वेदार्थसंग्रहः श्री रामानुजाचार्यविरचितः Vedarthasangraha by Sri Ramanujacharya (Critical Edition)- An Old and Rare Book

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We are proud to place in the hands of scholars and other readers this volume of Vedarthasangrahah of Sri Ramanujacarya. This is one of the nine critical works of Sri Ramanujacarya chosen by the Academy under a project to edit and publish all the nine works.

Vedarthasangrahah is the outcome of the critical study and evaluation of the Upanishads from the Visiștadvaita Vedanta point of view. Sri Ramanujācārya opined that the Veda should be viewed as one consistent whole in which there should not be any scope for contradictions. An in-depth study of the Vedas by Sri Ramanujacarya in a bid to find out available clues in them to resolve the seeming contradictions gave rise to a new approach in the interpretation of the Vedic texts. He discovered that there were passages advocating both duality and non-duality. However there were also passages reconciling both the views that appeared to be contradictory. There are passages describing Brahman as devoid of attributes and passages describing Brahman as having innumerable qualities. It has been shown from the reconciliatory passages that negation of attributes in Brahman meant absence of evils and evil attributes, but not the absence of auspicious qualities in Brahman.

According to the tradition there are innumerable branches of Vedas which are considered to be apauruseya or impersonal. The Vedic literature delineating the concept of Brahman, consisting of these branches with different santhitas, brahmaņas, aranyakas and upanisads is considered to be one unified whole.

The final portions of the Vedic literature aranyaka are crowned with the upanisads. These upanisads form the bed rock of vedantic literature. While elucidating the concept of Brahman they also elucidate the concept of the universe, which is invariably associated with Brahman. They also explain the means of liberation and the concept of final emancipation.

When the great acaryas like Sankara, Madhva, Ramanuja and others tried to analyse the various concepts of the philosophy of Vedanta enshrined in these upanisads, they came across several seeming inconsistencies and contradictions. If some of the Vedic passages advocate non-duality, some others teach duality. If some of the passages mention that the Supreme Brahman is impersonal, some others preach that Brahman is personal also. While some of the passages highlight the innumerable virtues of the Supreme Brahman, some of them state that Brahman is devoid of dualities and attributes.