Notes on BSB-I-i-1-1D

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Notes on BSB: I-i-1-1D

 

sadaashiva samaarambhaa.n sha~Nkaraachaarya madhyamam.h |

asmadaachaarya paryantaa.n vande guruparamparaam.h ||

 

I prostrate to the lineage of teachers starting from Lord Shiva who is ever

auspicious and with Bhagavaan Shankara in the middle and all the way up to

my own teacher.

 

vaatsalya ruupa.n triguNairatiitaM

aananda saandram amalairnidhaanam.h .|

shrii chinmayaananda guro praNiitaM

sadaa bhaje.aha.n tava paada pa~Nkajam.h ||

 

Who is the very embodiment of motherly affection who is beyond the three

guNa-s, who is full with bliss, and who is the very source of purity who is

the best among the teachers, Shree Chinmayaananda, to his lotus feet I

(sadaa) always prostrate.

---------

samanvaya adhyaaya - I

spashhTa brahma li~Nga vaakya samanvaya paada- i

jij~naasaa adhikaraNa 1

suutra 1: athaato brahma jij~naasaa

 

In the last post Shankara was refuting the arguments of purvapakshi-s that

the word – atha – does not mean puurvamiimaamsa anantaram as the

puurvapakshi-s claim. Of the four orguments of Shankara, one is general

dealing with vyabhichaara dosha. The other three are particularly related to

refute the arguments of j~naanakarma sumuchchhaya vaadi-s who insist that

j~naana and karma should be combined. Such combination requires

puurvamiimaamsa as a pre-requisite. Please refer to the last notes for

details.

 

Shankara provides three reasons to refute the j~naana-karma sumuchchhaya

philosophy. Three reasons are namely; karma j~naana kaanDayoH (1) vishhaya

bhedaat (themes are different) (2) prayojana bhedaat (utilities are

different) and (3) pravR^itti bhedaat (means are different). Because of

these three reasons karma, j~naana cannot be combined. Each one is

explained below.

 

The first one says the subject matter of karma kaanDa and j~naana kaanDa are

diagonally opposite. Therefore they cannot be combined. Combination is

possible only when the subjects are similar. Shankara says karma kaanDa

deals with the unaccomplished goal (bhavya vishhayaH) where as j~naanakaanDa

deals with a goal which is already accomplished (bhuuta vishhayaH). One is

dealing with saadhyam (to be gained) and the other one is dealing with

siddham (already gained). One is dealing with anaatma and the other is

dealing with aatma. One is dealing with extroverted dependence on the

world, where as the other is dealing with introverted dependence on oneself.

One is dealing with anitya phalam (impermanent result) and the other is

dealing with nitya phalam (permanent result). One is based on kartR^itvam

(the notion that I am the doer) and another is based on akartR^itvam( the

truth that I am not a doer). One is full of relationships (in the karma-s

one makes sankalpa saying that I am grandson of so and so, son of so and so

etc., pitR^i pitaamaH prapitaamaH), the other deals with oneself totally

free from all relationships. In essence one is dealing with avidya,

ignorance and the other is dealing with vidya or knowledge. kaThopanishat

says:

 

duuramete vipariite vishhuuchii

avidyaa yaa ca vidyeti j~naata | I:ii:4

 

etc, duuram vipariite - karma and j~naana are far apart. One is avidya and

the other one is vidya. One is preyas the other one is shreyas. Hence one

cannot combine these two. Therefore it is wrong to say that

puurvamiimaa.nsa is required before uttaramiimaamsa in order that one can

combine karma and j~naana for moksha.

 

The second reason is prayojana bhedaat -the benefits of karma and j~naana

are also different. karmakaanDa gives anitya phalam, impermanent result,

which falls within sa.nsaara. Whereas j~naanakaanDa gives nitya phalam

which is moksha.

 

aabrahma bhuvanaat.h lokaaH punaraavartinaH arjuna |

maam upetya tu kaunteya punarjanma na vidyate|| B.G. 8-16

 

one gives punarjanma phalam (rebirth- due to merits acquired by karma

upaasana) and other gives apunarjanma phalam (no further birth). Therefore

benefits are totally different. They are of totally opposite directions,

karma takes one towards south (presided by yamadharma raaja, the lord of

death, or of change) and the other is going towards North presided over by

somadevata who carries in his hands amR^ita kalasha meaning moksha.

 

Third reason is the pravR^itti bhedaat - because of their functional

difference. karmakaanDa always pursuades or incites a person into action.

Every sentence of karmakaanDa is to make a person active. For example,

jyotishhTa homena svargakaamo yajeta -one can go to heaven by performing

jyotishhTa yoga - it discusses the swarga or heaven

 

swarge loke na bhayam ki.n cha na asti

na tattra tva.n na jarayaa bibheti |

ubhe tiirtvaa ashanaayaa pipaase

shokaatigaH modate swargaloke || [kaTha u. I:i:12]

 

Swarga or heaven is a wonderful place to be. Everyone is free from fear and

from all causes of suffering such as disease, etc., free from hunger and

thirst etc., and it is the most pleasurable place, with fulltime disco

music. After tempting, the karmakaanDa says if you want to go swarga-

jyotishhTomena swargakamo yajeta - may you do this jyotishhTa yagna. The

reader therefore is tempted to do the required action only. Hence the

function of karmakaanDa is only 'pravartakam', making a person to be active

- like western motivation theory - to achieve this to achieve that, in order

succeed in life - thus achievement oriented or action oriented.

 

On the other hand j~naanakaanDam does not tempt one by providing various

goals and says whatever one wants to accomplish in life, all those pleasures

associated with fulfillments are one's very nature. Brahman or aatman

includes all the ananda or happiness that one can get by any fulfillment.

-sa yaschaayam puurushhe ashchaasaavaaditye sa ekaH - In that brahmaananda,

Indraananda is included, bR^ihaspati aananda is included, prajaapati aananda

is included - in my aatmaananda everything is included. -saH ashnute

sarvaan kaamaan saH- saH buddhimaan manushhyeshhu sa yuktaH kR^itsna

karmakR^it.h'. The one who has discovered Brahman has accomplished

everything in life, and there is nothing more to be accomplished. Having

known 'aham puurNaH', 'I am complete', what temptation he will have to do

anything or to desire anything. Hence j~naanakaaDa is 'apravartakam'. It

only reveals one's nature - it is only a bodhakam na tu chodakam - it never

pushes you into action. Even if one is tempted to do action it will say

'you are akarthaa' - you are non-doer. Thus by revealing the akartR^itva

nature and by revealing its puurNatva nature j~naanakaanDa makes a person

udaasiinaH or to be indifferent to action. Hence it is apravartakam or is

nivartakam - it makes a person so contented that he does not want to

accomplish any thing - aatmani eva aatmanaa tushhTaH - he revels in himself

by himself. 'ekaante sukhamaasyataam paratare chetas samaadhiiyataam' -

Throughout Vedanta the teaching is centered on how to be full and complete

without depending on anything other than yourself. Hence the third

difference between karma and j~naana is that one is pravartakam and the

other is nivartakam - one pushes a person into action and the other into

inaction. Thus pravartaka nivartaka ruupa pravR^itti bhedaat - we cannot

combine or samuchchayam of karma and j~naana. Therefore for 'atha' shabdam

one can not say it means puurvamiimaa.nsa anantaram. In summary the four

reasons Shankara presented are 1. vyabhicaara doshhaat 2.

karma-j~naanakaanDayoH vishhaya bhedaat 3. Karma-j~naanakaanDayoH prayojana

bhedaat and 4. karma-Jnaana kaanDayoH pravR^itti bhedaat. Thus logically

Shankara has refuted the puurvapakshi's arguments.

 

Scriptural refutation of puurvapakshi's view:

 

Now comes the scriptural basis for the refutation of puurvapakshi's view

that 'atha' implies 'puurvamiimaa.nsa anantaram' instead of saadhana

chatushhTaya siddhi anantaram'. This is somewhat in a technical form. The

aim of Shankara is to establish that j~naanakaanDa or Vedanta vichaara need

not be compulsorily preceeded by puurvamiimaa.nsa and even without

puurvamiimaa.nsa one can come to Vedanta. Hence he wants to establish karma

kaanDa study and j~naanakaanDa study need not be sequential. - kramaH naasti

-no need of sequential relationship between the two.

 

Shankara says there is no Veda pramaaNam which insists on the krama or

sequential study of the two. To establish this he goes to

puurvamiimaa.nsa portion of the Veda. In puurvamiimaa.nsa they have to

analyze many rituals. One of the inquiry in the puurvamiimaa.nsa related to

rituals is - Should the rituals be done simultaneously or should they be

done in order - this is one of the topics of the discussion in the

puurvamiimaa.nsa. To establish this they put a condition based on simple

commonsense. If many rituals have to be done simultaneously then many

people are needed to perform such rituals. Thus simultaneity requires aneka

kartR^itvam - many performers. Whereas if many rituals have to be done by

one person then they have to be done in sequence. Hence condition for krama

is eka kartR^itvam - single performer.

 

Next question is how does one know that some rituals is to be performed by

one person or by many people. How is this decided? For that Shankara says

any one of the three conditions will indicate if a ritual has to be done by

one person or by many. They are 1. eka pradhaana sheshhatvam, 2. sheshha

sheshhitvam and 3. adhikR^ita adhikaaratvam.

 

The first one says if there are many rituals and if these are subsidiary

rituals to one main one, it is called eka pradhaana sheshhatvam. This

implies the subsidiary rituals should be done by one person who wants to

perform the main ritual. Then only his performance will be complete. The

second condition states if there are two rituals and between the two one of

them is subsidiary and the other is the main - sheshha sheshitvam - Then

also it should be done by one person. The third condition is adhikR^it

adhikaaratvam. Suppose there are two main rituals, none of them are

subsidiary to the other. Veda may say that only if a person has done one

main ritual he becomes qualified to do another main ritual. Then they are

sequential. If any one of these three conditions are there, then we arrive

at 'eka kartR^itva niyamaH' - that is one person has to do those rituals.

In that case he can only do sequentially.

 

Once it is proved that few rituals are to be done in order, then the

question arises what should be the order to form a sequence. For that the

puurvamiimaa.nsaka-s have six pramaaNams to analyze. (these six are not the

once we discussed before - pratyaksha etc.) They involve shruti krama,

arthakrama, paaTha krama etc.

 

Now Shankara asks puurvapakshi-s, among all these conditions and

stipulations that are stated in relation to karma, do we have any

stipulations or pramaaNa that says that puurvamiimaa.nsa and

uttaramiimaamsa should be done in order or in sequence. Since none of the

stated conditions are applicable here, one cannot say that there is a krama

or required sequence in puurvamiimaa.nsa and uttaramiimaamsa.

 

Therefore 'atha' cannot mean 'puurvamiimaa.nsa anantaram'. Shankara

presented a technical discussion to remove notions existing in the society

at that time. Ignoring all the technical jargon, one can arrive at the

essence of the analysis that concludes that there is no Veda pramaaNa to

prove that puurvamiimaa.nsa should be studied before uttaramiimaamsa.

 

Now the puurvapakshi says there is a Veda pramaaNa to prove that

puurvamiimaa.nsa is compulsory for the study of Vedanta. What are those

pramaaNa-s. He says:

 

1. In b^Rihadaaranyaka upanishhad [iV:iv:22] it says:

 

tam etam veda-anuvachanena braahmanaaH vividishhanti|

yaj~nena daanena tapasaa anaashhakena |

 

In this statement the upanishhat says one has to go through three

ashrama-s to get saadhana chatushhTaya sampatti. It refers to

brahmacharya ashrama- student life (tametam vedaanu vachaneena), yaj~nena

daanena - refers to gR^ihastaashrama (married life) - tapasaa anaashakena

refers to vaanaprastaashrama (retired to meditation and study). In anther

upanishhat known as jaabaala upanishat [4] it is stated more clearly that

 

brahmacharyam parisamaapya gR^ihii bhavet.h |

gR^ihii bhuutvaa vanii bhavet.h |

vanii bhuutvaa pravrajet.h |

 

After completing the brahmacharya life, one has to become a householder,

then he should become a vaanaprastha, and thereafter he should become a

sanyaasi. In this upanishad it is clearly stated that one has to go three

ashrams to get saadhana chatushhTaya sampatti. Since these ashrama-s are

compulsory, it also implies that puurvamiimaa.nsa is also compulsory. Why

does that follow? He says because the gR^ihasta ashrama requires karma

anushhTaanam (rituals that should be done by a householder) and vaanaprasta

ashrama involves upaasana anushhTaanam (prayers, puuja and vrata that should

be done during retired life). Therefore one has to practice certain karma-s

and upaasana-s in the first three ashrama-s. Since these are discussed in

the Veda puurvabhaaga he has to depend on the Veda puurva bhaaga. Hence

puurvamiimaasa is required to understand karma and upaasana for practicing

them in the three ashrama-s so that he can get the saadhanchatushhTaya

sampatti. Thus there is a Veda pramaaNam -these are the arguments of a

puurvapakshi.

 

 

(Note: Shankara does not discuss the above aspect in the first suutra, but

discusses the essence of it elsewhere. However it appears in the

commentaries by sub-commentators probably in response to puurvapakshi-s that

came in after Shankara)

 

In response to the puurvapakshi's arguments a sub-commentator responds - In

the same jaabaala upanishhat that puurvapakshi quotes, it is also said in

the very next statement that says that all these ashrama-s are not

necessary.

 

itarataaH brahmacaryaat eva pravrajet.h |

 

That is one need not go through gR^ihasthaashrama and vaanaprasthaashrama

but can go directly from brahmacharya to sanyaasa aashrama. In that case he

does not require karma and upaasana. Hence he does not require

puurvamiimaa.nsa before he enters into Vedantic study. Thus Veda pramaaNa

does not insist on one way but gives an option.

 

If puurvamiimaa.nsa is not compulsory for Vedanta then what is

compulsory? The answer is the saadhana chaatushhTaya is compulsory.

 

For this the puurvapakshi gets annoyed and demands:

Since you say saadhana chatushhTaya sampatti is compulsory, it

automatically makes puurvamiimaa.nsa compulsory since to get saadhana

chatushhTaya sampatti one has to perform karma and upaasana. Only karmayoga

and bhakti yoga give the four-fold qualifications required for Vedantic

study. For karma and upaasana one requires puurvamiimaa.nsa. Hence

puurvamiimaasa becomes essential for the study of Vedanta.

 

In response to this, Shankara says what is said above is that

puurvamiimaa.nsa is not compulsory for all. We do not state that

puurvamiimaa.nsa is not at all required. But it may be required for many

but it is not compulsory for all. There are always few who are born with

the saadhana chatushhTaya sampatti and they do not require the

puurvamiimaasa. Krishna says (B.G. 6-43-44):

 

tatra tam buddhisa.nyoga.n labhate paurvadehikam.h |

yatate ca tataH bhuuyaH sa.nsiddhau kurunandana ||

puurva abhyaasena tena eva hriyate hi avashaH api saH |

jij~naasuH api yogasya shabda-brahma ativartate ||

 

After practicing yoga one who died without reaching the highest will be born

with that sa.nskaara and will proceed further in his pursuits to reach the

highest. Because of the previous practices he has already gained the

prerequisites and he proceeds rapidly in the path of self-realization.

Hence when some people are born with the saadhana chatushhTaya sampatti why

should we insist upon puurvamiimaa.nsa for them.

 

To illustrate this point Swamiji uses a simple example of what he calls as

'sapta vaDa nyaaya' or principle of seven vaDa-s or vaDai. Two villagers

went to a city restaurant for the first time and one of them said he is

very hungry and asked what it would cost to fill his stomach. The manager

said go inside and eat what it takes to fill his stomach and pay

accordingly. When they went inside the server said they have only vaDai or

vaDaa-s left and brought one vaDai each. One fellow stopped with one vaDai

but the other fellow who was hungry kept on eating one after the other and

finished seven vaDai before he said his stomach is full. At the counter he

also paid for only one rupee, the cost for one vaDai. When manager demanded

seven rupees for the seven vaDai he eat, the fellow argued that he should

pay only for the seventh vaDai since that was the one that filled his

stomach. It was the useless server's fault for keeping him unnecessorily

busy eating the six vaDai-s, when he could have served that last fulfilling

vaDai first time itself, like he did for his friend, who eat only one vaDai.

Manager, of course, would not buy that argument. He said the seventh vaDai

cannot come first unless it is followed by the six vaDai-s. It could fill

his stomach only because he ate the six vaDai first. But what about his

friend who eat only one and stopped saying that he is full. Upon inquiry we

find out that this fellow already eat six vaDai-s at home and he needed only

one more to fill his stomach. Thus one cannot escape the fact that one

vaDai is not just sufficient to fill the stomach; one has to eat six vaDai-s

either before he enters the restaurant or eat here itself the pre-requisite

vaDai-s before he eats the last fulfilling one and pay for each in terms of

time and money. The number of vaDai-s that one eats at the restaurant to

fill ones stomach thus depends on the how much of empty stomach he brings to

the restaurant and therefore one cannot make a general rule that everyone

should eat sapta vaDai in the restaurant to become full.

 

What comes under compulsory category is the saadhanachatushhTaya sampatti

and not the puurvamiimaa.nsa per se. Hence Shankara says atha' shabda

implies 'saadhana chatushhTaya sampatti anantaram', which one might acquire

in this life or in the previous lives.

 

Thus 'atha' word in the first suutra means 'saadhana chatushhTayya sampatti

anantaram'. It also indirectly signifies the 'adhikaari' or who is a

qualified student for the study of this shaastra -one of the requirements of

the anubandha chatushhTayam mentioned in the very beginning.

 

This completes the 'atha shabda vichaara' or discussion of the first

word of the first suutra, 'atha ataH brahma jij~naasa'.

 

We will discuss next the meaning of next word- ataH.

 

End of notes I-i-1-D

 

Greatful again to Shree Sunder Hattangadi for correcting the notes and for

providing the references to the quated sloka-s. He is continously updating

the glassory to Sanskrit words and the file can be down loaded from

archives.

 

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