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[sv-rituals] Guru Paramparai-2

From the Bhakti List Archives

sumithra varadarajan • May 1, 2002 


Sri Parthasarathi thunai 
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha 

Pranams, 

The Smritis, Manu Smriti being the main among them where given by the rishis like Manu. It was just a collection of their understanding of the Vedas. Since the Jnana of the rishis were not ultimate there are some errors spotted in the Smritis. So our acharyas regard the parts which are in accordance with the Vedas in the Smritis as Pramanam and generally ignore the rest. So any book can become a pramanam only when it talks in accordance with the Vedas. Smritis generally give an explanation of the Karma Kaandam of the Vedas. Whereas the Jnana Kaandam is explained by the Ithihasas and Puranas. 

Ithihasas are two in number namely, the Ramanyana and the Mahabharatha. Our Alwars and Aacharyas have a special regard for these two texts. Sri Ramanuja is supposed to have shown special interest in the Ramayana and he learnt the meanings from Periya Thirumalai Nambi. In those days Periya Thirumalai Nambi was doing Theertha Kainkaryam to the Lord Srinivasa on the hill. Since the hill was supposed to be a Adhishesha avatara Sri Ramanuja refused to climb the hill. So Periya Thirumalai Nambi used to finish his Kainkaryam to the Bhagavan and come all the way down to give the great arthas of the Divine text Ramanyana to Sri Ethirajar. This happened for a month. That was the importance given by our aacharyas to the Itihasam Sri Ramayanam. That is why Sri Thiruvarangathamudhanar also says Padikondakeerthi Eramayanam ennum paththi vellam kudi konda koil Ramanusan gunam koorum where he says Ramanuja was the temple in which the ramayanam recides. 

Sri Pillai Lokacharya says in his Sri Vachana Bhooshanam, 
1. Vedartham aritiyiduvadu Smriti,ithihasa puranaggalale (the meaning of the Vedas has been explained by the smritis itihasas and the puranas). 
2. Smritiyale  Poorva paagaththin Artham aruthiyida pattadhu mattra errandalum  uttara paagaththin Artham Arudiyidapattadhu ( The Smriti gives the artha of the poorva kaanda and the other two gives the meaning of the uttara kaanda) 
3. Evai errandilum vaithukkondu itihasam prabhalam (Among the two itihasas and puranas itihasas are more famous) 
The puranas are more ancient than the itihasas but we generally say itihasa puranas because of the importance of the Itihasas which make it to appear first. Sri Pillai Lokacharya further proceeds to explain how the two Ithihasas have so much importance. What are the various reasons behind it. Let us now stop about that at this point and continue to see the various puranas. 

The puranas as you all know are 18 in number and that they were written by Veda Vyasa himself. The puranas are classified into three: 

1. Sattvika Puranas: Vishnu puranam(considered as the Purana Ratnam), Bhagavatham, Naarada Puranam, Paadma Puranam, varaaha Puranam and the Garuda Puranam. 
2. Rajasa Puranas: Vaamana, Brahma, Markandeya, Bhavishya, Brahmanda and Brahmavaivartha Puranas. 
3. Thamasa Puranas: Matsya, Koorma, Agni, Linga, Siva, Skandha Puranas. 

Among these puranas only the Sattivika puranas have been regarded as pramanas by our acharyas. 
Then there are the Agamas which details the mode of temple worship. There are various types of agamas like the saiva, shaktha and the vaishnava Agamas. Among these the vaishnava agamas , divided into two are followed in all our divya desams. In Srirangam the agama followed is Pancharatra Agama and in Thirupathi and Thiruvallikeni we find the Vaikanasa Agama followed. The Pancharatra Agama was supposed to have been given by the Emperuman himself in 5 days when the Vedas where stolen by the demons Madu and kaitapan. The Vaikanasa Agama was supposed to have been given by a muni Vaikanasa. Both have the facts to prove their validity and hence accepted by our aacharyas. The Pancharatra Agama has 100 samhitas. The important among them being, 

Sattva samhita, Paushkara, Jayakhya(Ratna traya), Ahirbudhya Samhita, Paadma samhita, Parameshwara samhita and lakshmi tantra. 

We all know that Sri Ramanuja wrote a Bhasyam to the Brahma Sutra. Let us now see what is Brahma sutra. Sri vedavyasa split the Vedas into two parts. The Upa anga of the Vedas are the Mimamsa, split as Poorva or karma Mimamsa (16 chapters given by Jaimini a shisya of Veda vyasa) and the Uttara or Brahma Mimamsa(4 chapters given by Sage Badarayana i.e Vyasa himself). These two Mimamsas are nothing but the vyakyanam to the Vedas. Jaimini dealt with the meanings of those part of the Vedas which talked about the vedic karmas and Vyasa dealt with the Jnana paagam which is otherwise called the Brahma Sutra. 
Though there were earlier commentaries on the Brahma sutras like the Bhodayana Vrithi which was a vishistadvaita commentary and many more not found now (but have their references in the sankara and sribhashyams), the earliest known to us is the Sankara Bhasyam. There were several errors in the Bhasyam made by Sankara which were questioned and proved by Sri Ramanuja in his SriBhashyam. Other than these two which are quite famous there are also other bhashyams to the Brahma Sutras. 

The Brahma Sutras have 4 chapters each chapter has four Paadams and there are totally 545 sootras. The first chapter talks about the creation, sustenance and destruction of the world . The second deals with contending the other philosophies and proving that Brahman is the sole reason behind creation, sustenance and the destruction. The third deals with the path to attain Brahman and the final chapter deals with the goal to be attained. Thus our vaithika matham regards the Prastana Trayams(Vedas /Upanishads, Brahma soothram and the Bhagavat geetha) as the most important texts for the Sanathana Dharma. 

In the next posting we will continue to see the various systems of philosophy. 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai 
Sumithra Varadarajan 






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