A Glossary of Technical Terms in The Commentaries of Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva on The Brahma - Sutras (Set of 2 Volumes) - An Old and Rare Book

ISBN
Part I: 8185636303
Part II: 8185636362

A Glossary of Technical Terms in the Commentaries of Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva on the Brahma-Sutras is a compilation of the meanings and interpretation of important technical terms found in the commentaries of the three eminent acaryas on the Brahma Sutras, which represent the three main trends in the understanding of Vedanta. The aim of this work is to explicate the essential meaning and subtle distinction among these technical terms from the view point of individual doctrines and contexts. It presents the terms both in the devanagari script and roman transliteration arranged in alphabetical order. Reference is made to the chapter, section, number of the sutra, and the respective page. In addition to these, explanations found in important sub-commentaries are also presented wherever necessary.

Dr (Mrs.) K. Jayammal is at present, a U.G.C. Research Associate at the Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras. In 1979 she earned her Doctorate Degree from the Department of Sanskrit, University of Madras. She was an honorary Research Associate in the Adyar Library and Research Centre. Her doctoral thesis, Sri Krsnavilasam of Sukumarakavi was published by the Higginbothams and Co., Madras, in 1982. Her research project titled The Sivajnanabodhasangrahabhasya of Sivagrayogin - English Translation with Introduction and Indexes was published by the Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras, in 1993 under the Madras University Philosophical Series-50.

Among the pathfinders to the Ultimate Reality, Sri Adi Sankara, Sri Ramanuja and Sri Madhva are supreme. A unique feature of India's religio-spriritual history has been the appearance of seers of Truth and acaryas who, having realised the supreme truth, have revealed through their immortal works, the verities of Truth.

e The Hindu tradition is today living and vibrant-more so, perhaps, its roots are deep rooted in the eternal values and ideals of the ancient religious and philosophical works. One such important work is the Brahma-sutra which is the text of supreme authority for every Vedantic school in India. Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva wrote their commentaries on the Brahma-sutra; 'to lead us to the revealed word, the word that turns into reality'. Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva have set the model for 'subsequent metaphysical thinking' and have set ablaze a new path to the course ofphilosophical thinking in India. In the present work, Dr. K. Jayammal, u.G.c. Research Associate at the Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras, hassuccessfully tried to give the meaning and subtle distinction among the technical terms from the standpoint of individual doctrines and contexts. In order that one could gain comprehensive understanding of the technical terms adopted by the acaryas, Dr.Jayammal has painstakingly analysed almost all important technical terms (the vowels) which are arranged in alphabetical order.

This work, which as at present planned, will run into two parts, is addressed to philosophers, scholars, literary critics, researchers and students in general. This monograph will enhance our understanding manifold. Dr. Jayammal's earlier work, The Sivajnanabodhasangrahabhasya oj Sivagarayogin, English Translation with Introduction and Indexes, published by the University of Madras has already earned for her a reputation as a scholar in Sanskrit. It is hoped that Part II of the present volume will also see the light of the day soon.

The Brahma-sutra, along with the Gita and the Upanisads, is the highest text of authority for every Vedantic school in India. It analyses and investigates the Upanisads, which are the crowns, as it were, of the Vedas. Among the twelve (available) commentaries on the Brahma- sutra, the three principal commentaries are those of Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva. These represent the three important trends in the understanding of the Vedanta, although several other systems have also developed on the basis of the Prasthanatraya. Understanding of these principal commentaries requires the proper comprehension of the technical terms used by the acaryas.

The aim of the present work is to explicate the essential meaning and subtle distinction among these technical terms from the viewpoint of individual doctrines and contexts. An attempt is made to prepare a glossary of such important technical terms. Part One, being brought out now, covers the vowels. Part Two, comprising the consonants, will be published later. This monograph deals exhaustively with almost all important technical terms, arranged in alphabetical order. The number of technical terms in this book is about 1250. This volume, it is hoped, will serve as an important tool of research for those who want to tap the veritable ocean of knowledge enshrined in the Brahma-sutra.

I am immensely grateful to Dr. T.S. Devadoss, Former Director, Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras for his guidance and encouragement. I also thank him for his Foreword to this volume.

I record my reverential gratitude to my esteemed teacher Bhasya-bhavajna Brahmasri V.R. Kalyanasundara Sastrigal, former Professor of Vedanta, Vivekananda College, Madras. I have been studying the Vedanta texts under him for several years. Of special reference is the kindness and readiness with which he taught me in detail, Sri Sankara's Brahma-sutra-bhasya.

I am indebted to Dr. M. Narasimhachary, Professor and Head of the Department of Vaishnavism, University of Madras, under whom I made the study of the text of Ramanuja's Sribhasya with Sudarsana Suri's Srutaprakasika. I thank him for having made necessary improvements and modifications in this study. He has also gone through the entire material in several stages and offered valuable suggestions.

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Vidyaratna Pandit Sri V. Nagaraja Sarma who taught me the text of Madhva' s Brahma-sutra-bhasya with Jayatirtha's Tattva Prakasika. Studying the text of Madhva is not easy, given the cryptic and turgid style of the author. That Sri Nagaraja Sarma has made the teachings of Madhva very simple, makes me all the more sensible to his kindness.

My sincere thanks are due to Dr. V.K.S.N. Raghavan, Professor, Department of Vaishnavaism, University of Madras, Dr. S. Panneerselvam, Reader and Dr. G. Mishra, Lecturer in the Radhkrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras, for their kind help in various aspects connected with the publication of this volume.

I am also thankful to Dr.G. Sakuntala, former Research Scholar of the Department of Vaishnavism, University of Madras and Dr. P. Narasimhan, Research Associate of the Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras for their valuable help in preparing this work.

I am thankful to the authorities of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi for having awarded Research Associateship to me from 1993. I also thank the authorities of the University of Madras for permitting me to do research at the Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy.

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Indian Council of Philosophical Re- search, New Delhi for publishing the present volume. I thank the Member-Secretary Prof. Ashok Vohra for the kind initiative he had taken to bring out this volume. I am also thankful to Shri Buddhdev Bhattacharya, Executive Editor of ICPR, for the meticulous care with which he has styled, formatted and designed this book.

The Brahma-sutra of Badarayana is an exposition of the philosophy of the Upanisads. It is an attempt to systematise and correlate the various strands of Upanisadic thought. Sankara says that the Brahma-sutras string together the Vedanta texts like flowers.

The Brahma-sutra deals mainly with the nature of Brahman, the individual soul and the world. It has four chapters (adhyayas) and each of them is divided into four parts (Padas). Each pada is divided into various sections (adhikaranas) made up of sutras varying in number. Each adhikarana according to the commentator takes up for consideration a visaya vakya (Vedic sentence) serving as a source for the philosophical topic under consideration. This is followed by a reasoned account of the topic or subject-matter, the doubt or controversy centering about it, the prima-facie view and the conclusion aimed at.

It is difficult to understand these sutras without a lucid commentary. Many eminent acaryas wrote commentaries on the Brahma-sutra, interpreting the sutras to establish their own doctrines. Though there are about twelve main commentaries available on the Brahma- sutra, three commentaries are quite popular in the Vedantic tradition, viz., those of Sri Sankara, (Keualadvaita), Sri Ramanuja (Visistadvaita) and Sri Madhva (Dvaita). Each of these commentaries in turn has many sub- commentaries, glosses, etc.

Sri Sankara (AD 788-820) attempted to build a spiritual view of life on the basis of Vedic testimony (sruti), reasoning (yukti) and experience (anubhava). He tries to show that the Upanisadic passages could be properly interpreted on the lines of absolute non-dualism (Kevaladvaita). According to him, Brahman is sat-cit-ananda (existence-knowledge-bliss). Brahman is the only reality, everything else being unreal. Brahman is attributeless, infinite and eternal. The appearance of this world is due to maya, the illusory power of Brahman which is neither sat nor asat. Sankara regards the diversity as falsely superimposed on Brahman. The individual self is a product of the concealment of Brahman by avidya. The individual, instead of recognising himself to be one with the ultimate reality, falsely identifies himself with the body, sense-organs, etc. He becomes agent and enjoyer, accumulates merits and demerits and undergoes a series of embodied existences. The individual self becomes identical with Brahman when avidya is annihilated. For the jiva, to recognise or realise its own essential nature, which was always there, is itself the attainment of liberation. Knowledge alone leads to mukti, which is of two types. Videha mukti is release after the fall of the body whereas jivanmukti is release while living.

The commentary of Sri Ramanuja (AD 1017-1137) on the Brahma-sutrais called SribhasyaRamanuja is the chief exponent of Visistadvaita. The relation between the individual souls and the Supreme Being is severally known as Visesana-visesyabhava, prakara-prakaribhava' and chiefly as 'sarira-sariri-bhava'. Brahman is endowed with all auspicious qualities. The material Nature and the individual self are essential, real constituents of Brahman's nature. Matter (acit) and the soul (cit) form the body of Lord Narayana, who is the inner ruler (antaryamin). Matter and souls are called the modes (prakara) of Brahman (prakarin). The individual souls will never be entirely merged in Brahman. After liberation from physical embodiment attained through bhakti or prapatti, the individual souls reach Vaikuntha and stay there forever in a state of bliss, rendering service to Sriman Narayana. The self, though pure in itself becomes associated with ignorance and selfish desires through its contact with matter (acit). When the association with acit is cut away, the self becomes freed from avidya and is emancipated. Bhakti is the chief means to final emancipation. Ramanuja follows in his Bhasya the authority of Bodhayana.

Sri Madhvacarya (AD 1199-1238) is the historically acknowledged founder of the Dvaita system. Besides the Brahma-sutra-bhasya he also wrote Anu-bhasya, a brief summary of his larger Sutra-bhasya and Anu-vyakhyana, an elaborate metrical commentary on the Brahma-sutra itself. According to Madhva, Brahman is only the efficient cause of the universe. He is absolutely free and is the all-perfect one. Though the world and the individual souls are real, they are not independent of the Supreme Being.

The jivas are of three kinds: deva, manusa and danava. Only in Madhva's system there is the doctrine of eternal damnation. Individual souls are self-luminous in themselves but their intelligence becomes veiled by avidya. When the direct knowledge of God arises, ignorance is dispelled. Bondage is due to attachment and liberation is produced by the direct realisation of God. The state of liberation is off our kinds, viz., salokya, samipya, sarupya and sayujya. Even the liberated enjoy bliss through devotion. There is a gradation of bliss even among the released.

These three commentaries are always the source books of reference. A Word-Index to Sankara's Brahma-sutra-bhasya had been published in two parts by the Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras, in the years 1971 and 1973. The present work, titled 'A glossary of technical terms in the commentaries of Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva on the Brahma-Sutras' is the first of its kind. The first part which is now being published covers the vowels 'a' (अ) to 'au' (औ). The rest of the work comprising the consonants will be brought out as Part Two. The present work covers almost all important technical terms. Although certain words used in common parlance cannot be called technical terms in the strict sense of the term, still they attain new dimensions of meaning when interpreted by the great acaryas, e.g., atah, atha, etc.

All the terms are arranged in an alphabetical order. In addition to the meaning and the interpretation of these three commentators, explanations found in important sub-commentaries are also presented wherever necessary. For Sankara, Padmapada's 'Pancapadika' and Vacaspatimisra's 'Bhamati', for Ramanuja, Sudarsanasuri's 'Sruta-prakasika'and for Madhva, Jayatirtha's 'Tattuaprakasika' and Raghavendratirtha's 'Bhavadipa' are referred to. The editions consulted for the present work are as follows:
l. SANKARA: Brahma-sutra-bhasya; Srisankara-granthavali, Vol. VII. (Samata Books, Madras, 1983).
2. RAMANUJA: Sribhasya with Srutaprakasika of Sudarsanasuri, Vols. I and II edited by Sri Uttamur T. Viraraghavacarya (Sri Visishtadvaita Pracharini Sabha, Madras, 1989).
3. MADHVACARYA: Brahma-sutra-bhasya with Tattvaprakasika of Sri Jayatirtha and Bhavadipa of Raghavendratirtha, edited by R.S. Panchamuki, chs. I, II, III and IV (Karnataka Historical Research Society, Dharwad, 1980 and 1981).

The editions chosen for the sub-commentaries are as follows:
l. PADMAPADA ACARYA : Pancapadika, edited with translation by T.R. Srinivasan, (Bhavani Book Centre, Madras, 1989).
2. SHASTRI, J.L.: Brahma-sutra Sankarabh~yarh with the commentaries Bhiisyaratnaprabhii of Govindananda, Bhiimati of Vacaspatimisra and NyayanirIJaya of Anandagiri (Motilal Banarsidas, New Delhi, 1980).

As regards translation, the following editions are closely followed.
l. SANKARA: Brahma-sutra-bhasya, translated by Swami Gambhirananda (Advaita Asrama, Calcutta, 1972.)
2. RAMANUJA: Commentary on the Vedanta Sutras, translated by George Thibaut, The Sacred Books of the East; Vol. XLVIII (Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1962).
3. RAMANUJA: Sribhasya, translated by M. Rangacharya and M.B. Varadaraja Aiyengar, Vols. I, II and III (The Educational Publishing ce. Madras, 1964, 1965).
4. MADHVA CARYA : Commentary on the Vedanta Sutras, translated by S. Subba Rao (Minerva Press, Madras, 1904).
5. VACASPATI: The Bhamati (Catuhsutri), edited with an English translation by S.S. Suryanarayana Sastri and C. Kunhan Raja (Theosophical Publishing House, Madras, 1933).

This monograph attempts to present in a systematic and synoptic way the technical terms which occur in the three principal commentaries of Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva on the Brahma-sutras. The main purpose of this volume is to explicate the main imports and subtle distinctions of these three main schools, considering each one individually in its own light and in its own context. In this objective attempt, no trace of bias may be detected, as each school is given its due importance, in its own traditional background.

This book - a compilation of Consonants is a companion to Part I. Part I consists of Vowels and has already been published by the Indian Council of Philosophical Research in 1997. It is probably for the first time that an attempt is made to present the technical terms along with their meanings and interpretations delineating the fundamental doctrines of the three illustrious commentators Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva on the Brahma-sutras. In some instances, important details found in the sub-commentaries on the respective texts are also provided so as to make the import as complete and authoritative as possible. Works exclusively devoted to individual systems are already known to the world of scholars. e.g. A Word Index to Sankara's Brahamasutrabhasya in two volumes; the Visistadvaitakosa in three volumes.

It is hoped that this volume serves as an important reference book for scholars working in these three important Vedantic schools, more so, for those working on a comparative basis. It is also hoped that the original commentaries and the Brahma-sutra can easily be followed with the aid of the present work.

Since all the three commentators very often refer to the concepts of other schools of thought like Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaisesika etc., for a systematic analysis and refutation, all these concepts are also presented in this volume for a fuller comprehension of those systems. On the whole, this volume offers, it is believed, a panoramic view of the basic tenets and concepts of many important schools of philosophy, which have enriched the Vedantic philosophy.

I offer my grateful thanks to Professor Dr. Venkatachalam, Chariman, ICPR, New Delhi for including this book in the list of their publications.

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Dr. Ashok Vohra, Member Secretary, ICPR, New Delhi for the kind interest he has evinced to bring out this volume.

I am immensely grateful to Dr. T.S. Devadoss, Former Director, Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras, for his initiative and encouragement.

I record my reverential gratitude to my esteemed teacher Bhasyabhavajna Brahmasri Varahoor Kalyanasundara Sastrigal, former Professor of Vedanta, Vivekananda College, Madras. I had the good fortune of studying the whole text of Sankara's Brahmasutrabhasya with him.

I am gratefully indebted to Dr. M. Narasimhachary, Professor and Head of the Department of Vaishnavism, University of Madras, under whom I made the study of the text of Ramanuja's Sribhasya with Sudarsanasuri's Srutaprakasika. I thank him for having made necessary improvements and modifications in this study. He has also gone through the entire material in several stages and offered valuable suggestions.

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Vidyaratna Pandit Sri V. Nagaraja Sarma who taught me the text of Madhva's Brahma-sutra-bhasya with Jayatirtha's Tattvaprakasika.

I am thankful to Dr. Ms. Mercy Helen, Programme Officer, ICPR, New Delhi for the great help she has rendered in publishing this volume.

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi, for publishing the present voulme. I am thankful to the authorities of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi for having awarded Research Associateship to me from 1993. I also thank the authorities of the University of Madras for permitting me to do research at the Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy and express my gratitude to all the members of the faculty of the Department.