Guest guest Posted March 23, 2001 Report Share Posted March 23, 2001 Sunder - I am leaving to Europe for four weeks will be back on April 15. I will be seeing Dennis there on 30th and nanda and jay on 31st. I may be able to acess the hotmail account but not NRL account You can send all mails to that account. As per your suggestion I am only sending this to you. Regards Sada Notes on BSB I-I-4-1E Now siddhanta - Shakara's refutation of the above puurvapaksha. We will go point by point. 1. Taking puurvapakshi's argument that all siddhabodhaka vaakyams lead to knowledge, which is useless, while kaaryabodhaka vaakyams lead to action which, is useful, Shankara says yes you are right. But it is only a general rule, but there are exceptions to the rule. By reading about tennis or swimming, I do not get much benefit. Only by playing or swimming, I get the benefit. Hence the general rule is kevala j~naanam na purushaartha saadhakam. However, there are several cases where kevala j~naanam or mere knowledge alone without requiring any action gives the benefit. Wherever there is a problem caused by ignorance, then mere knowledge alone can solve the problem. In the case of disease, the problem is not centered on ignorance, but some germs etc and therefore the solution to the problem involves taking an antidote to the germs or antibiotic. But for ignorant caused problems the knowledge alone is the solution. Our famous example is rajjusarpavat, fear arising from the error of superimposed snake. Bhaya kampaadikam sarvam are caused by the snake which appears to be there only because of ignorance of rope, rajju aj~naanam. What homa one needs to perform to get rid of the snake? No karma is required, no upaasana is required, what is required is rope-knowledge. rajju j~naanaat rajju aj~naana nivR^ittiH, rajju aj~naana nivR^ityaa sarpa adhyaasa nivR^ittiH, sarpa adhyaasa nivR^ityaa bhayakampaadi nivR^ittiHi. By the knowledge of the rope, the knowledge of the existence of serpent is gone, by that the associated fear etc is gone. Therefore in all such cases kevala j~naana maatrena purushaartha siddhiH|, only knowledge alone accomplished the result and not the action. Therefore sidhhabodhaka vaakyaani pramaaNaani, saprayojanatvaat, naayam sarpaH iti vaakyavat. Since they produce results they are useful and hence are pramaaNa vaakyam-s just as in the rope-snake example. Hence whenever the problems are centered on ignorance, then the siddhabodhaka vaakyam are directly useful and hence are pramaaNa-s. If the problems are not centered on ignorance then siddhabodhaka vaakyam-s need to be connected to kaaryabodhaka vaakyam for them to give useful result. Hence one cannot apply a general rule. Now the question is do the Vedanta vaakyam-s come under this exceptional category giving benefit directly or then must be connected to kaaryabodhaka vaakyam-s as the puurvapakshi-s claim. A vedantin claims that all the siddhabodhaka vaakyam come under the exceptional cases giving directly the utility prayojanam-s. For this Vedanta itself is the pramaaNa since it makes it very clear that j~naana maatrena moksha phalam bhavati. One need not join this knowledge with any kaaryabodhaka vaakyam since knowledge alone can give the moksha which is the purushaartha. Where it is said? Almost in every upanishad this is mentioned. 1. Isaavaasya Upanishad- sloka 7 yasmin sarvaaNi bhuutaani aatmaivaa.abhuudvijaanataH| tatra ko mohaH kaH shoka ekatvam anupasyataH|| When a person clearly knows the aatma which is the substratum of everything after that mere knowledge where is the grief and where is the delusion? Hence j~naana maatrena shoka moha niv^ittiH, samsaara niv^ittiH, moksha praaptiH| By mere knowledge grief, delusion and samsaara are gone one gets liberated. 2 Kena Upanishad - sloka 2-12 pratibodhavidhitam matam amR^itatvam hi vindate| aatmanaa vindate viiryam vidyayaa vindate amR^itam|| with the emphasis on vidyayaa vindate amR^itam, kevala j~naanamaatrena (by mere knowledge) a person attains immortality. 3. KaTopanishhat sloka 2-2-12 eko vashii sarvabhuutaantaraatmaa ekam ruupam bahudhaa yaH karoti| tam aatmastham ye.anupasyanti dhiiraaH teshhaam sukham shaashvitam na itareshhaam|| The one who clearly recognizes (anupasyanti) Brahman as the very aatman, they will have eternal happiness and There is no other way other than through this knowledge ( na itareshhaam). 4. Prasna Upanishhat: The upanishad teacher, pippalaada, says in the end: 6-6 ....tam vedyam purushham veda yathaa maavo mR^ityuH parvivyathaa-iti| After knowing Brahman(purusham) there will not be any suffering due to death etc. One attains immortality. The students in the end after learning prostrate to the teacher and prayerfully say: 6-8 ... asmaakam avidyaayaaH param paaram taarayasiiti| namaH parama R^ishibhyo namaH parama R^ishibhyaH|| Thus thanking the teacher they indicate that through knowledge they have gained the supreme. 5. MunDakopanishhat: 3-2-9 sa yo ha vai tatparamam brahmaveda brahmaiva bhavati| na asyaa brahmavitkule bhavati| tarati shokam| tarati paapmaanam| guhaagranthibhyo vimukto.am^ito bhavati|| Knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. In his lineage everyone will have knowledge of Brahman. He is liberated from all the sorrows and all the sins. Free from all ignorance, he attains liberation from death. 6. MaanDuukya Upanishat: mantra 12 sam vishati aatmaanaa aatmaanam ya evam veda| One, saH, knows the aatma (paramaatma) by oneself (aatmanaa) yaH evam veda - by knowledge alone. 7. taittiriiya Upanishat - Brahmaanandavalli - 1-1 brahmavidaapnoti paramam| tadeshhaa.abyuktaa| satyam j~naanam anantam brahma| yo veda nihitam guhaayaam parame vyoman soo.ashnute sarvaan kaamaan thsaha| - thus yaH veda nihitam guhaayaam, the one who knows Brahman as the aatma in the heart fulfils all the purushaartha-s. 8. Aithareya Upanishad: 3-1-3 sarvam tat praj~naanetram| praj~naane pratishhTitam| praj~naa netro lokaH |praj~naa pratishhTaa| praj~naanam brahma| This every thing is nothing but the vision of the consciousness or knowledge. It is established in consciousness. It is the projection of the consciouness. It is nothing but consciouness. 9. Chandogya Upanishad tarati shokam aatmavit - the knower of aatma crosses over all the sorrows - no need to do any action. 10. bR^ihadaaranyaka Upanishhat:janaka-yaaj~navalka samvaadana- 4-4-12 aatmaanam ched vijaaniiyaat ayamasmiiti puurushhaH| kim ichchhan kasya kaamaaya shariiram anusanjvaret|| For the one who has known the aatma, there afterwards, what desire he has, what action he has to do, and what suffering he will have to undergo in life? - meaning none. (This mantra has been exhaustively commented on by Shree Vidhyaaranya in his Panchadasi, 3-298) 11. kaivalya Upanishhat: sarvabhuutasta maatmaanam sarva bhuutaanichaatmani| sam pasyan brahma paramam yaati naanyena hetunaa|| By merely knowing Brahman he attains moksha and by no other means (The first line is repeated in Bhagavad Giita 6-31. The second line is different - iikshyate yogayuktaatmaa sarvatra sama darshanaH) 12. Purushasuuktam: vedaha metam purusham mahaantam aadityavarnam tamasastu paare| sarvaani ruupaani vichitra dhiiraH| ..... tamevam vidvaan amR^ita iha bhavati naanyaH panthaa ayanaaya vidhyate| 13. A slightly different version in Swetaaswatara Upanishhat 3-8 vedaahametam purushham mahaantam aadityavarNam tamasaH parastaat| tameva viditvaa.atimR^ityumeti naanyaH panthaa vidhyate ayanaaya|| knowing this Brahman alone who is resplendent like the sun and which is beyond darkness of ignorance, one transcends the death. There is no other path than knowledge. These are only examples taken one from each of the main upanishhats. There are many in each. >From smR^it pramaaNa- Giita B.G 5-15,16 aj~naane naavR^itam j~naanam tena muhyanti jantavaH|| j~naanena tu tadaj~naanam eshhaam naashita maatmanaH| teshaam aadhitavat j~naanam prakaashayati tat param|| All the problems are caused by ignorance therefore what is required is only j~naanam. Thus both shR^iti pramaaNam and smruti pramaaNam declare that the problem of human suffering is centered on ignorance and for such kind of problems knowledge is the only solution and not action. Hence Vedanta is siddha bodhaka vaakyam-s and it produces knowledge and that mere knowledge we get purushaartha. Therefore Vedanta vaakyaani pramaaNa bhuutaani. This is response to the first point of the puurvapakshi. _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2001 Report Share Posted March 23, 2001 >Sunder - I am leaving to Europe for four weeks will be back on April 15. I >will be seeing Dennis there on 30th and nanda and jay on 31st. I may be >able to acess the hotmail account but not NRL account You can send all >mails to that account. As per your suggestion I am only sending this to >you. > >Regards >Sada > Sorry fellows you can see that I am rushing things in getting ready for my trip. So donot read the post since it has to be edited by Sunder and then to be sent to Dennis before it is really posted in advaitin. Consider this post is only unreal due to maaya propelled by ignorance of not seeing the to address properly. This is what is called demonstration of adhyaasa! Hari Om! sadanadna -- K. Sadananda Code 6323 Naval Research Laboratory Washington D.C. 20375 Voice (202)767-2117 Fax:(202)767-2623 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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