Harmony of Thought
THE mystic vision of the Visishtadvaitin is the vision of the Ultimate and the Supreme as at once revealing in itself the Tattva and the Purushartha. It is also the vision of the Tattva as the “Tattva-Traya” as Cit, Acit and Isvara-“the one only without a second” as substantially “the there-in-one”. This was the revelation vouchsafed to the great Alvars, the God-intoxicated mystic saints of South India, no less than to the illustrious Acaryas-Nathmuni, Yamuna and Ramanuja. What was given to the Alavars in the deepest moment of their inward illumination as the quintessence of Truth came also to the Acaryas in a finished form as patterns of systematic exposition. Hence the Great sage Nathamuni not only collected the hymns of Alvars, the ecstatic outpourings of illumined hearts, and set them to music, giving their intrinsic beauty an appropriate articulate expression, but also applied himself to a systematic study of the inter-relations of logic and mysticism in the specific context of Visishtadvaita. The inspiration that Nathamuni initially provided was in a significant sense transmitted by Yamuna to Ramanuja.
THE true Visishtadvadin ,-wedded to the principle of synthesis, intent on integration and harmonisation, -is a “Ubhaya Vedantin” in an original sense, which symbolised the unity of “the Vedanta of the Heart” and “the Vedanta of the Head.” “The supreme is the Self, the soul of thy soul, to whom all that thou art - body, mind and life –belong as body to the soul. Awaken into the awareness of this wisdom by conscious dedication in complete surrender.” That would in a way sum up the Ubhya Vedanta of Visishtadvaita, as it conveys the essence of the teachings of the Acaryas, while echoing at the same time the substance of its truth as felt and experienced in the unfathomed depth of the heart of the Alvars.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks