Yadavaprakasha: A Brief Biography

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Here is a brief biography of Sri Yadavaprakasha. I have left out the

references which can be supplied upon request. The matter below

represents only the bare outline of my proposed website on the

Acharya.

 

Sincerely,

Vishal

_________

 

Yadavaprakasa (11th Cent. C.E.)

 

Life and Age:

 

According to Sri Vaisnava traditions, he was a very renowned scholar

of his

times and students came to his school at Kancipuram from great

distances to

be his disciples. He is said to have been a follower of

Samkaracarya. The

traditional biographies of Sri Ramanujacarya paint him in very dark

colors.

Sri Ramanuja is said to have disagreed with his teacher over the

numerous

Advaitic interpretations of the Scriptures. The final break between

the two

is recorded as a very emotional event. Sri Yadava Prakasa was

expounding the

meaning of the phrase 'Kapsyasam pundarikam' in Chandogya Upanisad

according

to Sri Samkaracarya's interpretation (' red like the buttocks of a

monkey'),

when tears of distress fell from Sri Ramanuja's eyes. When the

teacher asked

the cause of tears, Sri Ramanuja replied that he was pained at such a

frivolous interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, and proposed a new

etymological interpretation ('the Lord whose eyes are red like a

lotus

blossomed by the Sun').

 

It has also been speculated that he followed Mandana Misra's school

of

Advaita Vedanta. His philosophy, in reality, is a form of the

Bhedabheda-vada.

 

Later in his life, he is said to have accepted Sri Ramanuja as his

teacher

under the influence of his mother, who was a devotee of Lord Varada.

After

inititiating him to the Sri Vaisnava order of ascetics, Sri Ramanuja

granted

him a new title- Govinda Jiyar, and asked him to compose a compendium

of

rules for Sri Vaisnava ascetics. This compendium was named

`Yatidharmasamuccaya.'

 

Works of Yadavaprakasa

1. Commentary on the Brahmasutras: This is refuted by Sri Ramanuja at

several places. In his Srutaprakasika, Sri Sudarsana Suri reproduces

the

gist of his commentary at the end of virtually every `adhikarana'

(topic of

discussion).

2. Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita: This is referred to by

Sudarsanacarya in

Srutaprakasika, by Venkatanatha in Tatparyadipika and by Vyasaraja in

the

Tatparyachandrika.

3. Vaijayantikosa: This is a lexicon and has been published. Of all

the

famous Sanskrit lexicons available, this is the longest one.

4. Yatidharmasamuccaya: This is a manual on the duties of ascetics,

and is

the most comprehensive text in its class. It is said to have been

written

upon the wish of Sri Ramanujacharya, his past disciple turned Guru.

5. Commentary on Pingala's Chhanda Sutras: Again, a very scholarly

work and

explains the historical evolution of the laukika chhandas from Vedic

chhandas

6. Taittiriya Sarvanumkramani

 

Citations from works of Yadavaprakasa:

Few verbatim citations from his works are found but his views are

alluded to

in several places.

A. Vadaratnavali of Visnudasacarya:

Visnudasacarya is a follower of the Madhva's Dvaita school of

Vedanta. In

chapter 5 of this work, the following verse of Yadavaprakasa is cited-

"The

Veda is unreal, the Buddhist scriptures are unreal; The authority of

one and

the other is unreal; The knower is unreal; intelligence and its fruit

are

unreal- You and the Buddhists have accomplished the same result."

This verse

is actually to be found in the Vaijayantikosa of Yadavaprakasa.

B. Vedarthasamgraha of Ramanuja:

1. " The third school (of vedantins) assumes that the individual soul

and

Brahman are different and non different: It follows that Brahman is

identical with soul and that in the same way as Saubhari is different

from

himself, the Lord is different from his incarnations, everyone is

different

from the Lord." According to Sudarsanasuri's commentary on

Vedarthasamgraha

called Tatparyadipika, this is the opinion of Yadavaprakasa.

C. Sri Bhasya of Ramanuja

D. Sarvartha Siddhi of Venkatanatha or Vedantadesika28

1. At I.69, the following view on the theory of Time (kala) is

attributed to

Yadavaprakasa- "Kala is beginningless and endless, but continuously

transforms itself through moments by which the divisions of time as

hours,

days and nights can be spanned, through which again transformations

of all

changeable objects can be measured. In this view, the conditions are

relative from the point of view of each person, who collects the

passing

time units and forms his own conception of minutes, hours and days

from his

own point of calculation according to his needs."

E. Tattvamukta-kalapa of Venakatanatha or Vedantadeshika

1. Action removes the obstruction in the way of attaining moksa,

while

knowledge actually leads to moksa. Thus, he s to a modified

jnana-karma smuccayavada.

2. At 2.16, a view is attributed to Yadavaprakasa according to

which "the

individual souls are parts of Brahman which is a pure being. Just as

the

atoms in the Universe are many and differ from one another and from

Brahman,

the individual are also different from one another and from Brahman.

in this

view, there is no problem in accounting for the difference that

exists

between the happiness or suffering of different individuals and also

their

emancipation."

3. Yadavaprakasa defends the theory of Brahmaparinamavada against the

objection that the defects inherent in the world would apply to

Brahman also

by stating that consciousness is present in all things in the

Universe. If

it is not directly experienced, it is due to the fact that it is

latent, in

the same way as odour, though present in the gem (being a material

object),

is not cognized. That consciousness is present everywhere is proved

on the

strength of the scriptural texts. The Upanishadic text says :

Everything is

Brahman. Another text points out that Brahman itself is constituted

of the

three entities- the Lord, Consciousness and the Insentient. In view

of the

fact that the whole Universe is Brahman, the Upanishad even speaks of

fishermen as Brahman. Thus, Brahman which is capable of undergoing

manifold

modifications is present in everything in the Universe. That is, the

Brahman

which is constituted of cit, acit and Isvara in an unmanifest form

becomes

manifest as cit, acit and Isvara. The example given to explain this

is a

piece of multicolored cloth. The colors present in the three

different

threads become manifest in the woven cloth.

4. Brahman is the material cause only in an indirect sense and

Yadavaprakasa

admits the concept of sakti as associated with Brahman.

5. Sarvartha Siddhi I.69: Yadavaprakasa states that kala is

beginningless

and endless but continuously transforms itself through moments by

which the

divisions of time as hours, days and nights can be spanned, through

which

again the transformation of all changeable objects can be measured.

In this

view, the conditions are relative from the point of view of each

person, who

collects the passing time units and forms his own conception of

minutes,

hours and days from his own point of calculation, according to his

needs.

 

F. Tatparyacandrika of Vedantadesika:

1. On Gita 2.28: "Avyaktavyaktadisabdanam

prakrtyavasthaviseshadiparatvabhramavyudasaya

yadavaprakasoktasbrahmadiparatvasya ca prakrtanubyogajnapanayoktam"

From

this fragment, it appears that Yadava Prakasa connected the

terms `Avyakta'

and `Vyakta' with states of Brahman while according to Desika, they

are

states of Prakrti. This shows that Yadava Prakasa was a pantheist.

2. On Gita 3.10: Here, the reading of Yadava Prakasa is given as

`Sahayajnaah' and rejected.

3. On Gita 3.15: "Yadavaprakasadyuktam Brahmasabdasya

sphotadiparatvamaksaranam tadvancakatvadikam ca

tattprakriyadushanadeva

nirastam." From this it appears that Yadavaprakasa accepted

Sphotavada.

4. On Gita 3.36: Here. a textual variant in Yadava's commentary is

noticed

and dismissed. Curiously, this variant reading is identical to the

one

occurring in the longer recension of Gita comprising of 745 verses.

5. On Gita 11.37: Here, Desika reads 5 additional verses that occur

in the

commentary of Yadava Prakasa (1 of Arjuna followed by 4 of Krsna

followed by

3 more. He then states that an additional verse is also found after

11.39.

Desika declares all these verses as spurious. Incidentally, none of

these

verses is found in the longer version of Gita100 although some are

found in

the Kasmirian recension of the text commented upon by Abhinavagupta.

6. On Gita 11.53: Here, the commentary on Gita 6.42 is quoted. The

comments

state that higher and higher yogins respectively become denizens of

Svetadvipa or the planet of Narayana, soldier of Visnu, head soldier,

sentry, fan wielding servant of Vishnu, a minister of Visnu and

finally he

becomes co-existent with Visnu." From this citation, it is clear that

Yadava

was an ardent Vaisnava.

7. On Gita 13.1: Here, the view of Yadava that `the last three

chapters of

Gita are of the nature of Khilas (Appendices) that discuss several

topics'

is stated and criticized."

8. On Gita 18.66: Yadava is reported to have commented that

by `sarvadharman

parityajaya' is meant abandonment of `virodhi dharmas' (evil

actions).

G. In Srutaparakasika of Sudarsana Suri (Chatuhssutri portion):

1. In the introduction part (pg. 12)103, Sudarsana says that in his

Bhasya

on Brahmasutra 1.1.1, Yadava raises a doubt regarding the meaning of

the

word "Brahman" and then concludes that "Knowledge of Brahman alone is

enjoined for man- this is the meaning of the sutra. Knowledge of

Pradhana

and other entities in the systems of Kapila and Sugata etc. are not

implied

here." Later, Sudarsana (pg. 25) states that according to Yadava, the

Brahmasutras were a natural sequel to the Purva Mimamsa Sutras.

2. Pg. 53: Meaning of Avidya in Isopanishad 11: Sudarsana Suri quotes

Yadava's interpretation of the word as- "Avidya sabda

upeyavirodhinivartakakarmavaciti." i.e. The word 'avidya' denotes

those

Karmas that are a hindrance in the efforts to attain salvation, i.e.,

evil

actions and the like. This corresponds to his commentary on Gita

(citation

F.8 above).

3. Pg. 172: Sudarsana Suri states that in his commentary on

Brahmasutra

1.1.1, Yadava states that "Dukhatrayabhighatajnanantaram

tadupdeshopaye

purusapravrtereva hetoh- Brahmaiva jijnasa, na tu pradhanadini."

Thus,

Yadava interprets Brahmasutra 1.1.1 according to Samkhya Sutra 1.1

but

states that the means of removal of threefold afflictions is not

knowledge

of Pradhana, as stated in the Samkhya Sastra, but rather a knowledge

of

Brahman- this is the import of the first sutra.

Sri Sudarshana Suri actually reproduces the interpretation of

Yadavaprakasha

on EACH adhikarana of Brahmasutras- we have not dealt with it here.

 

 

Views of Yadavaprakasa:

These can be discerned from the citations above. In short, according

to

Yadava Prakasa, Brahman is of the nature of pure Universal Being,

endowed

with 3 distinct powers as consciousness, matter and God, and through

these 3

powers it passes through the various phenomenal changes which are

held up in

it and at the same time, are one with it, just as the one ocean

appears in

diverse forms as foam, billows and waves.