[Advaita-l] Advaitin - yAdava prakASa

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

With the kind permission of Sri Jaldhar prabhuji, I am passing the
             following web page info. for the kind clarification of the
             learned members of this list.  Kindly pardon me if it is
             outside the scope of list activities.
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!
bhaskar

//quote//
Yadavaprakasha was such a rigid  Advaitin, that he would not acknowledge
God with form. Unlike Shankaracharya, he  would not even regard this
universe as a maya. To him it was totally  insignificant.
//Unquote//

//Quote//
Ramanuja humbly, but firmly disagreed with  Yadava Prakasha on the
interpretation of one of the rather confusing mantra  from the Chandogya
Upanishad.  The mantra was "tasya yatha kapyasam  pundarikamevamakshini."
Even it seems Shankaracharya interpreted the meaning  of "kapyasam" as
"nates of a monkey".

Yadavaprakasha explained the passage as  follows:
'The two eyes of that golden Purusha are like two lotuses which are  red
like
the nates of a monkey."  Hearing this interpretation, tears  rolled down
from
the corners of Ramanuja's eyes likes flames of fire  and fell on the thigh
of
Yadavaprakasha. Yadava understood that something  troubled his dear
disciple
Ramanuja.  When asked for the cause of  his  anguish, Ramanuja politely
answered, " Revered Sir,  from the  mouth of a wise person like you, I
never
expected to hear the comparison of  the eyes of the Supreme Godhead with
the
posterior of  a  monkey."
yadava considered this as a display of arrogance by Ramanuja and
challenged
him to give his interpretation. Ramanuja proceeded to  give  his
interpretation of Kapyasam, the troublesome word in the mantra.
Kapyasam=Kapih+Asam
Kapih= Kam jalam pibatiti Kapih: he who drinks  water=  Suryah, Sun
Asa=blossomed
Thus, Kapyasam=Sun blossomed or  blossomed by the Sun

Now the mantra he translated as : The eyes  of the golden Purusha are as
lovely as the lotuses blossomed by the rays of  the Sun. Hearing this
Yadava
said that it is not a direct meaning but only a  derived meaning.
Nevertheless, he recognized the skill of his student.

The trend continued. One of the  famous Upanishadic mahavakyas "Satyam
Jnanam
anantam Brahma" was interpreted  by Yadava as Brahman is truth,
Intelligence
and Infinitude.
Ramanuja,  again disagreed with Yadava and interpreted it as Brahman is
endowed with the  quality of truth, intelligence and infinitude. It is not
correct to hold that  all these qualities are He Himself. These qualities
are
His, but not He, just  as the body is mine, I am not the body.

//Unquote//