Posted on: 05 Feb 2005
[You say that Ramanuja is the reincarnation of Shankara. Shankara said that any individual who is interested in the Lord is eligible for the spiritual effort. But Ramanuja said that only a Brahmana who read the Veda is eligible for spiritual path. How can you solve this contradiction?]
As I told you, you must understand the commentary of any Acharya from His practical life. Ramanuja left His wife for observing the difference between a Brahmin and a non-Brahmin. How can such a Ramanuja say that the Brahmin alone is eligible for the spiritual path? Therefore you must know the inner meaning of His commentary. Brahmana means He who knows Brahman. Brahman means pure awareness, which is the soul. Therefore Brahmana means any one who has attained the knowledge of Brahman or self. Shankara preached about attaining the knowledge of the self (Atma Jnana). Ramanuja showed the next half of the journey to reach Ishwara. By attaining Atma Jnana, one gets a lot of peace so that he can withstand the suffering in the next half of the journey. The Veda means knowledge. Therefore a Brahmana who has read the Veda, means any individual who has attained the knowledge of the self. Shankara said that the qualification to attain self-knowledge is spiritual interest. This self-knowledge is the qualification to attain Ishwara. Therefore the intermediate goal of Shankara is the qualification to start in the path of Ramanuja. Therefore there is no contradiction and both dealt with the same continuous spiritual path in the sequence of time [different parts of the spiritual journey].