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"My God! He doesn't know!"

From the Bhakti List Archives

sadagopan iyengar • August 19, 2002 


Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra
Mahadesikaya Nama:

      My God! He DoesnÂ’t Know!

      The Lord is credited with omniscience. He knows
everything. This is one fact which scholars of all
religions, all sub-sects and all Sampradayas are able
to unanimously agree upon. In our Sri Vaishnava
Sampradaya too, this is accepted axiomatically. The
Vedas, Maharshis, ItihAsAs, PurANAs, and even the
common man-all raise their voices in unison in support
of the LordÂ’s all-knowing nature.
Says the TaittirIya Upanishad, “Satyam, GnAnam,
anantam Brahma”, attesting to Emperuman’s omniscience.
The same Upanishad glorifies Knowledge itself to the
level of the Lord-:VignAnam Brahma iti vyajAnAt”.
Another Shruti vAkya confirms that the Lord knows
everything-“Ya: Sarvagya: Sarvavit”.
 Azhwars are of the same opinion.
According to Sri Nammazhwar, the LordÂ’s knowledge is
limitless (“ellai il gnAnatthan”). The same Azhwar
also says that EmperumanÂ’s gnAna is complete and
comprehensive (“neri elAm edutthu uraittha nirai
gnAnatthu oru moortthi”). In fact, in the
VarAhAvatara, the Lord is known as “GnAnappirAn”. That
He is the personification of Knowledge is brought out
by Swami Desikan in Sri Hayagriva Stotram-“GnAnAnanda
mayam dEvam”. The Lord knows everything not
post-facto, after they happen, but simultaneously, as
they are happening, and even before they happen, says
Sri Nathamuni in his Yoga Tatthvam-“YO vEtthi yugapat
sarvam”.

      Despite the aforesaid averments, there are some
who say that the Lord doesnÂ’t know everything. He
might know most of what is there to be known, but not
everything. 
This sounds like blasphemy, casting aspersions on
EmperumanÂ’s omniscience. And one is unable to imagine
any devotee willing to voice such a serious accusation
against the Lord.
To our surprise, we find that it is two senior
PoorvAchAryas who fling this arrow of accusation at
the Lord. They say His knowledge is incomplete. They
are none other than Sri Yamuna Muni and Sri
KorattAzhwan, having the distinction of association
with Sri Ramanuja as his Preceptor (by proxy) and
disciple, respectively.
 In his ChatusslOki, Sri Alavandar says
“YasyAstE mahimAnam Atmana iva tvat vallabhOpi Prabhu:
nAlam mAtum iyattaya niravadhim nityAnukoolam svata:”
 
Lavishing praise on Piratti, Sri Yamuna Muni says that
Her greatness cannot be fathomed by the Lord Himself.
Further, He doesnÂ’t know the true measure of His own
greatness.
Sri Yamuna Muni is not alone in raising the accusation
of incomplete knowledge against Emperuman. For good
measure, he is joined by Sri KoorattAzhwan, who
reiterates this in his “SriStavam”:
“ Devi tvat mahimAvadhi: na HariNA nApi tvayA
gyAyatE”.
Sri PirattiÂ’s greatness, as that of the Lord, is
immeasurable. She Herself, even if She were to try,
or, for that matter, the Lord Himself, would be doomed
to failure, if they attempted to fathom their
greatness. 
Azwars too concur with the fact that the Lord does not
know the limits of His own grandeur. “Tanum tan
perumai arivariyAnai” says Sri Nammazwar.
Thus, what it all boils down to is, that both the Lord
and His Divine Consort do have a speck of ignorance in
their otherwise blemish less and incomparable GnAna.
Lest we take this to be a stigma for the Lord and
Piratti, Sri KoorattAzhwan hastens to clarify both his
and Sri Yamuna MuniÂ’s Sreesooktis in the next line:
“Yadyapi Evam atApi naiva yuvayO: sarvagyatA heeyatE
   yat nAstyEva tat agyatAm anuguNAm sarvagyatAyA
vidu:
  vyOmAmbhOjam idantaya kila vidan bhrAntoyam
ityuchyatE”.
Sri Azhwan raises the question, “What is Omniscience?”
Furnishing the answer, he says that All-knowingness is
the state of knowing all that is there is to be known.
Nobody can claim to know something that doesnÂ’t exist
at all- if he does, contrary to acclaim, he would be
faced with accusations of hallucinating. So also with
the true measure of the LordÂ’s and His ConsortÂ’s
greatness- since the limit to these qualities does not
exist at all, (because their greatness is boundless),
not knowing the measure of their greatness would not
lay them open to charges of flawed knowledge.

Enthralled by this explanation, we breathe a sigh of
relief-for, no devotee can tolerate a blemish, however
microscopic, on His Lord, whom he knows to be a
Paragon of Perfection. Thus what began as an
accusation against the Lord has ultimately turned into
an accolade, for it has served to highlight the Divine
CoupleÂ’s boundless magnificence, which is immeasurable
to anyone. 

A titbit for the connoisseur here, in a lighter vain. 
The aforesaid slokas say that 
1)	both Emperuman and Piratti are unaware of PirattiÂ’s
greatness.
2)	2) The Lord is unaware of the limits of His own
greatness.
3)	 3) However,both Sri Alavandar and Sri Azwan have
omitted to say that Piratti does not know how great
the Lord is. Hence, impliedly, She does know the true
measure of Her ConsortÂ’s grandeur. DoesnÂ’t this make
Her more knowledgeable than Emperuman?
Though the Lord Himself doesnÂ’t know how great He is,
there are two entities who claim to know this. The
first is the Veda Purusha, who says he knows the Lord
for what He is-“VedAham Etam Purusham
mahAntam”(Purusha Sukta).
Next is Sri VisvAmitra, who declares that only he and
other tapasvis like Sri Vasishta know the true measure
of Sri RamaÂ’s greatness. This is stated by the Sage to
Sri Dasaratha, when the latter displays reluctance to
send Sri Rama for Yaga samrakshaNam.
“aham vEdmi mahAtmAnam Ramam satya prAkramam
  VasisttOpi mahA tEjA: yE chEmE tapasi shritA:”
 This is indeed strange. The Lord doesnÂ’t know, but
the Veda Purusha and the Maharshis do. This is
impossible too, for, by His very nature, the Lord must
be more knowledgeable than anyone else. Then why would
the Veda Purusha and Sri VisvAmitra claim knowledge,
which even the Lord doesnÂ’t have?
 The answer is again that provided by Sri Azhwan-the
Sage claims to know the LordÂ’s greatness because he
has understood it to be beyond comprehension. This is
the basis of the Veda PurushaÂ’s claim too-that he
knows the LordÂ’s greatness to be unknowable. This is
borne out by the Anandavalli vAkya
“YatO vAchO nivartantE, aprApya manasA saha”
Veda Vakyas, which set out to describe fully at least
one attribute of the Parama Purusha , return
vanquished, unable to fathom the full depth of each
auspicious quality. 

In a nutshell, the only way of comprehending the
ParamAtmAÂ’s grandeur is to realise that it is beyond
comprehension, even to the Lord Himself. 

 Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka
SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya
Nama:
Dasan, sadagopan.

 
 


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