Hinduism: A Short History (20 page)

In contrast with this Kapila-
vidhā
we find in the same
Bhāgavatam
portions which condemn Sāṁkhya-Yoga as being ineffective for
mokṣa
, extolling either pure
bhakti
, Viṣṇu worship, or a theistic Vedānta. Since Sāṁkhya represents probably the oldest among the
darśanas
we may consider the passages which accept Sāṁkhya as a way to
mokṣa
as representing the oldest Vaiṣṇava theology. Also the other Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas explain creation and liberation in terms of Sāṁkhya-Yoga.
⁷⁵
The decisive difference, however, in all the above-mentioned Vaiṣṇava scriptures, is that the stages of bondage and liberation are connected with an act of free will of the Lord and the final stage is usually conceived as companionship with the Lord.

While in classical Sāṁkhya-Yoga no reference is made to
sṛṣṭi
(creation) and
pralaya
(dissolution of the universe), and to repeated existences of the
jīva
, already the early
Pāñcarātra
literature deals with this topic in connection with liberation according to Sāṁkhya-Yoga: after death the liberated
jīva
joins the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha. When the day of the Lord has expired and
mahāpralaya
has taken place nothing remains but the Waters of Infinity and, floating on them, a leaf from a
banyan
tree and upon this a babe whose name is
śūnya
(“zero”). This babe is Viṣṇu in the sleep of
Yoga
, in whose
kuksī
(chest) are sleeping all the
jīvas:
in the upper part rest the
muktas
(the released), in the middle the
mukti-yogyas
(those capable of release), near the navel the
nitya-baddhas
(those who will always be in bondage), and in the region of the loins the
tamo-yogyas
(those condemned to live in darkness). In this condition the
jīvas
are called
naras:
as abode of the
naras
Viṣṇu is called Nārāyaṇa. When he creates a new universe, by his will he “obscures” the divine nature of the soul by reducing its original omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence so as to make it “little-achieving,” “little-knowing,” and “atomic.” If these three restrictions are taken away by the grace of the Lord,
mukti
is achieved.

The Pāñcarātra
vyūha
Doctrine

Historically this doctrine may represent the attempt to coordinate the worship of several heroes of the Vṛṣṇi clan and to subordinate it to Viṣṇu worship, but the theology of the
vyūhas
goes far beyond that practical purpose and constitutes one of the most characteristic elements of Vaiṣṇava theology. In the
Mahābhārata, vyūha
has mostly the meaning of battle array, a certain formation of troops. But it means also body, or part, and this is probably the meaning which is applied in the
vyūha
theology of Pāñcarātra. In the Nārāyaṇīya section of the
Mabābhārata
we find elements of the
vyūha
doctrine: Nārāyaṇa in the form of Aniruddha is seen and worshiped by Nārada. The
puruṣa
that develops anew after a
pralaya
is called Aniruddha in another place. This is just another name of Viṣṇu – out of his navel a lotus springs from which Brahmā develops, here identified with Hiraṇyagarbha. The
Mahābhārata
mentions the
Sātvata Saṃhitā
, one of the oldest
Pāñcarātra āgamas
. The
vyūha
doctrine is theologically probably an extrapolation from the
puruṣa-sūkta;
explaining the possibility of a physical division of the Supreme Person while its transcendence is maintained.

The
Ahirbudhnya Saṃhitā
has a fully developed
vyūha
theory which in this form became an integral part of Vaiṣṇavism. God has six qualities
(guṇas):
knowledge, power, majesty, strength, energy, self-sufficiency. From every pair of
guṇas
one
vyūha
arises: Saṁkarṣaṇa from knowledge and power; Pradyumna from majesty and strength; Aniruddha from energy and self-suffciency. The two
guṇas
mentioned predominate in the
vyūhas
, but since they are all manifestations of Viṣṇu all of them have the full set of six
guṇas
in some measure. The
vyūhas
emanate from one another. All have a soteriological function: Saṁkarṣaṇa is the deity superintending all the individual souls and separating them from
prakṛti
. Pradyumna superintends the
manas
of all beings and instructs them regarding their religious duties. He is also responsible for the creation of all beings: there are some who from the very beginning are fully dedicated to God and become absolutely attached to him. Aniruddha protects the world and leads men to the attainment of ultimate wisdom. These three
vyūhas
are also called the “pure
avatāras
of Viṣṇu.” There are also so-called
sākṣād-avatāras
“directly derived from a part of the Lord just as a lamp is lighted from another.” A seeker for liberation should worship these transcendent forms.

From each main
vyūha
three subsidiary
vyūhas
emanate: from Vāsudeva arise Kesava, Nārāyaṇa, Mādhava; from Saṁkarṣaṇa arise Govinda, Viṣṇu, Madhusūdana; from Pradyumna arise Trivikrama, Vāmana, Śrīdhara; from Aniruddha arise Hṛṣīkeśa, Padmanābha, Dāmodara. They are considered to be the divinities superintending the twelve months of the year and they serve for meditation. In addition to them there are thirty-nine
vibhava avatāras
.

The whole system – especially if compared with other Pāñcarātra treatises – shows that the theory of the
vyūhas
and
vibhavas
is rather fluid: possibly there had been numerous sects and cults connected with the names of the
vyūhas
and
vibhavas
and it proved difficult to find a satisfactory system.

The purpose of the
vibhava-avatāras
is said to be “to give companionship in mundane form to those saints who cannot live without it, to destroy those who are opposed to the saints and to establish the Vedic religion whose essence is
bhakti
to Viṣṇu.”
⁷⁶

The fourth form of presence of God is that of the
antaryāmī
, the Inner Controller, the Lord residing in the self through whose impulses a person commits evil deeds and goes to hell, or good deeds and goes to heaven. The yogis can perceive the Lord as
antaryāmī
in their hearts.

The fifth kind of divine presence is that of the
arcāvatāra
in images of various sorts.

The
Ahirbudhnya Saṃhitā
mentions that the Highest Lord is always accompanied by the female principle Śrī conceived as his
śakti
. Some
Pāñcarātra āgamas
mention three consorts of Viṣṇu: Laksmī, Bhūmī and Nīlā, sometimes identified with
icchā, kriyā
and
sākṣātśakti
. In this connection it is also necessary to explain the peculiar
Pāñcarātra
teaching of a differentiation of
jīvas
with respect to their chances of salvation: some are bound, some have become free in time, some are eternally free. These three groups have numerous subdivisions.

There are two kinds of seekers for liberation: those who aspire for
kaivalya
and those who are desirous of
mokṣa
. The latter are either
bhaktas
or
prapannas
. In their specifications of the means necessary to reach
mokṣa
and their classification of
mumukṣus
the individual sects of Vaiṣṇavism differ considerably. In the following we summarize the teaching of Śrīnivāsadāsa as found in his
Yatīndramatadīpikā
.

At death the liberated individual soul merges with the
paramātman
residing in its heart, enters
suṣumna
and leaves the body through
brahmārandhā
. Through the rays of the sun it reaches the world of Agni -passing several stations it pierces the orb of the Sun and reaches
sūrya-loka
. The
devatās
of the higher worlds receive it and guide it on. It reaches the river Virajā, the boundary between prakṛti and Vaikuṇṭha. Here it shakes off the subtle body and receives a non-material, divine body with four arms and ornaments. Indra and Prajāpati, the doorkeepers of Vaikuṇṭha, let the
mukta
enter Vaikuṇṭha. The text’s description of Vaikuṇṭha shows that within Vaikuṇṭha there is yet progress from bliss to bliss till the ultimate fulfillment comes. The
mukta
beholds the Lord himself on His throne and is received into the lap of the Lord, who asks him: “Who are you?” The released answers: “I am a mode of
Brahman.”
The
mukta
receives the blessing of the Lord and thus becomes forever a servant of the Lord.

Vaiṣṇava Vedānta

The
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
considers Kapila one of the
avatāras
of Viṣṇu and his Sāṁkhya system as conducive to salvation, but later Vaiṣṇavism rejects Kapila as a heretic and his system as erroneous. After c.1000 C.E. the basic philosophy is no longer Sāṁkhya but Vedānta. Some “Vaiṣṇava” ideas in the
Vedas
and
Upaniṣads
have been pointed out before. But Vaiṣṇava Vedānta again is not a unilinear development of Upaniṣadic ideas. It is an attempt – made at different times by different people in different places – to combine the popular Vaiṣṇava tradition with Vedānta. Possibly the purport of the
Brahmasūtras
is theistic Vedānta, and there is good reason to assume that the now lost gloss on the
Brahmasūtras
by Bodhāyana, to which both Śaṇkara and Rāmānuja refer as their authority, had been theistic and possibly Viṣṇuitic.
⁷⁷

Each of the four major constituencies of Vaiṣṇavism mentioned above is distinguished by elaborating its own form of Vedānta: the Śrīvaiṣṇavas developed what became known as
Viśiṣṭa-Advaita;
the Brahmā
saṃpradāya
, also called Madhva
saṃpradāya
after its most prominent theologian, developed
Dvaita;
the Kumāra
saṃpradāya
, also called Hamsa or Nimbārka
saṃpradāya
, advocated
Dvaita-Advaita;
and the Rudra
saṃpradāya
, also known as Vallabha
saṃpradāya
, developed
sūddhā-Advaita
. We shall deal with all these in turn.

Vaiṣṇava Vedānta proper began with the
ācāryas
of Śrīraṅgam who tried to combine the fervor of the popular religious literature of the Āḷvārs
⁷⁸
with the
jñāna
of Vedānta. South Indian tradition speaks of twelve Āḷvārs (“those who have delved into the deity”) who lived from the sixth to the ninth century C.E. They composed fervent songs in honor of Viṣṇu in their native Tamil. Nammāḷvār, the fifth, is considered the greatest: his
Tiruvaimoli
is held to be the
Dramidopaniṣad
, the final wisdom of the Tamils.

The first of the SnVaiṣṇava
Ācāryas
, Natha Muni (ninth century C.E.) was the son of Nyāya Muni who was well known as a Pāñcarātra master. He collected the songs of the Āḷvārs, gave the collection
(Prabandham)
the status of revealed scripture in Śrīraṅgam, and succeeded in establishing himself as the highest authority with regard to doctrine. Pāñcarātra ritual and doctrinal tradition, the devotion of the Āḷvārs, the philosophy of Vedānta combined with a strong personal faith in the
guru
became the characteristics of ŚrīVaiṣṇavism.

Natha Muni’s successor was Yāmunācārya (tenth century C.E.), a scholar who left several systematic works, laying the foundation for Vaiṣṇava Vedānta.
⁷⁹

The greatest of the
Ācāryas
, however, was Rāmānuja (1017–1137).
⁸⁰
He was a great organizer and propagator of ŚrīVaiṣṇavism as well as a theologian, and he suffered from persecutions by Śaivas: he had to flee from Śrīraṅgam and seek refuge in Melkote, which to this time has remained a strong center of ŚrīVaiṣṇavism.

According to his own words his intention was not to build a new system, but to popularize and reformulate Vaiṣṇava Vedānta. Much of his writing consists of polemics against Śaṇkara’s Advaita Vedānta which he considers a misinterpretation of the
Vedānta sūtras
and a deviation from tradition. But it is much more than mere polemics; it is a mature statement of the theistic tradition of India, a reunification of the two
Mīmāṃsās
of
karma-kānda
and;
nana-kānda
with the
bhakti
tradition. It represents the attempt to establish Vaiṣṇavism as the leading religion of India with a full-fledged philosophy, ritual,
sādhana
(spiritual practice), and central leadership.
⁸¹

While Rāmānuja’s Śrīvaiṣṇavism contains much traditional Viṣṇu mythology and Pāñcarātra ritual and
vyūha
speculation, it makes a definitely new contribution with its doctrine of grace. In his theology the function of Brahman as
raksaka
, the redeemer, is central and in his
sādhana
of
prapatti
(self-surrender), faith in God as redeemer, is prominent. The Lord is
raksaka
, saviour, and the
Jīva raksya
, in need of salvation. Human beings are essentially receivers of grace; God is essentially a giver of grace.
⁸²
The very purpose of creation of the world is the salvation of the
jīvas
. Two of the six
guṇas
of
Nyāya
are directly concerned with salvation:
saulabbya
(accessibility) and
sausilya
(con-descension).
⁸³
God comes down from his throne to enter into
saṃsāra
for the sake of assisting the struggling
jīva
to attain salvation: God becomes
sājdtlya
, a member of the human race, suffers with the
jīva
, endures pain with the
jīva
, and leads the
jīva
by the hand like a friend or lover or guide. This guidance is effected through the
avatāras
and the
guru
, the “fully trustworthy person” who returns the lost
jīva
to his father. Commenting on the verse of the
BhagavadgM
in which the Lord tells Arjuna that he delivers himself to his devotee, Rāmānuja says that as the
jīva
cannot live without the Lord, so the Lord cannot live any longer without the
jīva
who has surrendered to him.
⁸⁴