharat means The great story of Bharata clan.Bharat was the son of Shakuntala and Dushyant .He ruled this country .It is his name that our country is named after viz Bharat.Pandavas and kauravas -around whom this epic revolves were his descendants Gita is incorporated in this epic.This epic gives in detail the names , life history of a long list of successive rulers who have ruled over Bharat since time immemoriol .It also has innumerable words of wisdom that has made scholars equate it with the Vedas and call it the fifth Veda.
Gita bhashya by Sri Ramanuja
Chapter 1 --Arjuans spiritual conversion through sorrow.
Sri Ramanujar starts the commentry on the first chapter of Gita with prayers to his preceding acharya -Alavandar /Yamnua charya and Sriman Narayana.
Prayer to Yamunacharya:
I offer my salutations to Yamunacharya .By meditating on his holy feet i have all my blemishes destroyed and have attained a authentic existence.
Prayer to Sriman Narayana ;[this prayer tells about the advent of Gita]
Hari Om !Narayana is the consort Sri.He is wholly auspicious and is antognistic to all that is evil.His essential nature consists purely of infinitude, knowledge and bliss.
He has a divine form which is both agreeable and worthy of Him.He is full of radiance , beauty, fragrance, tenderness,with all prevading sweetness and youthfulness.
He is adorned with divine ornaments which are worthy of Him.He is equipped with divine weapons which are appropriate to Him.He is constantly praised by countless suris who are joyfully subservient to Him.
His nature and qualities transcend all thoughts and words .He dwells in imperishable Supreme heaven which is full of wonders.His sportive delight brings about origination, sustenation and dissolution of entire cosmos.
He is supreme .He is Narayana!
He created the entire world beginning from Brahma down to immobile things .He shaped his own figure into likeness of various creatures without giving up his supreme nature and got incarnated in the world of creatures and received their worship and granted Dharma,Artha,Kama and Moksha as per their desire.
Under the pretext of relieving the earth of its burdens he incarnated in this earth as Sri Krishna though his real intention was to make Himself available to us.He thus became the visible object for the sight of all .He performed divine actions.He vanquished demonic persons like Kamsa and others .He spread soothing happiness over the entire world with the ambrosia of his glances and gentle speech conveying His compassion , love and friendliness.
With the oestensible intention of imparting the sons of Pandu the fighting spirit , he actually brought about the descent of Yoga of Bhakthi directed to Himself, promoted with the aid of Gyana yoga and Karma yoga which has been promulgated by Vedanta as the path to release .
When war broke out between Pandavas and Kauravas , He The Lord , The Supreme person , Lord Of all Gods who had taken upon Himself a mortal human form for helping the world owing to His overwhelming love for His devotees who have taken refuge in Him , that Supreme Person made Arjuna the master of the chariot and Himself the charioteer, so that He could be seen by all people.
*************
On the instruction of Arjuna who wanted to see all the combatants Krishna drove the chariot to the middle of the battle field between the two armies
sloka 47-chapter 1. Sanjaya uvacha..Evam uktvarjunah samkhye rathopastha upavisat /
visrijya sasharam capam shoka samvigana -manasah//
Sanjaya said --Having spoken thus in the battle field Arjuna threw aside his bow and arrows , his heart overwhelmed with grief.
Commentry by Ramanuja-- Sanjaya continued .The high minded Arjuna who was extremely kind ,deeply friendly and supremely righteous , having brothers like himself , though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people[sons of Dritharashtra who was listening to Sanjaya's minute to minute relay on the happenings in the battle field] like burning lac house etc and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of Supreme person , neverthles said "i will not fight".
Arjuna felt weak overcome as he was by love and extreme compassion for his relatives .He was also filled with fear that slaying his clan members would lead to corruption of women which will ultimately result in stop ping the Shradha ceremony towards his anscestors and thus incur sin. He didnot know what was right and what was wrong.His mind was tortured with grief at the thought of separation from his relatives , so he flung his bow and arrows and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.
to be contd
.
Labels: Srivaishnavism
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