Thread by @shrikanth_krish

Vedartha Sangraha is an unusual classic in Indian philsophy authored by the great Shri Ramanuja in 11th century

It is regarded as an early work of his.

And it stands out in being a "commentary" that is not a commentary

Typically we come across Bhashyas in the Indian early medieval philosophical tradition on specific texts

Eg : Sankara's commentary on the 10 Mukhya Upanishads
Ramanuja's own commentary on Badarayana's Brahma Sutras

But Vedartha Sangraha is different

It literally means - "A compendium of the meaning of Vedas"

It takes the form of a lecture, wherein Ramanuja expounds his understanding of the Upanishads, taken as a whole

But he does not give a "Bhashya" on any single text

As per legend the lecture was delivered in Tirumala

He backs his strongly theistic arguments by citing primary sources drawn from Shruti / Smrti / ItihAsa / Puranic literature

Texts referred by him include 17 primary texts - these include the important Upanishads, Gita, the two ItihAsas, Vishnu Purana, Mimamsa Sutras among others

While the text is very dense, and not suitable for twitter, the concluding portion of it is fascinating, as it addresses a very fundamental question -

1. Is Bhakti and service to God consistent with the ideal of Freedom?
2. Why is service to God superior to serving one's senses?

Ramanuja addresses the Purvapaksha (the opposing view) before presenting his argument

And in this case, the Purva-paksha is infact constructed by citing Manu Smriti - the most important Dharma text possibly composed some 1000-1300 years before Ramanuja's own time

He picks two statements from Manu Smriti that suggest that "Freedom" is the highest ideal pursued by any living creature

Verse 4.160

"सर्वं परवशं दुःखं सर्वमात्मवशं सुखम् ।
एतद् विद्यात् समासेन लक्षणं सुखदुःखयोः"

Here's the translation (Ganganath Jha) :

"All dependence on others is painful; all that is dependent on oneself is pleasing; he shall know this to be, in short, the definition of pleasure and pain"

Then he picks another Manu Smriti verse even more unequivocal in comdemning "Service"

Second part of Verse 4.6 :

"सेवा श्ववृत्तिराख्याता तस्मात् तां परिवर्जयेत्"

Translation (Ganganath Jha)

"Service has been declared, to be the “living of dogs;” hence one should avoid it"

So when judged superficially, both these verses clearly acknowledge the primacy of freedom, being the captain of oneself, and look down upon service...

Dependence is painful
Service is dog's life...

Pretty unequivocal

Using these verses, Ramanuja presents the prima facie opposing view against his philosophy that emphasizes theism, and complete devotion to God

How can subordination to God be desirable when the Smriti itself declares that Freedom is paramount and subordination is despicable?

Ramanuja presenting the Purva Paksha says

"All sentient beings have independence as the highest object of desire"

So to suggest that absolute subordination to the divine is the highest joy for the soul is revolting..

Then he quotes the two MS verses we have encountered

Now this gets countered by Ramanuja -

"This is the attitude of those who have failed to comprehend the nature of the self as being different from the body, and the mistaken association of the body with one's self"

Then he cites two more primary sources to elaborate -

"The individual self is full of knowledge and is pure" (Vishnu Purana)

"The individual self's nature is to be subservient to the Supreme self (as represented by the Lord of the Universe) (Mahanarayana Upanishad)

So any misapprehension and association of the self with the body is arising out of Karma

So how do we explain Manu's assertion that "All Dependence is painful"?

It merely means - "Dependence on anyone other than the Supreme Person (Parama Purusha) is painful"

So what we regard as "independence" conventionally is actually the most extreme form of dependence on one's body - which is not one's true self

It is not self-dependence at all

Next comes Manu's assertion - "Service is a Dog's life"...

As per Ramanuja, it means -

"Service of one who is unworthy of service is a dog's life"

This is a radical interpretation of Manu

So when we say we are "independent" and enjoy the sensual life with apparent "Free will" we are merely leading a dog's life, as we are in the service of the body which is unworthy of service

Now what's unworthy of service and what's worthy? The answer is simple. The only entity worthy of service is the Parama Purusha (The Supreme Person as represented by Narayana in Ramanuja's theology)

Then Ramanuja quotes the Gita to drive home his point -

"मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्तियोगेन सेवते |
स गुणान्समतीत्यैतान्ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते "

"He who serves Me with undivided Bhakti transcends the qualities of material nature and will attain self realization"

But he doesn't quite stop there. He also takes pains to illustrate why it is only Brahman who has intrinsic value, and the value of everything else is due to Karma and hence trivial and transitory

This is argued again using verses from Vishnu Purana, a text he leverages heavily

"The same object which pleases at one time, comes to cause pain at another time. The same causes anger at one time, and tranquility at another time"

"There is nothing pleasant or painful in its inherent nature"

Objects are pleasurable and painful due to infuence of Karma

This is a v strong argument against the sensual life, while upholding the absolute, non-transitory bliss offered by Brahman

"Anando Brahma" (Chandogya Upanishad)

Whereas the bliss of material things is not consistent even w.r.t a single person at different points in time

Using these arguments Ramanuja makes the intellectual case for Bhakti - and guards it against accusations of servility and docility that are often hurled against it.

While Vedartha Sangraha is a much longer text dealing with several other philosophical problems, I found this particularly interesting, as it is a very clever reconciliation of Bhakti with the ideal of Independence

The book is well worth reading

Post-script : The thread is based on the translation of Vedartha Sangraha by SS Raghavachar, published by RK Mutt.

Here's the book - vedanta.com/store/Vedartha…