sribhashya-Mahasiddhantha-sruthi texts donot describe Brahman as nirvisesha

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Sruthi texts quoted to prove that Brahman is nirvisesha examined.

1.'Sadheva soumya idham agra aseeth, ekameva adhvitheeyam.'(Chan.6-2-

1) Before , my dear, this was 'sat' only , one only without a second.

This is taken as implying that the 'sat' , brahman is alone real ,

denying the existence of anything else other than Brahman. But

Ramanuja gives a different interpretation.

The context in which this sentence is found contains the promissory

statement about that knowledge, by which everything else will be

known, ekavijAnena sarvavijnAnam, because the father asks the son

whether he has learnt that, by knowing which everything else becomes

known. Therefore the word 'Sat' denotes Brahman, the material and

efficient cause of the world, who is omniscient and omnipotent, whose

will never fails, who is within everything and supports everything

and possesses innumerable auspicious qualities, 'EkavijnAnEna

sarvavijnanaprathipadhanamukhenasacchabdavAchyasya Parasya brahmaNah

jagadhupAdhAnathvam jagannimitthathvam sarvajnatha

sarvashakthiyogahsathyasankalpathvam sarvAntharathvam sarvAdhArathvam

sarvaniyamanam ithyAdhyaneka kalyANa guNa visishtathAm

krthsnasyajagathah thadhatmakatham cha prathipAdhya

evambhoothabrahmAthmakasthvamasi ithi svEthakethum prathi upadhesAya

pravrtthathvAth prakaraNasya.' The Import of the sentence is to show

to Svethakethu, the son by the father that Brahman dsescribed as

such is the innerself of all by the statement 'thatthvamasi, that

thou art.'

2.'Sathyam jnAnam anantham brahma.' Brahman is existence, knowledge

and infinity. This is explained by advaitin that sathya etc are not

attributes because Brahman is attributeless consciousness. He says

that the different epithets mean the same entity and not its

different attributes. Satyam differentiates Brahman from all that is

unreal,jnAnam from ignorance and anantham from all that is finite.

Ramanuja refutes this explanation. By the rule of sAmAnADHikaraNya

set out by the grammarian PANini 'bhinnapravrtthi nimitthAnAm

sabdhAnAmEkasminnarTHE vrtthih sAmAnADHi karaNyam' which means that

when different words of different connotations are placed in

apposition to denote the same entity it is coordination,

sAmAnADHikaraNya.For instance in the sentence 'syamO yuvA

devadattah,' the words syama, dark and yuva, young both denote one

entity Devadattha who is having these attributes. Similarly the words

satyam etc denote the attributes of Brahman, which is savisEsha only

and not nirvisEsha, as claimed by the advaitin.The argument that many

adjectives will make the entity qualified to appear as many is not

correct. Only when the attributes are inconsistent with one another

as in the sentence ' brokenhorned, hornless and full horned is the

ox ' it indicates more than one animal because the attributes cannot

be found in one ox.

Advaitin says that the text 'ekameva advitheeyam' cannot suffer a

second even in the form of an attribute because Brhaman is changeless

being sathyam, pure existence, which can have no attribute. Hence

other texts such as 'satyam jnAnanm anantham brahma' should be

interpreted to mean only a nirvisEsha vasthu, attributeless entity.

Otherwise other texts defining brahman as 'nirguNam, niranjanam' etc

will not be meaningful.

Ramanuja replies that the word adhvitheeyam only implies that there

is no material cause other than Brahman. That Brahman has unique

power, being both the material and efficient cause is denoted by the

text 'thadhaikshatha bahu syAm prajAyEya, thatthEjO asrjatha, it

willed to become many and created fire.' Sadheva sowmya idham agra

Aseeth EkamEva' dentes that there can be no material cause other than

Brahman and the word 'adhitheeyam' shows that it is the efficient

cause as well.(note: material cause is upAdhAna KAraNam , like the

mud in the creation of pot and efficient cause is the nimittha

kAranam like the potter.)

It cannot be argued that this interpretation will conflict with the

texts denying attributes to brahman such as 'nirguNam , nishkalam,

nishkriyam, shAntham etc. , says Ramanuja, because these deny only

the undesirable attitudes, as found in the world of beings,in

Brahman. Therfore there is no conflict between the saguNa and nirguNa

texts so that neither of them need be ignored. Even the texts that

describe Brahman as jnAna, state jnaNa as his svarupa. He is both

jnAthA, knower and jnAnasvarupa. Ramanuja quotes the texts such

as 'yah sarvajnah sarvavith,' (Mund.1-1-10) who knows everything and

about everything, ' na thasya kAryam karaNam cha vidhyathE na

thatsamschAbhyadDHikascha dhrsyathE parAscha shakthirviviDHaiva

srooyathE svAbhavikee jnanabalakriya cha,' (Svet.6-8.) He has neither

a body nor any organ; there is no one superior or equal to Him; His

power is supreme and many and His knowledge, power and action is

spontaneous.

There is evidence in the sruthi itself that Brahman is free from

undesirable qualities and possesses auspicious qualities, says

Ramanuja. 'Esha AthmA apahathapApma vijarO vimrthyuh vishOkO

vijiGhathso apipAsah sathyakamah sathya sankalpah,'(Chan.8-1-5) AtmA

is free from karma,old age,death,sorrow,hunger and thirst; He has

infallible desire and unfailing will.' Thus sruthi itself shows that

there is no conflict between nirguNa and saguNa texts.

The texts like 'bheeshAsmAth vAthah pavathE,'(Tait.anand.8) the wind

blows out of fear from Him,(because He is the ruler of the elements)

show his divine attributes and describe the bliss of brahman,

brahmananda, experienced in mukthi, 'thE ye satham,' begin from the

wordly joy and mutiplies hundredfold each kind of bliss in different

worlds to indicate the extreme joy of Brahman and emphasises the

infinite nature of the auspicious qualitiesof Brahman by 'yathO vAchO

nivarthanthE aprApya manasA saha Anandam brahmanO vidvAn,' he who

knows the bliss of Brahman from where all speech turn away witout

reaching it along with the mind.That Brahman has attributes is also

known from the texts like 'so asnuthe sarvAn kAmAn saha brahmaNA

vipascithA,' he realises all his wishes along with the omniscient

Brahman. Ramanuja interprets the word kamAh as desire for the

kalyAnagunAh which are enjoyed in mukthi along with Brahman implying

that one has to meditate on the auspicious attrributes of Brahman.