[Advaita-l] Vedanta,Sankhya and Yoga.

srikanta srikanta at nie.ac.in
Sun Nov 14 02:26:19 CST 2010


It is clear from the Shankara bhashya,that he has taken the position of
Sankhya and Yoga as the purvapaksha,and answered the vedantic point of
view.If he takes the sankhya and yoga as tenable to samyagnana,then he
would have acepted the position of sankhya and yoga.But,you will also
agree that Shankara takes the position of vedanta as independent,and
presents his arguments,bringing different points of the other darshanas as
purvapaksha.But,this is not to be.
In the sutra of"Yatha takshobhayat",which you have quoted,he asks from the
point of Adwaita,whether the "kartrtva"is svabhavika to the jiva(which the
dwaitins hold),or it is created by the adjuncts(upadhi).The Sutrakara
states ,"Yatha takshobhayat".Just as a carpenter uses his tools like
chiseletc while working and goes to rest by leavings his tools aside,so
also the jiva uses his kartrtva while he is in Dwaita bhava,but when he
goes to sleep,withdraws his karanas,and goes to sleep.

You will also see that Shankara has brought the Sankhya and Yoga to prove
that the state of Adwaita can be attained through the discrimination
between the Atman and the anatman.Therefore,he quotes the Upanishads.

I have already explained in my earlier mail,regarding the context with
which Shankara has brought the Purvapaksha and answered.If vedanta is not
an independent darshana separate from Sankhya,Yoga or separate
systems,then there is no need for Shankara to write his
Brahmasutrabhashya,or his bhashya on the BG,of Upanishadic bhashyas,from
the Adwaita point of view.One has to carefully separate the Purvapaksha
from the final siddhanta.otherwise,there is a chance to mixup the two.

Regarding your other comments,I wish to state that this list is petering
out to become a discussion forum without serious view to understand
Adwaita,notably,Shankara bhashyas.I am sorry to say that no of personal
elements creep in the discussions which will take away from serious
subject matter.I am sure that Shankara,the brilliant logician that he
is,has answered all only from the Adwaithic point of view.This must be
kept in mind before studying his bhashyas.That is the greatness of
Shankara.We must also realise that there is no"Jnana-karma samuccaya in
his bhashyas,as some subscribers have suggested
                                                N.Srikanta.








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