Bhagavad Ramanuja Vaibhavam- 1.61- Of all the four goals- dharma, artha, kaama, moksham which was Ramanuja's fav?

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika manahadesikaya nama:

Dearest all,

 

Continuing on our pastime of enjoying Bhagavad Raamanuja

vaibhavam: [as part of our series and service to

Srivaishnavas to commeomorate the 1000th year (2017)]

 

Materialistic wealth; children; property; wife- those

who were after these four were also transformed by

YathirAja [ChithaishaNAyA lOkaishaNaayaaSCha

vutThAyATha bhishAChayai Charanthi.. ] YathirAja

shined as sanyaasi glowing with Celibacy; He is

Vaamana seelar; He is like Lord Vaamana who did not

even show PiraaTTi and hid Mahalakshmi [residing in

His chest] with the deer skin [krishNAjinam] in His

sacred thread [upaveedham]. Amudhanaar enjoys that in

this verse in this context.

 

sEmanal veedum poruLum tharumamum cheeriyan^aR

kaamamum enRivai naan_genpar; naan_ginum kaNNanukkE

aamathu kaamam aRamporuL veetuthaR kenRuraiththaan

vaamanan cheelan iraamaa Nnuchanintha maNmichaiyE. 40 of RN

 

Emperumaanaar- Sri Ramanujacharya- whose qualities are

only equal to the Lord Vamanan, preached the world

with great truthful, unambiguous, unparalleled vedic

philosophy without their even asking for it. He is so

merciful. Moksham, Dharmam, artham, and kaamam, are

the four goals of life; so they say. But Yathiraajaa,

a celibate like Vaamanan, says Kaamam (Desire) for

union with KaNNan is the only worthy goal; The other

three are just to support this divine passion. Dharmam

removes the sins that stand as a hurdle for this

kaamam. Artham is used for giving alms and thus aids

for going towards the goal. mOksham also aggravates

the longing (Kaamam) for KaNNan. Thus, Kaamam (for

KaNNan) is the Best. (What an enjoyment of

YathirAjar's greatness by Amudhanaar!)

 

Indha maN misaim- in this earthly world;

Vaamanan seelan Iraamaanusan- Like VaamanavathAram,

adhered to Brahmacharya

Uraitthaan- instructed;

sEmam nal veedum – Permanent enjoyment of mOksha

aanandham;

porul um- arttham;

dharumam um- Dharma;

seeriya nal kaamam um- the pleasures of desire with no

tinge of sorrows

enRu ivai naangu enbar- [all these four goals of life-

say those who are learned in Vedas and Vedantha]

naangin um- out of all these four goals

kaNNanukkE Am adhu kaamam- desire for KaNNan alone is

the Goal to be attained.. [other Dharma, arttha,

mOksham are]

idhaRku- for this kaamam [desire for Kannan] only.

 

The essence of Emperumaanaar's instructions:

Thirumangai AzhwAr also expresses the same [thru his

madal]; It does not mean that one need not have to

wish for mOksha aanandham. That is the grand one; It

never ever perishes; It is always permanent. The

epitome of Anandha roopa Brahmaanubhavam is the

utmost enjoyment and it does not beget any sorrow; it

is devoid of all sorrows. The arttham [materials]; the

dharmam are only means to sukha [pleasure]; Hence they

are not ultimate nor are they important. Grander than

is Kaamam [desire]; Also only desire in accordance

with dharma saasthraas is to be considered herein.

 

dharmAvirudDhO lOkE(S)smin kaamO(S)smi

bharatharshabha..

 

The cause for suffering in the hell- the desires that

are forbidden and are to be rejected – are not to be

aspired for; All these desires however can only lead

to worldly pleasures and never even be able to grant

the eternal pleasures.

 

But kaamam are of two types. We are not talking about

the ordinary one for worldly people- which is the

first type. We are referring to Bhagavath kaamam th-

the desire for KaNNan and none other than KaNNan

alone. Similar to those of ANdAL, Meera, Gopikas,

Parakala Nayaki and Parankusa Nayaki, Desika Nayaki

[for Thiruvaheendrapuram Deva naathan]; This is not

anyway equal to the worldly carnal desires. It is for

Jeevathman's desire for union with the Paramathma; It

is realizing [which is actually the case] that oneself

as the Sthree and Sriman Narayanan alone as the

Purusshotthaman.

 

Imagining oneself as Sthree and desiring for falling

in love with KaNNan, immersing oneself in the divine

dhivya mangaLa vigraha, mohana roopam of KaNNan is

natural for a Jeevathman to enjoy. His most beautiful

Thirumukham [face]; His red coral mouth, His broad

shoulders, His strong chest; His curly tresses falling

on those lovely crescent lke forehead, those long

limbs, dark blue hued divine charming body, that

enchanting and bewitching smile- one can not but fall

in love with Him and long to be hugged by Him.

 

Gopikas forgetting their own husbands, children and

houses ran behind this charming KaNNan is equal to

this Bhagavath kaamam. Thus desire is of two types

thus: one- for other vishayams; second- for KaNNan.

The kaamam for KaNNan would flow to bhagavath preethi

and bhagavath kaimkarya ruchi. Thus it paves the way

for eternal servitude for Him at SrivaikuNtam and

eternal communion with Him therein.

 

Question: The ultimate pinnacle of Sowlabhyam

[eLimai] – joined hands with Gopa sthrees and enjoyed

being with them, united with them. Even some of them

were married [to others]. They too were happy being

with Him. This is against saasthrAs. Does this deed

bring a bad name for KaNNan?

 

Answer: We should first of all, not think that He

[bhagwaan] and us- as one jaathi (one group). He is

Iswaran; Lord; ruler of all of us; It is His sankalpam

even for our very existence; breathing. He is never

touched by punya, paapams; He is akilahEya

prathyaneekan (untouched by imperfections; or bad

guNAs); He is not bound by Karma at all; His birth is

an avathAram for the sake of us. We are all bound

always by Karma; We are tied down by our papams and

punyams. He is above vidhi nishEdha saasthrAs;

SaasthrAs are for us to be on right track for getting

rid of our paapams, and accrual of punyas and to

please Him as SaasthrAs are His agnyA- instructions.

Sage Vyasa also says clearly: aroopavadhEva hi

tathpraDhAnathvaath. Bhagawaan DOES not belong to

human race; He is in manidha jaathi at all. We can not

hold Him down with the rules laid down for us.

 

Also, We can not compare and equate our actions with

his dhivya chEshtithams )leelAs); Can we lift the huge

Govardhana mountain with the little finger as a Boy?

Can we dance on top of many heads of poisnous snake

Kaalingan? Sage Suka takes the example of Rudra

himself to explain this in Srimad Bhaagawatham:

Bhagawaan'e leelAs are very many. Rudra's leelas are

few; Even them, we can not do or perform. Rudra drank

the poison and did not perish [as it was Deva kaaryam

and the Lord Sriman Narayanan blessed him to undertake

the task]. Can we drink poison and survive? When such

is case with Iswaran, why to talk about SarvEswaran?

 

Hence, KaNNan does not belong to us – human race.

Iswaran; Parabrahmam- is He. Veda declares Him as

apahathapaapma. Swamy EmperumAnAr Sri Ramanuja

comments this as: by His nature, He is not bounded by

Karma [apahathakarmathvam,

karmavaSyathAgandharahithatattvam ithyarTTha: ]

 

So, if some of His acts appear to us the acts of

paapam, He is unbounded and untouched by such acts at

all. Hence, will paapam never ever affect or come to

Him due to these acts?- the question does not arise at

all for Him… Swamy desikan touches upon this aspect in

the above sloka with the word.. akarmavaSya.. Thus He

does not belong to jeeva jaathi; and also He is our

Ruler, Lordship and Isawaran and due to both aspects,

He does not get affected by Karma and Punya paapams

says engaLAzhwAn in the commentary on Vishnu purANa

for the same subject under IswaratvEna

apahathapaapmatvaat.. Hence no dhOsham for Him.

 

Thus Ramanuja opined that Kaamam [desire] for KaNNan

is grander than Dharma, Arttha, and moksham.

 

Four fold (Dharma-Artha-Kama -Moksha) goals of Life

are mentioned in Vedas; This vedic tradition goes back

to NammAzhwAr's pre-sanga Tamizh and was followed by

ANDAL and continued onwards thru our AchAryAs down to

Natha Muni , AlavandhAr and RaamAnujA,

ThiukkurhaippirAn and Arangatthu AmudanAr about the

four purushArthams ( aRam , poruL , inbam , veedu

--Dharmam , Artham , Kaamam and Moksham ). AmudanAr

states this unbhaya VedAntha doctrines in Tamizh to

summarize the way shown to us by the author of Sri

Bhaashyam

 

EmperumAnAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan