This Ramanujacharya Quotes are from English Translation of
Sri Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary by Dr. S Sankaranarayan. The commentary is
for Chapter 2 Verse 18 of Bhagavad Gita.
The root 'dih' means 'to grow.' Hence these bodies (Dehas)
are characterized by complexity. They have an end – their nature is
perishability.
Self is eternal, for
(1) It is not a complex being of a single form;
(2) It is the knowing subject; and
(3) It pervades all.
On the contrary, the body is perishable, because
(1) it is complex;
(2) it serves the purpose of experiencing the fruits of
Karma by the embodied self;
(3) it has a plurality of parts and
(3) it has a plurality of parts and
(4) it can be pervaded.
Therefore, as the body is by nature perishable and the self
by nature is eternal, both are not objects fit for grief.
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Devotion and absolute self-surrender are the happiest and best means to reach God.
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Teachings of Sri Ramanuja
Devotion and absolute self-surrender are the happiest and best means to reach God.
A seeker must acquire a true knowledge of the individual self and the Supreme; he must devote himself to meditation, worship and the adoration of the Supreme; this knowledge with discipline leads him to the realization of the Supreme.
The pathway to the final good of life is the blissful communion with Brahman by way of devout and loving contemplation named bhakti, facilitated by a life of virtue and founded on assured philosophical understanding.
According to Ramanuja, there are three classes of souls, viz., Nitya (eternal), Mukta (free) and Baddha (bound). The eternal souls have never been in bondage. They are eternally free. They live with God in Vaikuntha. The freed souls were once subject to Samsara, but have attained salvation now and live with God. The bound souls are caught up in the meshes of Samsara and are striving to be released. They wander from life to life till they are redeemed. (As per Swami Sivananda Teaching)
Sri Ramanujacharya on Brahman
That supreme Person who is the ruler of all; whose nature is antagonistic to all evil; whose purposes come true; who possesses infinite auspicious qualities such as knowledge, bliss and so on; who is omniscient, omnipotent, supremely merciful; from whom the creation, subsistence, and re-absorption of this world – with its manifold wonderful arrangements, not to be comprehended by thought, and comprising within itself the aggregate of souls from Brahma down to blades of grass, all of which experience the fruits (of their previous deeds) in definite points of space and time –proceed is Brahman.Related