Ramanuja and Gaudapada Karika I.16.

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

A few weeks ago, Howard Resnick (Hrid at aol.com) asked a question about
Ramanuja's quotation of the GK: "Does Ramanuja's use of the word
"SrUyate" with reference to GK I.16 mean that he accords GK (or part of 
it) the status of Sruti?"

I have asked a few Sri Vaishnavas about it, and there does not seem to be
any fixed opinion about it. One author, Kuranarayana, takes a position
similar to Madhva, with respect to GK I. In his Brahmasutra Bhashya,
Ramanuja quotes GK I.16 in the advaita purvapaksha. But it looks as if
GK is not quoted by Ramanuja elsewhere. It turns out that Thibaut has
identified one of Ramanuja's quotations: "ajAyamAno bahudhA..." as being
from GK. However, this quotation could well be from the Taittiriya
Aranyaka, not from GK. 

In the specific context of his quotation of GK I.16, Ramanuja is in the
middle of the advaita pUrvapaksha. GK is not quoted in his own siddhAnta.
Therefore, whether he accords to it Sruti status or not, would depend on
the way the entire passage is constructed. If it is his own sentence, then
the question is valid. However, if the word "SrUyate" is actually put in
the mouth of the pUrvapakshin (the advaitin), that says nothing about
whether Ramanuja himself accepts GK as Sruti (technically unauthored) or
not. In this case, "SrUyate" could well be used in a loose sense, because
the advaitin certainly does not say that the GK is unauthored Sruti. 


S. Vidyasankar