Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v1.c4.s17: XVII. Nimbārka
Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems v1.c4.s17
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XVII. Nimbārka
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§ 53. We have thus noticed the form which Vaiṣṇavism assumed in the south from the middle of the eleventh century to the middle of the thirteenth. A strong feeling of Bhakti, or love, and a fear of the dangerous consequences of the doctrine of Māyā, or illusion, were the guiding principles of the new development. The influence of this last extended itself to the north, and we can distinguish between two classes of founders of sects, viz. (1) those who wrote in Sanskrit, and (2) those who used the vernacular for the propagation of their creed. The first of the former class we have to notice is Nimbārka. Nimbārka is said to have been a Tailaṅga Brāhmaṇa by birth and to have lived in a village called Nimba[^2), which perhaps is the same as Nimbāpura in the Bellary district. He was born on the 3rd of the bright half of Vaiśākha, and his father's name was Jagannātha, who was a Bhāgavata, and his mother's Sarasvatī[^3). He is believed by his followers to be an incarnation of the Sudarśana, or the discus of Viṣṇu. As to when he flourished we have no definite information, but he appears to have lived some time after Rāmānuja[^4). Nimbārka composed the Vedāntapārijātasaurabha, which is a short commentary on the Brahmasūtras, and also a small work containing ten stanzas of the name of Siddhāntaratna, usually called Daśaślokī, from the number of stanzas contained in it. Śrīnivāsa, the immediate follower of Nimbārka, wrote a commentary called Bhāṣya on the first, and Harivyāsadeva, the thirty-second in the list of succession, wrote on the second. The thirteenth in the list, Devācārya, wrote the Siddhāntajāhnavī, and his successor, Sundarabhaṭṭa, wrote a commentary on it, called Setu. The thirtieth in the list composed a commentary, or Bhāṣya, on the Brahmasūtras. His name was Keśava Kaśmīrin.
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§ 52. Nimbārka's Vedāntic theory is monistic as well as pluralistic. The inanimate world, the individual soul and God are distinct from one another as well as identical. Identical they are in the sense that the first two have no independent existence, but are dependent on God for their existence and action. The theory of the Brahmasūtras that Brahman is the material cause of the universe, is thus understood: To be the material cause of an effect is (1) to possess the capacity of assuming the form of that effect, and (2) to be fitted to do so. Brahman possesses various capacities which are of the nature of the animate and inanimate worlds. These in a subtle form constitute its natural condition. This satisfies the first of the two requirements. The capacities again contain in them the rudiment of the effect, i. e. the world, in a subtle form. This meets the second requirement. By realising these capacities and bringing the subtle rudiment into a gross form Brahman becomes the material cause of the world. Rāmānuja's theory of Brahman forming with the animate and inanimate world a composite personality and of its being the material cause in so far as the bodily portion of the composite personality becomes developed, is rejected by the school of Nimbārka¹). For a further knowledge of the system I will here give a translation of the Daśaślokī.
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¹ ) See Keśava's commentary, Br. S. I. 4, 23.
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I. Jīva, or the individual soul, is knowledge, dependent on Hari, and is in a condition to be associated with, or dissociated from, a body; is an atom; different in different bodies; and is a knower and numberless.
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It is called knowledge here to show that it is able to know without the organs of sense, and it is not to be understood here that the soul is the mere phenomenon of knowledge, and not a substance, which is the doctrine of Śaṃkarācārya.
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II. The individual soul has his form distorted by its contact with Māyā, or Prakṛti, or the constituent principle with the three qualities which has no beginning. Its true nature becomes known by the grace of God.
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Individual souls are of two sorts: (1) those delivered or in a supremely blissful condition; (2) those tied down to the circle of existences. The first are of two kinds: (1) those who are eternally in a supremely blissful condition, such as (a) Garuḍa, Viṣvaksena, and (b) the crown, ear-ornaments and the flute considered as living beings; and (2) those who are freed from the trammels of life. Of these last some attain to the likeness of God and others are content with the perception of the nature of their own soul. Corresponding to these two last are two kinds of Mumukṣu, those who seek deliverance of either kind.
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III. The inanimate objects are of three kinds: (1) not derived from Prakṛti; (2) derived from Prakṛti; and (3) time. In the things derived from Prakṛti we have the ordinary material objects having the three colours, viz. red, white, and dark.
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The first class consists of those which are spoken of figuratively by the use of the names of objects belonging to the second class, such as the sunlike refulgence of the Supreme Soul. It is a refulgence not arising from the Prakṛti. Similarly the body, hands, feet, and ornaments of God, as well as all the surroundings, such as garden, palace, etc., belong to the first class and are of an inanimate nature, though they are not made of matter, i. e., not derived from Prakṛti¹).
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¹ The physical attributes given to God by Rāmānuja and the rest and to which the word 'celestial' is sometimes prefixed, are to be understood in this sense.
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IV. I meditate on the highest Brahman, viz. Kṛṣṇa, who has eyes like the lotus, who naturally is free from all faults, is the store of all beneficient attributes, who has Vyūhas for his parts, and who is adored by all.
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The Vyūhas here mentioned are those usually referred to in the Pāñcarātra and Rāmānuja systems. The commentators understand the incarnations also by this expression. One gives a large number of these, divided into classes on certain principles. Kṛṣṇa is called Vareṇya or adored by all, because he has a holy celestial body and bodily qualities, such as beauty, tenderness, sweetness and charm. All these are of course non-material (Aprākṛta), though inanimate according to stanza III.
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V. I reflect on the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu (Rādhikā), who shines with a corresponding beauty on the left side (of Kṛṣṇa), is attended on by thousands of female friends, and who always confers all desired objects.
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VI. This Parabrahman should be always worshipped uninterruptedly by men in order to be free from the darkness in the shape of ignorance, in which they are enveloped. So was Nārada, who directly perceived the whole truth, taught by Sanandana and others.
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VII. All things having Brahman for their souls in accordance with the Śrutis and Smṛtis, the knowledge that [Brahman] is all is true. This is the doctrine of those who know the Vedas, and at the same time the three forms are true as determined from the sacred precepts (Smṛtis) and the Sūtras.
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Here is laid down the unity of all things in so far as Brahman is the inner controlling soul of all and is concomitant with them, and their existence and actions are dependent on it, and also pluralism, since there are three distinct substances, which are called forms of Brahman in the stanza, viz. the inanimate world, the individual soul and the Supreme Soul.
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VIII. There appears no way to salvation except the lotus-like feet of Kṛṣṇa, which are adored by Brahmadeva, Śiva and others — Kṛṣṇa, who, at the desire of a devotee, assumes a form easy of meditation and whose power is unthinkable and whose essence cannot be comprehended.
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IX. His grace extends itself to those who have a feeling of helplessness and other qualifications, and by that grace is generated Bhakti, or devotion, consisting of special love for him, who has no superior lord. This Bhakti is of two kinds: the highest is one, and the other is that which leads to or is instrumental to it.
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By the feeling of helplessness and other qualifications are meant the six modes of Prapatti given in connection with Rāmānuja's system. The Bhakti which is instrumental to that which is the highest, is of the nature of the six or nine modes mentioned in previous sections.
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X. These five things should be known by the devotees: (1) the nature of the being to be worshipped; (2) the nature of the worshipper; (3) the fruit of God's grace; (4) the feeling of enjoyment consequent on Bhakti, or love; (5) obstructions to the attainment of God.
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The first is the knowing of the nature of the Supreme Being as existence, intelligence and joy (Saccidānanda), of his possessing a celestial body (non-material), of his dwelling in such places as the cow-settlement (Vraja), which is called the celestial city (Vyomapura), of his being the cause of all, omnipotent, tender, merciful, gracious towards his devotees, and so forth. The second consists in knowing the worshipper as an atom, possessing knowledge and joy, and as the servant of Kṛṣṇa, etc. The third is the self-surrender and the giving up of all actions except the service of God, which results in self-surrender. The fourth arises from serenity, servitude, friendliness, affection, and enthusiasm. These states of mind are consequent upon the peculiar relation to God of each individual, as affection was the feeling of Nanda, Vasudeva and Devakī, and enthusiasm, of Rādhā and Rukmiṇī. The fifth are such as regarding the body as the soul, dependence on others than God and one's preceptor, indifference to the commands of God contained in the sacred books, worshipping other gods, giving up one's own peculiar duties, ingratitude, spending one's life in a worthless manner, vilification of good men, and many others.
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§ 55. These ten stanzas contain the quintessence of Nimbārka's system. This appears to have Rāmānuja's doctrines for its basis and is a sidewise development of it. It gives predominance to Prapatti or self-surrender of the six kinds alluded to above, and then, by the grace of God, love for Him is generated. His Sādhana Bhakti comprehends all the Yogas of Rāmānuja's system. Rāmānuja, as we have already remarked, changes the original sense of Bhakti and renders it equivalent to the Upāsanā, or the meditation prescribed in the Upaniṣads. But Nimbārka keeps to the original sense. His doctrines make a nearer approach to the Tenkalai, or southern learning, of the Rāmānujīyas. But the great difference between the two teachers is, that, while Rāmānuja confines himself to Nārāyaṇa and his consorts Lakṣmī, Bhū and Līlā, Nim-
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bārka gives almost an exclusive prominence to Kṛṣṇa and his mistress, Rādhā, attended on by thousands of her female companions. Thus the fourth element of Vaiṣṇavism which we have mentioned rises to the surface in Vaiṣṇavism about this time and retains its place in Northern India, including Bengal, except in the case of those sects whose favourite deity is Rāma and not Kṛṣṇa; and to these for the present we will now turn our attention, coming back again to Kṛṣṇaism later on. Nimbārka's system is known by the name of Sanakasampradāya, or the tradition originating with Sanaka. Though Nimbārka was a southerner, he lived at Vṛndāvana near Mathurā, which accounts for the preference given by him to the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa form of Vaiṣṇavism. His followers are scattered over the whole of Northern India and exist in large numbers near Mathurā and in Bengal. They wear two perpendicular lines of Gopīcandana with a black spot in the middle on the forehead and use a necklace and rosary of the wood of the Tulasī plant. They are divided into two classes, the ascetics and householders. This distinction appears to have originated at the time of Harivyāsadeva, after whom, as I have observed in a note, the successors of Nimbārka were divided into two branches. The reason for the division was probably this new distinction.
Cites (1)
- Brahmasūtra — Bādarāyaṇa, Sanskrit