Vastu tantra, kartru tantra, etc. as per Shankara

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Vastu tantra, kartru tantra, etc. as per Shankara

 

ShrIgurubhyo NamaH

 

In His Brahmasutra bhashyam for the sutra I.i.4 `tat tu samanvayAt',

the Acharya discusses at length the nature of an effect

accomplished by action, karma, with a view to show that the nature

of Atma/Atma-jnanam differs from the action-born effect. He

considers various types of karma, both vedic and secular, and shows

how a `new' effect emerges as a result of action. He does all this

in order to categorically rule out the possibility of bringing karma

as an immediate means to Atmajnana. Atmajnana, He says, is of an

ever-existing nature and does not depend upon action for its coming

into being. He compares Atmajnana to a generating of any knowledge

of any object by using the appropriate pramana, instrument, like the

eye. Once the instrument is available and duly activated, the

knowledge of an object arises. This knowledge has not to

be `created'; it has only to be `known'.

 

While discussing various possible karmas, he considers meditation,

dhyana, and rules that even dhyana is karma alone, depending upon a

karta, involving the possibility of options namely, `initiating an

action', `not initiating an action' or `accomplishing it in some

other manner'. An example He gives elsewhere is: a person might

undertake to reach a village by foot, or on horseback or would opt

to cancel the journey itself. The litmus test is: If in any

situation this triad of possibilities is present, then there is

karma involved. But Jnanam, on the other hand, being an already

existing entity, cannot be a subject of any of the triad we

considered above.

 

A little down this discussion, the Acharya takes up the question of

those Upanishadic passages which have an unmistakable injunctive

wording in them. For example, He takes up the Brihadaranyaka

II.iv.5 passage:

 

'AtmA vA arey draShTavyaH, shrotavyo mantavyo nididhyAsitavyaH…'

 

(The Self is to be realized. It has to be heard, reflected upon and

meditated upon.)

 

(Note: the suffix `tavya' connotes an injunction, a command: `it has

to be done', etc. Other expressions signifying the injunctive

sense are: veda (verb), upAsIta, etc.)

 

The following is a quote from the Tibaut translation of the

Brahmasutra bhashya I.i.4 (available in sankaracharya.org):

 

(This whole commentary for this sutra runs to close to ten pages in

small print. Hence, only the portion relevant for this discussion

is shown here.)

 

//The meditation, for instance, on man and woman as fire, which is

founded on Ch. Up. V, 7, 1; 8, 1, 'The fire is man, O Gautama; the

fire is woman, O Gautama,' is on account of its being the result of

a Vedic statement, merely an action and dependent on man; that

conception of fire, on the other hand, which refers to the well-

known (real) fire, is neither dependent on Vedic statements nor on

man, but only on a real thing which is an object of perception;IT IS

THEREFORE KNOWLEDGE AND NOT AN ACTION (emphasis mine, just to put

the discussion in perspective). The same remark applies to all

things which are the objects of the different means of right

knowledge. This being thus, that knowledge also which has the

existent Brahman for its object is not dependent on Vedic

injunction. Hence, although imperative and similar forms referring

to the knowledge of Brahman are found in the Vedic texts, yet they

are ineffective because they refer to something which cannot be

enjoined, just as the edge of a razor becomes blunt when it is

applied to a stone. For they have for their object something which

can neither be endeavoured after nor avoided.

 

But what then, it will be asked, is the purport of those sentences

which, at any rate, have the appearance of injunctions; such as,

AtmA vA arey draShTavyaH, shrotavyo mantavyo nididhyAsitavyaH…

 

(The Self is to be realized. It has to be heard, reflected upon and

meditated upon.)?'—

 

They have the purport, we reply, of diverting (men) from the objects

of natural activity. For when a man acts intent on external things,

and only anxious to attain the objects of his desire and to eschew

the objects of his aversion, and does not thereby reach the highest

aim of man although desirous of attaining it; such texts as the one

quoted (shrotavyo, etc.) divert him from the objects of natural

activity and turn the stream of his thoughts on the inward (the

highest) Self. //unquote.

 

Thus, here we see that the Acharya states that a dhyAna involved in

Atmadarshanam endeavour,(adhyAtma yoga of the Vedanta) is not

something aimed at `producing' Atman, but only to divert the mind

from the inimical things that scuttle the sadhaka's effort to

realize the Self. Hence, the Acharya says, this dhyana is not to be

regarded as kartru-tantra. We get another conclusion here: Not only

is the subtle `action' of dhyAna is not truly action, but even the

grosser ones involving shravana, hearing and manana, reflecting,

too, are not actions in the normal sense. Thus, the Acharya frees

the entire gamut of shravana, manana and nididhyasana from the

category of action (kartru tantra).

 

Now, to reiterate, what is pertinent to our discussion is, as per

the Acharya, although `dhyana' was categorized by Him as kartru-

tantra, person-dependent, (in the portion not quoted by me but only

explained by me above) yet, when it comes to the realization of the

Self, based on Upanishadic injunction, the dhyana, meditation,

involved in this endeavour is not kartru-tantra. We already saw

(msg. No. 33797) that the Acharya has commented (on the portion

relevant for our discussion), on the Upanishadic passage:

 

(this passage is unique in the sense that it is perhaps the only

Upanishadic passage giving the Key Vedantic sadhana of shravana,

manana and nididhyasana for Atman realization, in one single

sentence.):

 

// AtmA vA arey draShTavyaH, shrotavyo mantavyo nididhyAsitavyaH…

 

(The Self is to be realized. It has to be heard, reflected upon and

meditated upon.)// thus: // nididhyAsitavyaH - (tato) nishchayena

dhyAtavyaH (and then steadfastly meditated upon)//

 

Let us remember that in the above Sutrabhashya discussion, the

Acharya raised a question exactly on this above passage where the

word `nididhyasitavyaH' = 'nishchayena dhyAtavyaH' steadfastly

meditated upon) occurs.

 

(The word `dhyAtavyaH' is composed of the root word `dhyEi' =

chintAyAm with the `tavya' suffixed to it to give the noun form

meaning: (The Atman) is to be meditated upon.)

 

Having seen that as per the Acharya, `nididhyAsana' = dhyAna, let

us have a closer look at this very upanishadic passage ,'……

shrotavyo mantavyo nididhyAsitavyaH…'

 

In this passage, we see the three-step means to secure

the `darshana' of Atma. In this unmistakable sequence, we find

nididhyasana (= dhyana) as the last. In other words, after this

there is no other sadhana involved. It is shown as culminating in

Atmadarshanam otherwise called `samyagdarshanam'.

 

For someone who is familiar with the Acharya's Bhashya for the Gita,

it is yet another instance of how the Acharya is consistent in His

commentary. In His introduction to the 5th chapter 27th verse, He

says:

 

//Thereafter, now, with the idea, 'I shall speak elaborately of the

yoga of meditation which is the proximate discipline for full

realization,' (dhyAna-yogam samyag-darshanasya antarangam

vistareNa…) the Lord gives instruction through some verses in the

form of aphorisms: //

 

Immediately after, in His very first sentence of the introduction to

the Ch.6. He recalls the above:

 

 

//The verses, 'Keeping the external objects outside' etc., forming

aphorisms on the Yoga of Meditation which is the proximate

discipline leading to complete illumination, (dhyAna-yogasya samyag-

darshanam prati antarangasya…) have been presented at the end of the

just preceding chapter. This sixth chapter is begun as an exposition

of them.//

 

Thus it is seen that as per the Acharya's Bhashya(s),

 

1. Vedantic nididhyasanam = dhyAnam (as per His Upanishad

bhashya)

2. dhyAnam = the proximate means to samyagdarshanam (Atma-

darshanam, realization, as per His Gita bhashya)

3. dhyanam (nididhyasanam) is the subject matter of the Gita

6th chapter.

4. This dhyanam, meditation (nididhyasanam)/adhyAtma yoga of

the Gita 6th chapter aimed at samyagdarshanam, (as explicitly

illustrated by the Acharya in the Sutrabhashya discussion, involving

this very Upanishadic passage), is NOT kartrutantra.

 

This is the view that is decidedly concordant with the views of 1.

The Upanishad, 2. Veda Vyasa, 3. Bhagavan in the Gita and 4. Acharya

Shankara in His prasthanatraya bhashya, an example from each of

which we have seen above.

 

With humble pranams to all sadhakas

Subbu

Om Tat Sat