воскресенье, 16 декабря 2018 г.

Shree RangaRamanuja-Acharya: the famous commentator of Upanishads in Vishishta-Adwaita Vaishnava Tradition

It is rather hard to find the details of Shree RangaRamanuja-Acharya's biography in google, so I have scanned 2 pages with the information from the following edition - "Principal Upanishads", Volume 1 by Dr. N.S. Ananta Rangacharya, 2003

Dr. N.S. Ananta Rangacharya writes the following about Shree RangaRamanuja-Acharya:

"Sri Ranga Ramanuja Muni, one of the most celebrated scholars of Vishishta-Adwaita, was a native of Velambur Village in North Arcot District of Tamilnadu. 

He has made a mention of his Acharya Parampara as well as his Sanyasa Guru in the commencement of his commentary as follows:

श्रीशैलपूर्ण वंशाब्धि कौस्तुभस्य जगद्गुरोः । 
श्रीमतस्तातयार्यस्य चरणौ शरणं वृणे ।। 
श्रीतातगुरुसेवाप्त वेदान्तयुगलाशयः । 
वात्स्यानन्तगुरुः श्रीमान् श्रेयसे मेऽस्तु भूयसे ।। 
यत्सेवावैभवाल्लब्धा मया परमहंसता । 
तमहं शिरसा वन्दे परकाल मुनीश्वरम् ।। 
shrIshailapUrNa vaMshAbdhi kaustubhasya jagadguroH | 
shrImatastAtayAryasya charaNau sharaNaM vRRiNe || 
shrItAtagurusevApta vedAntayugalAshayaH | 
vAtsyAnantaguruH shrImAn shreyase me.astu bhUyase || 
yatsevAvaibhavAllabdhA mayA paramahaMsatA | 
tamahaM shirasA vande parakAla munIshvaram || 

His Paramaguru was Sri Tatacharya and his spiritual teacher was Sri Vatsya Ananthacharya. After his spiritual studies he was initiated into Sanyasa deeksha by the 15th pontiff of Sri Parakala Mutt, Sri Jnanabdhi Brahmatantra Swatantra Mahadesikar (period of reign 1607 to 1618). 

He lived in Kanchipuram at the shrine of Sri Deepaprakasar in Tuppil. He was well known as "Shasti Prabhandha Nirmata" and also well known as "Dasopanishath Bhashyakara".

Sri RangaRamanuja Muni was a great master of Nyaya Vaisheshika, Purva Mimamsa and Advaita Vedantha in addition to Vishishta-Adwaita. He quotes frequently from Mimamsa authorities like Kumarila Bhatta, Parthasarathy Mishra and others.

He is regarded as an ancient commentator who has substantially contributed to the understanding of the Upanishads and other devotional literature of the Visistadvaitic tradition.
Sri Ranga Ramanuja has composed conventional commentaries on such Upanishads as Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandookya, Taittiriya, Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka, Mantrika, Kaushithaki, Svethasvathara and MahaNarayana. 
He has written a commentary on Sri Bhashya - "Moola Bhava Prakashika“ and a commentary on Srutha Prakashika named "Bhava Prakashika", ”Vishaya Vakya Dipika", "Sariraka Shastraratha Dipika", "Nyaya Siddhanjana Teeka" as well as Sanskrit Commentaries on Tamil Prabandhams such as Tiruvoymoli, Tiruppavai, Tiruppalandu and others. 

Many of his works such as "Ramanuja Siddhanta-Sara-Sangraha", "Rahasya-Traya Vyakhya", "Ishavasya-Bhava-Dipika", "Tattva Nishkarsha" and others are yet to be published.

Ranga Ramanuja was a celebrated scholar who has written his commentaries on all the Mantras of the Upanishads according to this tradition. 
He profusely quotes from the great works of Bhagavad Ramanuja, Sudarsana Suri and Nigamantha Maha Desika. 
His commentary sheds light on various delicate points of this school of Philosophy. He often engages in stimulating discussions on significant passages where the view of others are critically examined. 

A significant feature of his commentary is that he takes the readers through the discussions on the salient Upanishadic Mantras in the BrahmaSutras.***
***Note by Vishnudut1926: Shree RangaRamanuja-Acharya often refers to Shree RamanujAcharya's explanations of Upanishadic Mantras from "Shree Bhashya" (the commentaries of Shree RamanujAcharya to "Shree Brahma-Sutras" also known as "Shree Vedanta-Sutra").
For example, in his gloss to Mantra 1.2.14 of "Shree Katha-Upanishad" Shree RangaRamanuja-Acharya cites the explanations of "Shree Chandogya-Upanishad" from "Shree Bhashya", that is Shree RangaRamanuja-Acharya strictly follows to the previous explanations of Shree Ramanuja-Acharya from "Shree Bhashya". 
You can find pdf-scan of "Shree Katha-Upanishad" with Shree RangaRamanuja's Tikas in my E-Library - http://vishnudut1926.blogspot.com/2018/12/kathopanishad-bhashya-sri.html
The study of the Upanishadic Mantras as related to the exposition of the Brahma Sutras is made possible in his commentary. His approach is thus comprehensive and all inclusive".

OCR by Vishnudut1926, Moscow, December 2018
from "Principal Upanishads", Volume 1 
by Dr. N.S. Ananta Rangacharya, 2003, pages xxi - xxiii