Page:The Vedanta-sutras, with the Sri-bhashya of Ramanujacharya.djvu/26

 the same things as devotion, meditation or worship. Tanka is quoted in support of this view and in support of the contention that the innate tendency towards error can be cured only by work and worship. It is further shown that the fourfold mental and moral equipment, which, accord- ing to Sankara, ought to precede the study of the Vedanta t can be acquired only with the help of devotion, meditation and worship, and that ritualistic elements such as the UdgilJia, &c., are also referred to in the Vedanta for the reason that they are helpful to meditation and to the acquisition of the needed mental and moral equipment mentioned above (pp. 15 to 27.).

The meaning conveyed by the word therefore is then fully taken into consideration, and the Mahd-prtrvapaksha or the f great objection ' against the view of Ramanuja, as given by the followers of Sankara, is fairly fully stated (pp. 27 to 53.). The main question dealt with in this Purvapa- ksha naturally bears upon what it is that forms the cause for leading us to enquire into the Brahman, and why it is that the enquiry into the Brahman has to be begun and con- ducted ; and the opinion of the Adwaitin on this question is given to the effect that the study of the Vedanta has to be undertaken to remove the avidyd or ignorance that is at the root of the world's manifestation of variety, so as to attain the knowledge of the oneness of the self with the Brahman, who is, by nature, eternal, pure, self-luminous and free (p. 53.). The various points mentioned in this 1 great objection ' are the following : The unqualified absolute Brahman alone is real ; all other things are only assumed to exist in Him, and are therefore unreal (pp. 27- 30.). Unreality is that which, being grounded upon what is perceived, is liable to be stultified by means of the knowledge of things as they .are ; and the world of