Rāmānuja is commonly recognised as the founder of the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta school of Vaiṣṇavism, which has been one of the key players in the religious and philosophical landscape of South India for the last millennium. Among his works, Rāmānuja’s Śaraṇāgatigadya ‘Discourse on Surrender to God’ is a key text in the history of Sanskrit thought and of South Asia in general (for instance, one of its verses is now part of the national hymn of India). The Śaraṇāgatigadya has been commented upon in Maṇipravāḷam (Periyavāccāṉ Piḷḷai, traditional dates 1167–1262) and in Sanskrit (by Veṅkaṭanātha, traditional dates 1269–1370, and Sudarśana Sūri, an older contemporary of Veṅkaṭanātha). The Śaraṇāgatigadya itself is about four pages long and the commentaries vary in length and content, thus providing an insight into nuanced philosophical approaches that can be taken within the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta school itself.

Periyavāccāṉ Piḷḷai’s commentary is one of the earliest examples of the engagement of scholars and teachers writing in Maṇipravāḷam with the philosophy and theology of Rāmānuja and it is therefore crucial to understand the early development of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta. By contrast, Veṅkaṭanātha has been the main systematiser of the school. Hence, his commentary marks some elements that later became part of the “orthodoxy” of the school and for which he wants to find a grounding in the words of Rāmānuja.

We at UofT started working on the Śaraṇāgati as part of our joint reading group, where faculty members take turns to read a text they are working on with students. We rapidly realise that the text was much more interesting than expected and that we did not want to “just” read it over a few months.
Our research will lead to a volume which will be a timely contribution to the history of philosophy. Whilst Rāmānuja’s commentarial texts (Śrībhāṣya, Gītābhāṣya, and Vedārthasaṃgraha) have been well studied, the philosophical import of his seemingly devotional texts is largely unaccounted for. The consequence of this gap is that we are left with an unanswered questions as to how Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta arguments are reconciled with the everyday lives of the school’s adherents. In addition to its historical contributions, our research pushes the frontiers of discussions commonly found in contemporary analytic philosophy. Discussions of ontology, free will, desires and moral worth are central in both contemporary analytic scholarship and the commentaries of the Śaraṇāgatigadya. In this way, our research encourages us to appreciate the value of philosophical insights drawn from non-traditional sources in our broader philosophical endeavours.

This is the summary of the next workshops dedicated to the ŚG and its commentaries:

Periyavāccaṉ Piḷḷai readings: Feb 6: 3–5pm; March 6: 3–5pm; March 13 (3–5pm); March 20 (3–5pm); March 27 (3–5pm) (Toronto time);

Sudarśana Sūri readings: Thu 5 March, 9–6pm; Tue March 10, 10 to 4pm (Toronto time);

Veṅkaṭanātha readings: March 18 to 19, 9 to 6pm (with Alessandro Giudice); March 26, 9–3pm; April 2, 9 to 3; April 9, 9–5pm (Toronto time); May 14, 9–6pm (with Manasicha Akepiyapornchai)
May 15, 9–6pm (with Manasicha Akepiyapornchai)

A final workshop in preparation for the volume will take place in May 2027, 6 to 8.