BSB- Saxena - Part 1 (revisited)

[Guest guest]

Essentially, I have tried to convert all sa.mskR^itam.h words to

ITRANS 5.2 for consistency and adding the original text of sha.nkara.

Sunderji, kindly point out the errors.

 

Ravi

 

--- "Ravisankar S. Mayavaram" <miinalochanii wrote:

>

> ADVAITA-L

>

> Author: Sri Subhanu Saxena (subhanu)

> Copyright: Sri Subhanu Saxena (subhanu)

>

----

> Note: Sanskrit text changed to ITRANS 5.2 by Ravi

> Please refer to http://www.aczone.com/itrans/ for details. Also

> I am adding the orginal text of sha.nkara as it is.

>

> Original document of shrI Saxena is at

> http://www.geocities.com/ambaal_daasan/bsb/

>

>

------

>

> sha.nkara.m sha.nkarAchArya.m keshava.m bAdarAyaNam.h |

> sUtra bhAShya kR^itau vande bhagavantau punaH punaH ||

>

> shruti smR^ti purANAnA.m Alaya.m karuNAlayam.h |

> namAmi bhagavdpAda.m sha.nkara.m lokasha.nkaram.h ||

>

> sUtra bhAShya praNetArau vedAntAbja prabhAkaru

> vande parasparAtmAnau bAdarAyaNa sha.nkaru

>

> Introduction

>

> In the canon of vedanta litarature, the brahma sUtram.h occupies a

> unique position as the oldest systematic commentary on the

> upaniShad-s. Of commentaries on the brahma sUtram.h, sha.nkara's

> commentary stands pre-eminent in elaborating advaita vedAnta

> according

> to his tradition, or sampradAya. Whilst there is doubt regarding

> authorship of some of the works attributed to sha.nkara, there is

> universal agreement in the tradition that the bhAShyam.h on brahma

> sUtram.h was compsed by Adi sha.nkarachArya. This is evidenced by the

> fact that the genesis of post sha.nkara schools arises from

> sub-commentaries on primarily his brahma sUtra bhAShyam.h. In these

> sub-commentaries (of which the so-called bhAmati and vivaraNa schools

> are most recognised), the authors profess to be elaborating on

> sha.nkara's system of advaita, and clearly identify sha.nkara as the

> author of the bhAShyam.h.

>

> His astonishing introduction to his brahma sUtra bhAShyam.h (BSB),

> often called the adhyAsa bhAShyam.h, is, in my view, one of the

> greatest texts written on vedAnta, and holds the status for me of a

> shruti. For in it, we find no quotation from other shAstra in this

> introduction to support his statements. They are simply outpourings

> from anubhava, or experience, of an enlightened sage, and which

> appeal

> to that sArvatrika-anubhava, or universal experience, that belongs to

> each and every one of us.

>

> sha.nkara's adhyAsa bhAShyam.h fully serves the purpose of an

> introduction. He succintly manages to summarise all the key points

> that will unfold in his brahma sUtra bhAShyam.h, and connects them to

> the central underlying theme. The them of is work is: "My commentary

> will explain how the brahma sUtram.h identifies the fundamental

> obstacle to knowledge, and how the it explains the method used in the

> shruti to remove this obstacle, so that ultimate knowledge (which

> will

> be defined), is acquired". At one stroke he covers the aim of the

> work, its purpose, and what the answer is to the basic question

> above.

>

> In summary, sha.nkara clarifies for us that the obstacle to

> enlightenment is a misconception on our part, which superimposes

> (mixes up) up the real and non-real, which drives an empirical view

> of

> the world as an apparent duality of subjects, objects, and means of

> knowing these objects. The misconception is innate to us, and

> tradition gives the technical name adhyAsa to this

> superimposition. sha.nkara further defines the avidyA in the Sruti as

> this adhyAsa. Once this avidyA is removed, what is left is vidyA or

> knowledge that is the experience of brahman, the Ultimate

> Reality. Therefore, sha.nkara says, the purpose of the shAstra is to

> reveal brahman by identifying and removing avidyA or misconceptions,

> so that brahman can shine of its own accord.

>

> In so doing, in his adhyAsa bhAShyam.h, sha.nkara sows the seed for

> all

> the important aspects of his tradition of advaita:

>

> 1) What knowledge gives us knowledge of Ultimate Reality?

>

> 2) What is the obstacle to knowledge?

>

> 3) What is the nature of this obstacle?

>

> 4) How is knowledge of brahman attained? What are the means of

> knowledge,

> and why is shruti the ultimate means of knowledge?

>

> 5) What is the role and purpose of shAstra in revealing this

> knowledge?

>

> 6) What is the method used by the shAstra to reveal brahman?

>

> If one had the time, one could take each statement in the adhyAsa

> bhAShyam.h and unravel it to reveal all of sha.nkara's tradition of

> advaita. In this article I will simply give a guided tour of the

> contents of the adhyAsa bhAShyam.h line by line, and highlight the

> key

> messages. My rendering of the bhAShyam.h will be as literal and

> transparent as possible, so the readers scan judge themselves the

> true

> meaning for them.

>

> adhyAsa bhAShyam.h is a short text, and one can read it in about 10

> minutes or so. I have found it invaluable committing it to memory, so

> it constantly flows through all my thoughts. I hope by the end of the

> article the reader has the same feeling about this text as I.

>

> I have referred in brief to the portions of the bhAShya discussed at

> the start of each section. I have followed the bhAShyam.h in the

> order

> it

> was written.

>

> sha.nkara:

>

> yuShmat.h asmat.h pratyaya gocharoH viShaya viShayinoH tamaH

> prakAshavat.h viruddha svAbhavayoH itara itara bhAvAnuppattau

> siddhAyA.m tat.h dharmANaM api sutarA.m itara itara bhAvAnupattiH,

> ityato asmat.h pratyaya gochare viShayaNi chidAtmake yuShmat.h

> pratyaya

> gocharasya tat.h dharmANA.m cha adhyAsaH, tat.h viparyayena

> viShayinaH

> tat.h dharmANA.m cha viShaye.adhyAsau mithyeti bhavitu.m yuktam.h |

>

> (Next part: Nature of Confusion)

>

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

I don't have the text to compare this transliteration, but I

can venture some guesses! [eg some typos]:

> > sha.nkara.m sha.nkarAchArya.m keshava.m bAdarAyaNam.h |

> > sUtra bhAShya kR^itau vande bhagavantau punaH punaH ||

> >

> > shruti smR^ti purANAnA.m Alaya.m karuNAlayam.h |

smR^iti

> > namAmi bhagavdpAda.m sha.nkara.m lokasha.nkaram.h ||

bhagavatpAda.m

> >

> > sUtra bhAShya praNetArau vedAntAbja prabhAkaru

prabhAkarau

> > vande parasparAtmAnau bAdarAyaNa sha.nkaru

sha.nkarau

> sha.nkara:

> >

> > yuShmat.h asmat.h pratyaya gocharoH viShaya viShayinoH tamaH

> > prakAshavat.h viruddha svAbhavayoH itara itara bhAvAnuppattau

svabhAvayoH

> > siddhAyA.m tat.h dharmANaM api sutarA.m itara itara bhAvAnupattiH,

bhAvAnupapattiH

> > ityato asmat.h pratyaya gochare viShayaNi chidAtmake yuShmat.h

viShayAni

> > pratyaya

> > gocharasya tat.h dharmANA.m cha adhyAsaH, tat.h viparyayena

> > viShayinaH

> > tat.h dharmANA.m cha viShaye.adhyAsau mithyeti bhavitu.m yuktam.h

 

Hope this helps. [ I don't know if the original has only

some 'sandhis' split, and not others ].

 

I tried to use the Web Interface to Itrans, but for some reason did

not succeed [it can give output in many Indian scripts, incl. Tamil]:

 

http://www.alkhemy.com/sanskrit/web-interface/index.html

 

 

Regards,

 

s.

 

 

 

advaitin , "Ravisankar S. Mayavaram"

<miinalochanii> wrote:

> Essentially, I have tried to convert all sa.mskR^itam.h words to

> ITRANS 5.2 for consistency and adding the original text of

sha.nkara.

>

>

[Guest guest]

> Hope this helps. [ I don't know if the original has only

> some 'sandhis' split, and not others ].

>

 

Sunderji

 

Original had the words strung together (making it difficult to read),

I did split it based on my (limited) understanding. You should look

at that carefully as well.

 

As always you are very helpful. Thank you very much.

 

namaste

 

Ravi