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Vedantha SaarA and Vedantha DeepA of Bhagavadh RaamAnujA

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V. Sadagopan • May 12, 1997 


Dear members of the prapatthi group :

Both of the two works of Sri Ramanuja deal with 
the Brahma SutrAs of BadarAyaNA , who is considered 
as Veda VyasA himself. Vedas were systematized by 
Vyasa Bhagavan . Next he focused on the Upanishads ,
which are known as Vedantha , since they are considered 
the head or gist of VedAs . Sage Vyasa /BadarAyaNA chose
few upanishadic pasages  and created concise aphorisms 
(SutrAs ) for them to establish their true meaning beyond any
refutation . These SutrAs by their very nature were short and 
hence commentaries were needed to elaborate on the meaning
intended by BadarAyaNA . There  are no less than 14 commentaries 
on the Brahma SutrAs by different AcharyAs and scholars , each
of which claim that theirs is the most correct intrepretation of 
the views of BadarAyaNA . Aadhi Sankara , RamAnuja , MadhvAchArya ,
PurNaprajna , Bhaaskara , Nimbhaarka , VallabhA and others 
are among the fourteen or more , who have written commentaries 
on Brahma SutrAs . 

Sri RamAnujA 's elaborate commentary on Brahma Sutras 
( Sri Bhashyam ) , shorter and the intermediate versions
( Vedantha saaraa and Vedantha deepA respectively ) provide
the authoritative texts for us to understand the glory of Bhagavadh
RaamAnuja siddhAntham .

The Adayar Library and Research Center has released the English
translation of Vedantha Saara by Sri M.B. Narasimha Iyengar in 1953. 
The Sanskrit text for this translation was edited by Pandit V.Krishnamacharya.

The Vedantha DeepA was translated into English by 
Sri Bhashyam  from its Tamil Commentary by Uttamur Swamigal
in 1990 . It appeared as a volume in the  Ubhaya Vedantha GranthamAlA 
series . 

V.Sadagopan