[Advaita-l] A question on PariNAma and vivarta

kuntimaddi sadananda kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com
Fri Feb 3 22:16:10 CST 2017


PraNams to all. 

Would welcome your thoughts on the following.

We are currently doing the 13th Ch. of Panchadashi.
I encountered this sloka - 13-8. In discussing the creation aspect, Shree Vidyaranya presents this sloka as examples of PariNAma 
 avasthaantarataapattiH Ekasya pariNAmitaa|syaat ksheeram dadhi mRit kumbhaH suvarNam kunDalam yathaa||
avasthaantarataa aapatthiH - transforming into another state is pariNAmitaa - Essentially a transformation from one state to another state. The first example he gives is ksheeram dadhiH - milk truning into curds or yogurt. This is an irreversible transformation and well quoted example for pariNAma.
To my surprise, he provides the next two example from Ch. Up which actually (in my understanding) should belong to vivarta. The next examples provided in the above sloka is - just as clay becoming pot and gold becoming ornament. The later ones Uddlaka uses for transformation-less transformation  - and upanishad uses the word for this as - vaachaarambhanam vikaaraH - or namesake or naamkevaaste transformation since gold still remains as gold but appears as different ornaments each differing from the other - yet all are gold. The cost of each ornament depends on the gold content and not really on the attributive aspects of the ornaments.  Transformation of ring into bangle can be called pariNAms since like Gold it is destructive transformation since that particular ring is destroyed to make bangle - it is similar to milk becoming curds. 

In sense the first example milk turning into curds is not of the same type as gold appearing as ornaments or clay appearing as pot. 

Most surprising is for vivarta - he gives the example of rope/snake - which is more like praatibhaasika error and belongs to Jeeva sRiShTi than Iswara sRiShTi that the topic is primarily concerned. The next sloka says:
avasthaantara bhaanamtu vivarto rajju sarpavat| Appearance as another state without undergoing a change is vivarta. Here the appearance of snake without rope undergoing any change is called vivarta, at the outset appears to be right but appearance of the snake on the rope does not come under Iswara sRiShTi - Which shree Vidyaranya exhaustively discusses in the 4th Ch. 

Question, how did Shankara interpreted the Ch. Up. examples with vaachaarambhanam vikaara naamadheyam statements that is repeated 3 times - for Uddlaka to illustrate - ekavijnaanena sarva vijnaanam bhavati - by knowing one thing one can know everything. 

I am puzzled.
Hari Om!Sadananda

 









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