Vivartavada and Questioning in Sadhana

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Dear Shri Sunder-ji,

> Does anyone have Shankara-Bhashya on Shvetashvatara

> Upanishad 6:2 :

>

> teneshitaM karma vivartate ha pRRithyaapyatejo.anilakhaani

> chintyam

 

About a year back, Sri Bhaskar Prabhuji had asked me to refer him to

the Shankara bhashya where I had come across the word 'vivarta'. I

couldn't remember it at that time, and I still don't remember where I

had read it, but it is possible that it might have been in the

Svetasvatara Upanishad bhashya. Thank you, Sir, for the reference.

 

 

 

Dear Sri Vinayaka-ji,

> > "Nirguna Brahman is Itself Its all-knowingness. And Its

> > all-knowingness is Itself the reality of the all. The

> > All does not contradict the perfect formlessness,

> If we include say all the phenominal manifested creation

> certainly it does contradict formlessness. Can you elaborate

> the point a little.

 

There has to be something apart from Brahman for it to be 'included'

in Brahman. The phenomenal manifested creation is not included in

Brahman; it is not other than Brahman Itself. It is vivarta.

 

Vivarta is the 'unfolding' of speech from its para stage to the

vaikhari stage. The word 'unfolding' is used for lack of any other

suitabel word to describe the phenomena. The other word could

be 'fixedness'. Then the sentence would read "Vivarta is

the 'fixedness' of speech from its para stage to the vaikhari stage".

There is no word for 'vivarta' in English. There is no other word

that explains vivarta even in Sanskrit. It may be explained by

equating it to spanda, but then there is no other word that explains

what spanda means even in Sanskrit. It is the Maya of the Lord.

 

Vivarta is the 'unfolding' of speech where the 'unfolding' is not a

movement, not a happening, not an event, not a change. But speech and

its object are not absent in it. The world is not absent in it. It is

the bowl of Maya. One may call it the womb. It is Knowledge Itself

which when obscured becomes the 'unfolding' of speech. All that is

unfolded is not non-existent. It is explained equally paradoxically

through spanda. Spanda is the vibration of Brahman by which all this

world shows forth. But spanda is the vibration that has absolutely no

movement. It is Brahman Itself. When its nature is concealed it

becomes a movement. Let me leave it like that.

 

For two years, I have debated this point on this list. I don't think

I have convinced anybody, but one thing I can say for sure: After all

the discussions I've had here, and the manana that went on in my own

mind, I am far more grounded in its truth today. I would like to

thank all the members on the list for it.

 

Warm regards,

Chittaranjan