श्री भाष्यम्: Sribhasyam- Sariraka Mimamsa Bhasyam Volume 2 (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The preparation and publication of critical editions of the works of Acharya Sri Ramanuja is one of the major undertakings of the Academy. The first fruit of this project namely, the first volume of SRIBHASHYAM. the Acharya's masterly work, was published in 1985.

It gives the Academy much pleasure to offer this second volume of Sribhashyam. In the first volume the introductory portion was presented, in which Acharya Sri Ramanuja dealt with the opening four Brahmasutras of the first chapter. In this volume the remaining portion of the first chapter which is called Samanvayadhyaya has been included. The further volumes will cover the remaining three chapters.

In the foreword to the first volume a brief account of the place of Sribhashyam in Vedantic literature was given. I seek the indulgence of the reader to repeat here a few extracts from it, and to invite a perusal of that foreword for more detail.

The Brahmasutras are an exigesis of the Upanishads explaining meaning. reconciling seeming inconsistencies and establishing basic propositions. Although framed in a grand design they require the helping hand of a guide to comprehend their intricacies and inner meanings. Many Acharyas have per-formed the role of such a guide by virtue of their intellectual and spiritual powers and by means of their brilliant commentaries. The earliest of the commentaries, amongst those available in the present day, is that of the most revered Sri Shankaracharya. The outstanding school of philosophy propounded by him, one among a sequence of schools generated by the Brahmasutras towered above all others. Later, around Acharya Sri Ramanuja's time, the beginnings of the Savisesha school had emerged, which blossomed as the Visishtadvaita system after him. However it is Sri Ramanuja's monumental work that consolidated the canonical position of the Savisesha school of philo-sophy and provided the impetus for the progress of the Visishtadvaita system. It stands even today as the central pillar of support to that system.

Sri Ramanuja's commentary on the Brahmasutras utilises a discerning examination of Srutis, Smritis, Puranas and the Ithihasas. In the form of 156 Adhikaranas comprising 545 Sutras it is a magnificient treatise on a vast and intricate subject. What distinguishes the Acharya's interpretation from those of others is the fact that it is both rational and appealing to the heart.

The critical edition of Shribhashyam is one of a series of publications which will cover all of Acharya Sri Ramanuja's works on Visishtadvaita. The Academy hopes to bring forth, in addition, critical editions and other research material pertaining to other works of the Visishtadvaita school. In its turn such research will be a step in the Academy's endeavour to build up comparative studies which would illuminate other schools of philosophical thought prevalent in this country and elsewhere.

A cherished goal of the Academy is to offer the principal works of our scriptural literature to the present generation of scholars and researchers in authoritative well-referenced editions. We are very conscious that most of these works have already appeared in early editions through the dedicated efforts of learned individuals and institutions. The Academy has, with all due gratitude to them, sought to build upon these earlier works and prepare editions which are comprehensive as well as user-friendly for research.

Acharya Sri Ramanuja is a historic personality of 11th century A.D.. who lead an exemplary life both in precept and practice. He was a social reformer and a revolutionary philosopher. He emphasized the virtue of life on earth for the sake of serving the Overlord through service to humanity in order to attain the final liberation. He showed that both the sentient and insentient. beings are integral parts of the One Supreme Brahman. He enunciated that the laymen, such as farm labourers, women or harijans are as much eligible for His grace, as the learned pandits or preachers. The path of Bhakti and Prapatti at the feet of the Lord is sufficient to sublimate the surrendered soul through the kind intervention of the merciful Acharya and the graceful Mahalakshmi, he declared.

He wrought the greatest work of his lifetime SRIBHASHYAM, strictly following the footsteps of Bodhayana and Dramidacharya of the Bhagavata school. This work is a well documented commentary on Badarayana's Brahmasutras. This esoteric commentary offers a well balanced, cogent precise and comprehensive account of Saviseshadvaita school or qualified non-dualism. It is based on the organic unity of the whole, commonly referred to as Visishtadvaita Vedanta. Many of the apparent inconsistencies of the Upanishadic teachings are clarified and synthesized in this work. This text can convince any rational thinker that desireless devotion and self-surrender (Bhakti and Prapatti) alone lead the individual to final emancipation, rather than activities performed with desires (Sakamakarma).

As already declared in the preface to the first volume, one of the objectives of the Academy has been the indepth study of Visishtadvaita Vedanta and its comparative study with world philosophies (East and West). In continuation. this second volume of critically edited SRIBHASHYAM is now offered to the seekers of knowledge.

In the first volume the first four sutras and their commentary which form the introductory portion for the Vedantic study are dealt with. This volum deals with the rest of the sutrar of the first quarter (poda) and the other three quarters of the first chapter. The remaining portions of this work will be Published in in three volumes.

This chapter shows that the Supreme Brahman described by the vedantic texts is different from the insentient world of matter, which can be experienced by direct perception. This Brahman is also different from the sentient beings or individual souls, whether in the state of bondage connected with matter or in the state of liberation dissociated from matter. It is also shown that this Brahman which is the repository of infinite good qualities, free from all imperfections, is the sole cause of this sentient and insentient world and the inner self of every thing in this universe.

As with the previous volume every care is taken to present all available material connected with the text systematically and methodically. Variant readings are provided on the same page in footnotes. Headings, sub-headings and paragraph divisions are provided to facilitate easy comprehension by the readers. The editors have striven hard to present the original interpretations of the earlier commentaries as clearly as possible, giving priority to Srutapraka. sika, Tattvatika and such other leading works. Appendices on Sribhashyam have been prepared with utmost care in order to cater to the needs of modern research scholars doing comparative studies of philosophies. As far as possible all the characteristic features of the first volume are retained.

In the Appendix 1 that follows useful portions from i) Shariraka-nyaya. kalapa-sangraha of Seneswaracharya ii) Tattvasara of Vatsya Varadacharya iii) Adhikarana-saravall of Venkatanatha (Vedanta Desika) iv) Adhikaramartha-sangraha of Mahacharya (Doddayacharya) & v) Nayasangatimalika (poetic composition) of Lakshmipuram Srinivasacharya have been incorporated with their explanations for the readers' convenience.