82 GOLDEN RULES OF SRI RAMANUJACHARYA In his death bed Sri Ramanuja is said to have articulated 82 statements to his disciples. It is not an exaggeration to present these statements as the essence of Sri Vaishnavam. To our understanding, they were meant to be moral aids to his disciples in their relations to God, men and devotees. Golden Rule 6 – Yield not to your senses after becoming a Jnani by the grace of Guru Swami Ramanuja here alludes to the conflict between the spiritual and material elements of man, during his spiritual probation and advises his hearers, not to sink into moral degeneration and revert to evil path, after they once grasp the truth and see the light of God must continue to be good to the end of his life. Sri Krishna speaks of the characteristics of direct and empirical Self-realisation in Chapter IV, verse 35 of Bhagavad Gita: yaj-jñātvā na punar-moham eva yāsyasi pāṇḍava | yena bhūtāny-aśeṣeṇa drakṣyasy-ātman-yatho mayi || 35 || Knowing that, O Pandava (Arjuna), you will not again become deluded thus — by that knowledge you will see all beings, without exception in your Self and then in Me. Swami Ramanuja’s commentary: Having the knowledge obtained by the grace of Guru, you will not again fall into this delusion of mistaking the body for the Self, which are the cause of possessiveness and the concept of agency. By that knowledge you will see in yourself all the beings which appear in diverse forms such as gods, humans, animals and vegetables — because you and all other beings are equal in terms of essential being — when freed from the hold of Prakrti. The essential nature of your own atman and all other atmans is comprised of consciousness. And then you will see all beings in Me without any exception, because of the equality in respect of the essential nature of all Selves in their pure state, with one another and with Me. Thus the identity of the individual Selves, when devoid of name and form, with the Supreme Self, is known from the texts like Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:57:39 +0000
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