DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0135
Vaishnavism. The Ramanuja Sect. 123
into God, but without losing their own separate identity.
In the Tattva-muktavali (translated in Dr. Banerjea's 9th
Dialogue) we find Ramanuja represented as saying, ' Many
flavours of trees there are in honey, and they are separable
from it. How otherwise could it remove the three-fold
disorders ? Souls, in like manner, are absorbed in the Lord
at the dissolution of all things, but are not unified with
Him, for they are again separated at the creation. As
there is a difference between rivers and the sea, between
sweet and salt waters, so is there- a difference between God
and souls, because of their characteristic distinctions. Rivers,
when joined with the sea, are not altogether unified with it,
though they appear inseparable. There is a real difference
between salt and sweet waters. Even milk, when mixed
with milk, and water with water, do not obtain unification,
merely because they are supposed to be unified. Neither
do souls, when absorbed in the Supreme Being, obtain iden-
tity with Him1.'
With regard to the various manifestations of the Supreme
Being and the duty of worshipping Him, Ramanuja held
that God is present among His votaries on earth in five
ways: 1. in images; 3. in divine embodiments (such as
Rama); 3. in full manifestations (such as Krishna); 4. in
the subtle (sukshma) all-pervading spirit; 5. in the internal
Spirit controlling the human soul (antaryamin). The
worshipper may be incapable of rising at once to any high
act of adoration; in which case he must begin by adoring
Vishnu as manifested in the first of these five ways—that
is to say, in images and idols. He may afterwards ascend
by regular steps through the other four modes of worship
till he reaches the fifth. If he ever succeeds in attaining
to this highest stage and so becomes capable of worshipping
1 The twenty-ninth Sutra of Sanililya (translated by Prof. E. B. Cowell)
mentions a sage Kasyapa who appears to have held doctrines coinciding
to a certain extent with those of Ramanuja.
into God, but without losing their own separate identity.
In the Tattva-muktavali (translated in Dr. Banerjea's 9th
Dialogue) we find Ramanuja represented as saying, ' Many
flavours of trees there are in honey, and they are separable
from it. How otherwise could it remove the three-fold
disorders ? Souls, in like manner, are absorbed in the Lord
at the dissolution of all things, but are not unified with
Him, for they are again separated at the creation. As
there is a difference between rivers and the sea, between
sweet and salt waters, so is there- a difference between God
and souls, because of their characteristic distinctions. Rivers,
when joined with the sea, are not altogether unified with it,
though they appear inseparable. There is a real difference
between salt and sweet waters. Even milk, when mixed
with milk, and water with water, do not obtain unification,
merely because they are supposed to be unified. Neither
do souls, when absorbed in the Supreme Being, obtain iden-
tity with Him1.'
With regard to the various manifestations of the Supreme
Being and the duty of worshipping Him, Ramanuja held
that God is present among His votaries on earth in five
ways: 1. in images; 3. in divine embodiments (such as
Rama); 3. in full manifestations (such as Krishna); 4. in
the subtle (sukshma) all-pervading spirit; 5. in the internal
Spirit controlling the human soul (antaryamin). The
worshipper may be incapable of rising at once to any high
act of adoration; in which case he must begin by adoring
Vishnu as manifested in the first of these five ways—that
is to say, in images and idols. He may afterwards ascend
by regular steps through the other four modes of worship
till he reaches the fifth. If he ever succeeds in attaining
to this highest stage and so becomes capable of worshipping
1 The twenty-ninth Sutra of Sanililya (translated by Prof. E. B. Cowell)
mentions a sage Kasyapa who appears to have held doctrines coinciding
to a certain extent with those of Ramanuja.