New Approach to Visistadvaita (With Special Reference to Svaminarayana Vedanta)

This work presents certain basic principles of Svaminarayana’s philosophy of self. According to Svaminarayana, self is real. It is one of the five realities accepted by him. The other four realities are Parabrahman (God), Aksarabrahman (eternal abode and first servant of God), Maya (matter) and Isvara (cosmic God). It is neither before nor after God. T is co-eternal with God. It is different and distinct from God. It cannot be destroyed. It is imperishable. There are innumerable selves.

God dwell in self as Antarayami (indweller). God also dwells in it was Saksin (witness). God is the self of self is eternally dependent upon God, for its existence and activity. False identification of self with body constitutes bondage. Knowledge that self is different from body and God is real knowledge. Real knowledge liberates self from bondage. On attaining liberation self does not merge in God. It retains it identity in the state of liberation. On liberation self attains divine body. With this divine body the self cternally worships and serves God. Once self attains liberation, there is no return from it to the mundane existence.

DR. Suresh Vakil, (born 1927) the author of this work, is an advocate, a scholar and a writer. He is a first class first with distinction in M. A. (Philosophy) and recipient of three gold medals and prizes from Gujarat University, Ahmadabad. He holds Ph.D. degree in philosophy of Gujarat University.

Dr. Suresh Vakil has written eighteen books in English, Urdu and Gujarati. He is the author of the internationally famous book “The concept of Akshar Brahman in the Philosophy of Shri Svaminarayana” (1985) published by internationally well known institution “Bochasanvasi Akshara Purushottam (Svaminarayana) Sanstha headsed by internationally well known institution “Bochasanvasi Akshara Purushottam (Svaminarayana) Sanstha headed by internationally acclaimed saint shri Pramukh Swami Maharaj. His book “Self in Law and Legality” was published in 1999, his book “Adalat” in Urdu (1997) is very popular. His popular books in Gujarati are “Satya” “ Foundations of Hinduism” (1990), “Dhyana Kumbha” (1991) and its second edition (1997)), “Punarajanma Prakahs” (1996) and others. He is the author of several research papers read at various philosophical conferences. He has contributed several articles in journals and daily papers. He is the President of “Tatwadarshana” a philosophical institution functioning in Ahmadabad.

I feel great pleasure in writing a foreword to ‘New Apprach ot Visistadvaita’, with special Reference to Svaminarayana Vedanta’ by Dr. Surehs Vakil. I had the occasion to go through this work carefully and certainly it is an erudite and scholarly work.

Dr. Suresh Vakil is well known advocate by profession and scholar of India and Western Philosophy. He holds M. A and Ph. D in Philosophy of Gujarat University. He is also president of Tattvadarshana, a philosophic al study group since three decades.

Sri Svaminarayana (1781-1830 AD) was a great religious and social reformer of Hindu society in the eighteenth century A.D. He was critic of casteist society and accepted people from all walks of life into his Sampradaya (sect) without making any distinction between caste or creed.

His philosophy stands almost similar to visistadvaita of Ramanuja. Infact Sri Svaminarayana himself described his philosophy as Visistadvaita only. Still he differs from Ramanuja in several respects His philosophy may be called as Neo-Visistadvaita school of Vedanta. Ramanuja accepts three realties, viz., Cit, Acit and Isvara (Brahman) while according to Svaminarayana there are five kinds of metaphysical entities, viz. parabrahman, Aksarabrahman, Isvara, Jiva and Maya. Only Parabrahman or God is independent, all others are dependent on Him.

Svaminarayana like other vaisnava philosopher believes that God is personal (Saguna) not Nirguna. He also emphasizes the intense love for God, which is ased on the real understanding of his greatness and glory. According to him, love of God (Bhakti) is the only means of attaining salvation. Complete surrender to God, is the most effective means of securing grace of the God. Just as a devoted wife loves her husband only, similarly the devotee of God should love God and only God ({ativratabhakit). This kind of love of God enables the spiritual aspirant to reach the state of Samadhi and have the mystical experience of God realization. This devotion must be supported and supplemented by Dharam, Janana and Vairagya.

Sri Svaminarayana’s works are mostly in Gujarati language except Siksapatri. His followers have written commentary on Brahmasutra, Upanisads and some other philosophical topics. But not much research work has been done to expose Sri Svaminarayana’s philosophy from all angles.

Dr. Suresh Vakil’s work is unique in its own way. He has studied Sri Svaminarayana’s works thoroughly, which enables him to produce this very good piece of research.

Philosophy ideas are scattered here and there in original works of Sri Svaminaryana, so systematic treatment of specific topic is very difficult task. Dr. Suresh vakil has done it most efficiently and successfully.

This is an exhaustive study on the concept of self in Svaminarayanism. The author deals with concept of self from various angles, such as metaphysical nature of self, empirical nature of self, self and God, self and Aksarabrahman, Law of karma and rebirth, Liberation and Jivanmukti. In the last chapter, Dr. Suresh vakil has compared Sri Svaminarayana’s view with great stalwarts like sankara, Ramanuja, Madhava, Vallabha and plato which is in itself remarkable and first of its kind.

I have no hesitation in recommending this scholarly work to the readers and I am sure it will get the due welcome, which it deserves.

The present work embodies my humble but sincere endeavor to understand Svaminarayana’s Philosophy in general and his philosophy of self in particular. From my studies I have felt that Svaminarayan’s philosophy s really a great heritage of mankind of which we can justly be proud. I have tried to grasp the basic principles of Svaminarayan in respect of the nature of self and to present the same in rational terms. My approach all throughout has been constructive.

I have divided my work into five parts. Each part consists of one or more chapters. Part one contains only one chapter (First Chapter). It purports to provide a general introduction to the subject of this work. Part two comprises four chapters (chapters two to five). It deals with the metaphysical nature of self. Part three consists of six chapters (Chapters Six to eleven). It is concerned with the empirical nature of the self. Part Four comprises four chapters (chapter twelve to fifteen).

It endeavours to describe the fundamental concepts of Svaminarayaniya Doctrine of Liberation and the means to attain liberation pointed out by Svamnarayana. Part five consists of one chapter (Chapter Sixteen). It attempts to compare Svaminarayan’s philosophy of self with that of Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Vallabha and Plato.

From the studies I have made certain basic principles of Svaminarayan’s philosophy of self emerge. It would be worth wile to present here a brief statement of Svaminarayan’s philosophy of self. According to Svaminarayana, self (Jiva) is real. It is one of the five realities accepted by Svaminaraya. The other four realities are: Parabrahman(God), Aksarabrahman (eternal abode and the first servant of God,) Maya (matter) and Isvara (Cosmic God). Self is never created. It is eternal. It neither before nor after God. It is coeternal with God. It cannot be destroyed. It is imperishable. There are innumerable selves. Self is neither part of God nor appearance of God. It is different and distinct from God having its own individuality. It eternally exists in itself. Each self is different and distinct from the other selves. Self is formless. It has no gender. It is atomic in size. But, it pervades the entire body throughits consciousness. Self is knower (jnata). It is also doer (karta) and enjoyer (bhokta). It has three material bodies: causal (karana), subtle (suksma) and gross (sthula). Its consciousness has three states: waking (jagrata), dream (svapna) and deep sleep (suspti).

God dwells in self as antaryami (indweller). God also dwell in it as saksin (witness self). God is the self of self, without God self can do nothing. Self is eternally dependent upon God for its existence and activity. Self’s metaphysical dependence upon God has been explained by svaminarayan, souls are of three kinds: Nitya mukta, Mukta, and Baddha. Nitya Mukta souls are eternally liberated, like Narada. Mukta souls were once bound (Baddha ), but hey attained liberation by spiritual sadhan ad grace of God. Baddha souls are tied to the wheel of birth and death. They have yet to attain their liberation. Due to ignorance the self identifies itself with body. But self is not body. Self is distinct from body. The false identification of self is different from body as well as from God constitutes real knowledge which saves from the cycle of births and deaths. When by Sadhana and by grace of God the self gains this saving knowledge, it attains liberation. On attaining liberation the self does not merge in God. It retains its individuality even in the state of liberation. Devotee of God, on liberation, after leaving the body goes to Aksaradhaman. God eternally resides in Aksaradhaman, the devotee of God attains a divine body. Housed in this divine body the self eternally resides there. With this divine body, it eternally worships and serves God and enjoys His blissful communion. For self, having once attained that state, there is no return from it to the mundane existence. Svami-narayana believes that even in the state of liberation in Aks aradhaman the difference between selves continues to exist, and each self attains knowledge and bliss of God in proportion to its receiving capacity, i.e. the capacity to understand and appreciate the greatness and glory of God. Of course, Svaminarayana has admitted the eternal growth of this capacity. But the greatness and glory of God being infinite and unfathomable, the self will never be able to have complete knowledge of God and hence there will be no full stop to its growth.

For the attainment of liberation Svaminarayana has pointed out different kinds of means of liberation. Dharma, Jnana, Bhakti and Vairagya are principle means of liberation, lie has also pointed out auxiliary means of liberation. The principle four means are not exclusive of each but they are complementary to each other. In Svaminarayana's view religion at its highest must express a harmonious synthesis of dharma (morality), Jnana (understanding of the metaphysical nature of self, world and God), Bhakti (intense love for and devotion to God) and Vairagya (detachment towards sensuous objects of the world). Such a harmonious synthesis of these four means is found in the life of an Ekantika Bhakta. In Svaminarayana's view Ekantikapanuri is the highest form of religious life.

According to Svaminarayana although self is metaphysically dependent upon God, it has freedom to endeavour for its liberation. Self is free to love and worship God and adopt all or any of the means of liberation. All the same Svami-narayana has clarified that even if the self adopts all the means of liberation and worships God, it cannot attain liberation without the grace of God. Grace of God is sine qua non for the liberation of the self.

Svaminarayana has accepted the possibility of Jivanmukti. If a man intensely loves God and it firmly devoted to Him, it is possible for him to attain liberation here and now. Such a devotee of God attains liberation even while he is embodied.

Svaminarayana had found out a master principle for his life. This master principle was the stark reality of God. He was absolutely certain about God. The reality of God and his intimate relationship with God occupies the central place in his preaching and discourses. God was much more to Svaminarayana than a mere object of worship. The intimacy and report of communion with God in Prayer exceeded everything that he experienced in men. For him the ultimate fact giving religious value to everything in his world was God.

The age in which Svaminarayana lived and worked was an age of belief and universal faith in God. In Vacanamrta we do not find a single person asking, him whether God existed or not. The assemblies before whom he spoke were constituted of his disciples, his devotees, saints, members of royal families and laity. They never questioned the existence of God. What they desired to know was, what kind of God was He? What is His nature? Where does He reside? What does He do? What are His attributes and powers? On these questions Svaminarayana spoke with great authority and certitude. What he meant to convey to the persons sitting in assemblies was like this, please listen to me carefully. It is not I who speak. It is God who speaks through me. He spoke with great assurance from his profound and personal experience. In teaching his disciples to love and worship God, he communicated something of his mystic experience to them. But something remained in-communicable. His attempt to communicate the incommunicable caused great awe and wonder in his disciples.

For Svaminarayana God is sovereign moral personality ruling the universe. In his view God is primarily occupied with human redemption. Man is free to make his decisions. Though God allows men to make their own decisions, he continues to love him throughout the redemptive process in which the consequences of their actions inevitably follow. God of Svaminarayana does not condemn any man to eternal damnation. God wants that every self must attain final emancipation and get eternal life in Aksaradhaman. No person is to be excluded from endeavouring to reach Aksaradhaman. No self is unworthy of Cod's grace or attaining eternal fellowship with God.

These are some of the universal and fundamental elements in Svaminarayana's philosophy of self and its relationship with God. The conception of liberation and particularly the details of the state of liberation are, perhaps, in my humble opinion, the greatest contribution of Svaminarayana to world thought. Svaminarayana gives a daring promise to the suffering humanity that man can be free from all kinds of pains if he lives the life of an Ekantika. Today science and technology has advanced to a point where possibility of the annihilation of the entire human race cannot be ruled out. The root cause of the possibility and danger of annihilation and suffering of humanity lies in the grim fact that man is ignoring spiritual values. Man has become material minded. Materialist outlook dominates the world. Everywhere the cry of more goods and more comforts is heard. But when man comes in actual possession of the objects of worldly enjoyments, happiness remains away from him. Materialistic approach invariably brings pains and sufferings with it. Endeavours for removing pains and sufferings by acquisition of more and more material objects are just like endeavours to extinguish fire by petrol. And, therefore, the ideal of liberation (Moksa) as preached and pointed out by Svaminarayana become highly relevant and assumes great importance in the present context. An humble attempt, in the following pages, has been made to expound and explain that laudable ideal which is capable of inspiring hope in the hopeless and suffering humanity.

It would be quite in the fitness of things if I record here the points of originality which I have worked out in this thesis.