Brahma sutra; Shankara bhashya Part 8

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Sadashiva samarambham shankaracharya madhyamam

asmadachara paryantam vande guru paramparam

 

Continuing....

 

tametam evam lakshanam adhyasa panditaha avidya iti manyante tadvivekanacha

vastu svarupavadharanam mithya aahuh.

 

avidya iti manyante - So far adhyasa has been introduced. Cause is avidya.

Avidya itself is not a problem- vastu agrahanam itself causes no anartha. like

sushupti-kale. " mula avidyaha basic ignorance sushuptau anartha adarshanat "

Anartha is nothing but adhyasa. Anartha hetu is avidya. Adhyasa word has been

used. Connection is only with avidya. Then question is - why dont you

straightaway deal with avidya.

Brahmajnana nashyatvena avidyam krtvam avidya kim varnate? Why describe and go

on talking about adhyasa when what is to be discussed is only avidya - only by

destruction of ajnanam can there be brahmaikya jnanam. You have not talked about

ajnanam

The answer is without adhyasa you cannot establish ajnanam. For whom is

ignorance? For the questioner. Ajnana siddhi is because of problem - hence there

is vishaya - hence there is release. So we address avidya vishaya, not avidya

itself. Samsaritva anubhava experience of samsara is because of adhyasa alone.

tad vivekena - viveka is looking into the ahankara to see if it is the atma -

just like you use better light etc to look into the snake to see if it is

real...you are not looking at the " rope " really speaking. Negating the adhyasta

- vastu svarupa avadharanam - without any doubt ascertain the knowledge of the

nature of atma = " what is atma " - Vidya is what removes the adhyasa. knowledge

of the vastu as it is alone can eliminate adhyasa = adhyasa nivrtti. By negating

the superimposed ahankara the adhistana svarupa avadharanam. This is the pramana

(or Shastra) phalam. We are not pushing rajatam out - the rajatam just resolves

in the understanding of the vastu.

Are we trying to elimiate adhyasa(chitta vrtti nirodha) or are we trying to

understand the vastu? The former is not possible - by knocking of one thought

you only replace it with another - all vyavahara within the adhyasa is not going

to elimiate adhyasa, if you retain the adhyasta ahankara. All vyavaharas

including pramana prameya vyavahara have as their basis this adhyasa including

the vyavahara of moksha. Therefore adhyasa nivrtti can only be by vastu svarupa

avadharanam and for the latter shastra is the only pramanam. Pramata cannot

understand what is my own svarupa - he handles the shastra pramana alright, but

the shastra negates the pramata and this can produce the antahkarana vrtti which

enables the ahankara to go away.

Avidya iti manyante avidya karyatvat. By negating anatma adhistana’s svarupa

becomes clear. Pramana phalam is svarupa avadharanam. Not adhyAsa nivrtti. Any

pramana phalam including pratyaksham, etc is always svarupa avadharanam.

Therefore vastu tantram jnAnam. All forms of knowledge are centered on the

nature of the object. Analysis the words is to understand the vastu. When the

pramana phala is there – ascertained knowledge is there – without doubt –

vastu nischaya is there – then adhyAsa nivrtti is automatic. Thus, we are not

pushing the rajatam out!! – rajatam disappears by itself.

 

tatraivam sati yatra yat adhyasaha tadkrtena doshena gunena va anumatrena api

saha na sambadhyate

 

Svarupa avadharanam kim artham?> if adhyAsa is the villain – why not deal with

it and get rid of it>? Tikakara here says - Tathapi karana avidya tyaktva giving

up the mula avidya why talk about the karana avidya or adhyAsa - karya avidya

kim varnyate? Because adhyAsa – either by guna or dosha of the ahankara - has

never done any damage, even atomically – anumaternapi - to the unaffected

prthyagatma – sah na sambadhyate.

That which is eliminated by jnana is only avidya. Pramana is only addressing the

vastu – it is meant ot create knowledge - and knowledge is always of the vastu

alone. Pramana neither addresses avidya nor adhyAsa. IN revealing the vastu the

avidya goes away. Adhyasa is avidya karyatvam and hence alone vidya

nivartyatvam. Vidya is always of the vastu.

Mula avidyaha – Causal ignorance – sushuptau anartha adarshanat –

obtaining in the deep sleep. Tat avidyA in deep sleep does not cause any

problems any anarthas. Karyatmana tasyaha anarthatva jnapanartham tat varnanam

iti bhavah. Avidya is capacble of giving you anartha dukha in the form of its

karya adhyAsa. Therefore adhyastakrtadoshabhyam rajata is guna and snake is

dosha – adhyasta gunasya doshabhyam by its guna or defect adhistanam is not

affected na lipyate by the superimposed thing. If you superimpose a slimy snake,

when the snake goes away you don’t see the sliminess

 

 

tametam avidyakhyam avidya atmanatmanoho itaretara adhyasam puraskrtya

sarvepramanaprameyavyavahara laukikaha vaidikascha pravrtah sarvanicha shastrani

vidi pratishedha mokshaparani

 

This adhyasasya lakshana was pointed out. adhyaseva sarva anartha but adhyastena

vastu na lipyate. EVerything - all vyavahara - is due to adhyasa. When the

Shastra tells me do this - who is addressed? the adhyasta ahankara? then you

tell me it is a pramana. Suppose a drunkard is carried away by the spirit - a

pramata who is drunk - and asks me " Swami, what is atma? " - should I wait for

him to cool down or start a serious conversation with him about satyam jnanam,

anantam? So in the same way is the Shastra addressing a deluded guy? There is

something seriously wrong with me, the teacher, if i start teaching him. AS says

this whole thing is under adhyasta.

 

tam etam - saakshi prtyaksha siddam - this ahankara is known to you - chaitanyam

with respect to the antahkaranam is called (antahkarana) upahita chaitanyam or

sakshi. pramata is the one identified with the ahankara - (antahkarana)

vrttivishista chaintanyam. The pramata the knower is the one identified with the

ahankara - vrtti vishishta chaitanyam - with reference to the vrtti he is a

karta..svarupa is chaitanyam with reference to the ahankaram it is sakshi.

kshetrajnaha is sakshichaitanyam - niyamena janatio without effort without

change janati without jna dhatvarta i.e. without the kriya janati is called

sakshi.

 

tametam - for that etam sakshi pratyaksham puraskrtya - hetum krtva - by

depending on that - are enaged in vyavahara.pravrtah...what kind? pramana

prameya - all pramana and prameya vyavaara - the pramata employs the eyes, the

ears, etc... pramata here is svatantra and can employ different

pramanas...eyes,ears,mind, anumana, arthapatti, etc....and these vyavahara can

be laukika related to the world or vaidikaha or related to vedic karmas like

agnihotra etc...all sarve vyavahara including moksha shastra vyavahara - meaning

? - guru upasadanam...study of vedanta. vidhi nisheda parani...all the

vyavaharas incl shastra are keeping the adhyasa in view puraskrtya..vidhi

pratishedha parani vidhi is do's nishedha dont's - shastrani - moksha shastra

the tikakara says is vidhi nishedha shunya prthyagbrahma parani - whose object

is not vidhi or nishedha but prthyagatma brahma. No question of should or should

not....as long as one " wants " to be Brahman - adhyasa!...

moksha shastra talks about the vastu as it is- therefore neti neti - it is not

for doing it is for understanding...From both standpoints - Veda talks from the

standpoint of ahankara alone - both karma shastra and moksha shastra are meant

for " me " the baddha - the bound - the adhyasta purusha!

It is very disconcerting - why? because you are telling the moksha shastra - all

pramana prameya vyavahara - is adhyasa?! - shastra has its hetu in avidya..it

seems unacceptable. All pramanas are bhramas? All means of knowledge - valid

means of knowledge - pertain to a individual who himself is defective?? We will

see how Shankara beautifully clarifies this issue in the next section.

 

--- On Mon, 7/6/09, shyam_md <shyam_md wrote:

 

 

shyam_md <shyam_md

Brahma sutra; Shankara bhashya Part 7

advaitin

Monday, July 6, 2009, 8:54 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima I wish to resume my series on the

Brahmasutra Shankara bhashya based on Pujya Swami Dayananda-ji' s discourses on

the chatusutri. Its been a long break - for those interested the previous 6

parts can be found at

 

http://www.adi- shankara. org/2008/ 03/brahma- sutra-shankara- bhashya.html

http://www.adi- shankara. org/2008/ 03/brahma- sutra-shankara- bhashya-2. html

http://www.adi- shankara. org/2008/ 03/brahma- sutra-shankara- bhashya-3. html

http://www.adi- shankara. org/2008/ 03/brahma- sutra-shankara- bhashya-4. html

http://www.adi- shankara. org/2008/ 04/brahma- sutra-shankara- bhashyam- 5.html

http://www.adi- shankara. org/2008/ 04/brahma- sutra-shankara- bhashya-6. html

 

Sadashiva samarambham shankaracharya madhyamam

asmadachara paryantam vande guru paramparam