Guest guest Posted November 29, 1999 Report Share Posted November 29, 1999 Dear KP: 1. The nyAyaparishuddhi of VedAnta Deshika was published as Publication #249 of Chaukambha Sanskrit Series, Benaras. 2. For a magnificent understanding of the Dvaita VedAnta, I request you to read two classics. a) NyAyasudhA of AcArya Jaya tIrtha. It is an extra-ordinarily brilliant dissertation by an expectionally brilliant mind. For beauty of language, brilliance of style, keeness of argument and fainess in reasoning Sanskrit philosophical literature has few equals to rival it! b) NyAyAmRta of AcArya VyAsa tIrtha. A treatise that shook Advaita VedAnta to its very foundations; so much so that what emerged after it was a neo-Advaitism on their side. The old ideology was soundly trounced. 3. Now on VisheSha (albeit briefly). VisheSha is a metaphysical " potency " which is naturally there in substances and attributes (svanirvAhaka) which acts as a representative of distinction (bhedapratinidhi) when there is actually none. It has two major functions. a) It show distinction where actually there is none. b) To harmonize all the attributes vis-a-vis their substance without clash of either jurisdiction or function. In other words, if one wishes to know the weight (attribute #1) of a substance, its magnitude (attribute #2) or natural color (attribute #3) do not get in the way. Each attribute is allowed to perform its particular function within the given perimeters of its specific jurisdiction without any clash. VisheShas are innumerable as the substances and their attributes. So, there is no actual distinction between substance and attribute except by courtesy of visheSha. This way, there can never come the predicament of an attributeless substance nor explain an external the connexion between substance and attribute. regards, Hari-vAyu smaraNa B.N.Hebbar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 29, 1999 Report Share Posted November 29, 1999 3. Now on VisheSha (albeit briefly). VisheSha is a metaphysical " potency " which is naturally there in substances and attributes (svanirvAhaka) which acts as a representative of distinction (bhedapratinidhi) when there is actually none. It has two major functions. a) It show distinction where actually there is none. b) To harmonize all the attributes vis-a-vis their substance without clash of either jurisdiction or function. In other words, if one wishes to know the weight (attribute #1) of a substance, its magnitude (attribute #2) or natural color (attribute #3) do not get in the way. Each attribute is allowed to perform its particular function within the given perimeters of its specific jurisdiction without any clash. VisheShas are innumerable as the substances and their attributes. So, there is no actual distinction between substance and attribute except by courtesy of visheSha. This way, there can never come the predicament of an attributeless substance nor explain an external the connexion between substance and attribute. [Krishna Kalale] 1. Is this visesha same as vaisheshika theory of viseshas which they use to differentiate between souls in moksha or two paramanus or two identical atoms? 2. I question the very need for this concept of vishesha, when one can understand easily the issue of subtance attributes without the need for this concept. Balaji wrote : ApRthaksiddhatva is clearly cooked up and just doesn't explain the HOW A RELATION TAKES PLACE, it only explains HOW IT IS. There is a BIG difference between the two. SavisheShAbheda, on the other hand, avoids this by pointing that the substance and attribute are actually ONE distinguished, only and epistemologically, by visheSha. how does this visesha explain " HOW A RELATION TAKES PLACE " ? Other than jugglery of words I dont see any value in visesha as a concept. I might not be understanding this at all. However, any scientific person should be able to understand this concept when explained. I dont see a clear explanation of this concept other than statements of assumptions. I want to know why you cannot explain things without this visesha? First of all, attribute and substance just cannot be one and same. On one hand you say they are different and one hand you say they are the same. and that the visesha is responsible for showing difference between object and its attributes when there is really no difference at all. I feel more comfortable - in this statement : an object and its attributes (such as weight) is invariably associated with each other or (aprthak siddha - one is not valid without the other) and that weight is different from object - as I explained earlier that weight is in relation to the gravitational force exerted on that object by another large mass such as earth or moon or star etc. weight can be explained only in relation to a gravitational force and not explicable with respect to any object when viewed without any relation to any other object. However weight is associated constantly with that object in question. In this example I dont see any need for visesha at all. size for example is another attribute different from weight. Where does visesha come into play here? why do we need that concept at all? asmadgurubhyo namah sarvam sri krishnarpanam astu Krishna Kalale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 30, 1999 Report Share Posted November 30, 1999 Dear Sri Hebbar, You have said that 'visesha is bdeda pratinidhi and acts asa representative of distinction when there is actually none. To my knowledge it should be put this way: visesha is speciality; that is it distinguishes between any two objects by their individual charecteristics; only in the case of paramatma(brahma) there is no distinction between His qualities and Himself but when we refer to the parts of His body separately or His various qualities separately the 'visesha' concept is adopted;similaely so when the different avbataras like Rama, krishna etc. are treated individually though in each of them He has the 'achintyadbhuta shakti'. The concept of 'visesha' is dealt with in detail in Sri BNK Sharma's 'philosophy of Madhvacharya'. He says that it is the best contribution of Sri Madhvacharya to philosophcal thought. I hope you should be able to lay hands on that book. Regarding thecriticism of Visisatadvaita in Srimadacfarys's works I will write to you separately. I might mention that the 'sarira -shariri bhava' of Visistadvaita is also not acceptable to dvaita as this leads to 'advaita' or it is this concept which has the advaitic element in it. With regards, Bannur.R .. Balaji Hebbar <bhebbar wrote: Dear KP: 1. The nyAyaparishuddhi of VedAnta Deshika was published as Publication #249 of Chaukambha Sanskrit Series, Benaras. 2. For a magnificent understanding of the Dvaita VedAnta, I request you to read two classics. a) NyAyasudhA of AcArya Jaya tIrtha. It is an extra-ordinarily brilliant dissertation by an expectionally brilliant mind. For beauty of language, brilliance of style, keeness of argument and fainess in reasoning Sanskrit philosophical literature has few equals to rival it! b) NyAyAmRta of AcArya VyAsa tIrtha. A treatise that shook Advaita VedAnta to its very foundations; so much so that what emerged after it was a neo-Advaitism on their side. The old ideology was soundly trounced. 3. Now on VisheSha (albeit briefly). VisheSha is a metaphysical " potency " which is naturally there in substances and attributes (svanirvAhaka) which acts as a representative of distinction (bhedapratinidhi) when there is actually none. It has two major functions. a) It show distinction where actually there is none. b) To harmonize all the attributes vis-a-vis their substance without clash of either jurisdiction or function. In other words, if one wishes to know the weight (attribute #1) of a substance, its magnitude (attribute #2) or natural color (attribute #3) do not get in the way. Each attribute is allowed to perform its particular function within the given perimeters of its specific jurisdiction without any clash. VisheShas are innumerable as the substances and their attributes. So, there is no actual distinction between substance and attribute except by courtesy of visheSha. This way, there can never come the predicament of an attributeless substance nor explain an external the connexion between substance and attribute. regards, Hari-vAyu smaraNa B.N.Hebbar ------ nAham kartA hariH kartA tatpUjA karmachaakhilam.h| taThaapi matkR^itaa pUja tatprasaadhEna naanyaThaa| tadbhakti tadphalam.h mahyam.h tatprasaadaat.h punaH punaH | karmanyaasO harAvevam.h vishNOsthR^iptikaraH sadhA || " I am not the doer, shri Hari is the doer, all the actions that I do are His worship. Even then, the worship I do is through His grace and not otherwise. That devotion and the fruits of the actions that come to me are due to His recurring grace " If one always practices to do actions with a dedicated spirit to Hari, in this way, it pleases Vishnu. --- Quoted by Sri madhvAchArya in GitA tAtparya Click Here Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one place. Shopping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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