Viśiṣṭādvaita – Hamilton's IP: VSI Section on Rāmānuja, Pp

Wk 09 Wed, Mar 3

Today

Viśiṣṭādvaita – Hamilton's IP: VSI section on Rāmānuja, pp. 131-4 in Ch. 8, "The Word and the Book." – Martin Ganeri’s “Free Will, Agency, and Selfhood in Ramanuja,” Ch. 10 in FWASIP – Optional: Patricia Mumme’s “Jīvakartṛtva in Viśiṣṭādvaita and the Dispute over Prapatti in Vedānta Deśika and the Teṅkalai Authors.”

1 Next Monday

Madhva & Dvaita  David Buchta’s “Dependent Agency and Hierarchical Determinism in the Theology of Madhva,” Ch. 11 in FWASIP

Final Paper Rubric

The paper is worth 100 points. The paper + presentation constitute 35% of your course grade. Points are awarded for the paper as follows: 10 Clearly articulated goals in the opening 20 Clarity & flow of ideas & arguments 10 Content 10 Breadth of Coverage 15 Take-away Section 5 Clear conclusion 10 Citation of sources 10 Bibliography 10 Formatting, proof-reading

2 Final Paper & Presentation

 10-12 pgs + Bibliography  35% of Course Grade  Due Mon Finals Week 2pm – Mar 15 – 10 min Presentation 2:30-4:20 pm.  Goal: Synthesis, your own position on karma vs. free will  Important concepts studied: – Karma, dharma, reincarnation, self, theodicy – Free Will & Agency – Determinism, fatalism, compatibilism, libertarianism – Bhagavad Gītā, Brahma-sūtras & Agency – Consciousness? Luck?  Systems Considered: 7. Grammarian 1. Sāṅkhya 8. Advaita Ved nta 2. Nyāya ā 3. Abhidharma Buddhism 9. Viśiṣṭādvaita 10. Madhva Ved nta 4. Mādhyamika Buddhism ā 5. Jainism 11. Kashmir Śaivism 12. Gau ya Vai avism 6. Mīmāṃsā ḍī ṣṇ

Final Paper, cont’d

 Some questions to address: – Is karma necessary? Why (not)? – What are implications of (not) accepting karma as seen in the different systems? – What in your opinion is the best solution to the problem karma is trying to answer? – Is there free will? Why (not)? – How do the different systems answer this question? . Are they successful? . Why, or why not? – How has this class affected your thinking on free-will? – What is/are the most significant take-away(s) for you?

3 WOTD

• Anumati, permission, “consent” Ganeri 243 Dhandeep

• Svātantrya, independence Miles

Questions

 How can Brahman be eternal and changing?

4 Other Vedāntas

 Viśiṣṭādvaita, (viśiṣṭa-advaita)  Dvāita, Non-duality of the Qualified Duality

Rāmanuja, 1017-1136 CE Madhva, 13th cent. CE

Rāmānuja

 Śri-vaiṣṇava Āḷvār bhakti tradition  Non-duality, advaita, qualified by (viśiṣṭa) difference between ātman & Brahman (= Īśvara) – Only Brahman/Viṣṇu is independent – Ātman dependent on Brahman, an attribute of Brahman – Mokṣa through surrender, prapatti to Īśvara through Īśvara’s grace  Pramāṇas: perception, inference, śabda (verbal testimony)

5 Brahman & selves

 Brahman = Viṣṇu = Supreme Self – Form, rupa = Consciousness, doesn’t change  Many finite selves – Quality, guṇa = Consciousness, changes – Possess free will & agency (?) – Dependent on Brahman – Body of the Supreme Self

Scale of time

 The world passes through four periods, yugas of declining virtue: • Krita-yuga 1,728,000 yrs • Treta-yuga 1,296,000 yrs • Dvāpara-yuga 864,000 yrs • Kali-yuga 432,000 yrs  Entire cycle is a mahāyuga, 4,320,000 years.  At the end of a mahāyuga, a “minor” dissolution of world, A kalpa or 1000 mahāyugas, followed by a mahāyuga of rest and return to cosmic non- 4,320,000,000 years differentiation. comprises one day for  Approx. 1½ “Brahmā-minutes” Brahmā!

6 Scale of time, cont’d

 At the end of each kalpa, 4.32 billion years, there is a “major” dissolution which lasts for a kalpa, a night for Brahmā  A year of Brahmā is 360 days and nights of Brahmā.  After 120 Brahmā-years everything, including Brahmā dissolves. (120 x 360 x 2 x 4.32 billion years = 373.248 trillion years!) – Currently in 51st Brahmā- year

Affirmation of self, jīva

1. Knowership, jñātṛtva 2. Agency, kartṛtva 3. Enjoyership, bhoktṛtva

3-fold Renunciation → mokṣa 1. Fruits 2. Possession / ownership of action 3. Agency, kartṛtva

7 Brahman for Rāmānuja

 Brahman as God possesses cit (self) and acit (matter); – all three are real (brahman, cit, and acit). – cit and acit are dependent on Brahman. . Attributes of Brahman . God’s body, God is their soul  Identity-in-difference  Creation is a real act of will  Knowledge of Brahman + devotion, bhakti = mokṣa

Scriptures Cited

Kauśītaki Upaniṣad 3.8/9 This very breath is the self consisting of intelligence; it is bliss, un-ageing, immortal. … It is The One that makes those people perform good actions whom It wants to lead up from these worlds, and makes those people perform bad actions whom It wants to push down from these worlds. He is the ruler of the world, He is the sovereign of the world, He is lord of the world (lokeśa). One should realize, “He is my ātmā.”

8 [ BS 2.1.33-36, on Theodicy ]

32. (Brahman is) not the cause, owing to the need of some motive (for creation). 33. But like what is seen in the world, (creation is) a mere pastime. 34. Partiality and cruelty (do) not (occur) owing to consideration of other factors, for so (the Vedas) show. 35. Not (so), on account of karma remaining undifferentiated – if this be the objection, not so: because of the beginninglessness (of the transmigratory state). 36. Moreover this is logical and is met with (in scriptures).

BS 2.3, on Ātmā as Agent

Brahma Sūtra 2.3.33, 41-42: 33. (The soul is) an agent, on account of scriptural (injunctions) having a meaning on that ground only. 41. But (even) that (agency of the soul) is from the Supreme Lord; so declares the Śruti. 42. But (the Lord's making the soul act) depends on works done (by it); (thus only would) injunctions and prohibitions etc. be relevant.

9 From the BG

BG 3.30: Surrender all actions to me, and fix your reason on your inner self; without hope or possessiveness, your fever subdued, fight the battle! BG 18.13-14: [5 causes for the success of all action] They are the material basis (adhiṣṭhāna), agent (kartā), the different instruments (karaṇa), various kinds of behavior, and finally fate (daivam), the fifth.

BG carama (“final”) śloka

18.66: Abandoning all [other] dharmas, take refuge in me alone, I will liberate you from all pāpa, do not grieve.

10 Branches

 Northern: Vaḍakalai –Sudarśana Sūri, 12th c. CE –Vedānta Deśika, 1268-1367 CE – Monkey path, markaṭamārga – Conservative: Sanskrit, caste

 Southern: Teṅkalai –Piḷḷai Lokācārya, 13th c. CE – Cat & kitten path, mārjāra mārga

Ganeri on Rāmānuja

 235-6: essential form (rupa) of consciousness v. the quality (guṇa) of consciousness. – Unchanging v. changing  “the Supreme Self can be completely immutable and yet also act as the universal cause and controller of the world (238).”  241-2: Four arguments against Sāṅkhya  “...the finite self is free to act and its actions are free, not despite the agency of the Supreme Self, but because of it (246).”

11 TBD: Polarities FWASIP 244-55

 Definition  At least three

Mumme on Rāmānuja

 "without the permission of the supreme, no activity of that (jiva) can appropriately proceed (100)“  “Man lighting a lamp to look for a pot… (103).”  King empowering his ministers (104).  “Lord himself gives that jīva a desire which is then a cause for further favorable or unfavorable action (104).”