[Advaita-l] A Vedantic message

Kalyan kalyan_kg at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 13 06:17:38 EDT 2017


Dear Sri Subbuji
//Prakriti is the parinami upadana karana and Brahman is the vivartopadana karana.//

The above view seems to be contradicted by Shankara in his BSBh 1.4.26, where brahman itself is treated as the parinami upadana karana - 
आत्मकृतेः परिणामात् ॥ २६ ॥ भाष्यम्इतश्च प्रकृतिर्ब्रह्म, यत्कारणं ब्रह्मप्रक्रियायाम् ‘तदात्मानं स्वयमकुरुत’ (तै. उ. २ । ७ । १) इत्यात्मनः कर्मत्वं कर्तृत्वं च दर्शयति — आत्मानमिति कर्मत्वम् , स्वयमकुरुतेति कर्तृत्वम् । कथं पुनः पूर्वसिद्धस्य सतःकर्तृत्वेन व्यवस्थितस्य क्रियमाणत्वं शक्यं सम्पादयितुम् ? परिणामादिति ब्रूमः — पूर्वसिद्धोऽपि हि सन्नात्मा विशेषेण विकारात्मना परिणमयामासात्मानमिति । विकारात्मना च परिणामो मृदाद्यासु प्रकृतिषूपलब्धः ; स्वयमिति च विशेषणान्निमित्तान्तरानपेक्षत्वमपि प्रतीयते । ‘परिणामात्’ इति वा पृथक्सूत्रम् । तस्यैषोऽर्थः — इतश्च प्रकृतिर्ब्रह्म, यत्कारणं ब्रह्मण एव विकारात्मना परिणामः सामानाधिकरण्येनाम्नायते ‘सच्चत्यच्चाभवत् । निरुक्तं चानिरुक्तं च’ (तै. उ. २ । ६ । १) इत्यादिनेति ॥ २६ ॥
26. (Brahman is the material cause) on account of (the Self) making itself; (which is possible) owing to modification.Brahman is the material cause for that reason also that Scripture--in the passage, 'That made itself its Self' (Taitt. Up. II, 7)--represents the Self as the object of action as well as the agent.--But how can the Self which as agent was in full existence previously to the action be made out to be at the same time that which is effected by the action?--Owing to modification, we reply. The Self, although in full existence previously to the action, modifies itself into something special, viz. the Self of the effect. Thus we see that causal substances, such as clay and the like, are, by undergoing the process of modification, changed into their products.--The word 'itself' in the passage quoted intimates the absence of any other operative cause but the Self.
The word 'parinâmât' (in the Sûtra) may also be taken as constituting a separate Sûtra by itself, the sense of which would be: Brahman is the material cause of the world for that reason also, that the sacred text speaks of Brahman and its modification into the Self of its effect as co-ordinated, viz. in the passage, 'It became sat and tyat, defined and undefined' (Taitt. Up. II, 6).
Your comments are welcome.
RegardsKalyan 

    On Wednesday, September 13, 2017 12:15 AM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:
 

 

On Tue, Sep 12, 2017 at 3:48 PM, Kalyan via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita- vedanta.org> wrote:

//The verdict of all discussions on the Vedanta is that the Jīva and the
whole universe are nothing but Brahman//


That means prakRti is also brahman and there is no shakti that is different from brahman and brahman alone is the material and instrumental cause of the universe?


Prakriti as a shakti is admitted, as an unreal entity, subservient to Brahman, neither different nor non-different from Brahman, anirvachaniya. Brahman 'with' this power is the abhinna nimitta updana kaaranam of the universe. One instance where Shankara says that Brahman is the dual cause is: BSB 2.2.42:
 प्रकृतिश्चाधिष्ठाता चेति ; श्रुत्यनुसारिणी च स्मृतिः प्रमाणमिति स्थितिः ; तत्कस्य हेतोरेष पक्षः प्रत्याचिख्यासित इति — उच्यते — यद्यप्येवंजातीयकोंऽशः समानत्वान्न विसंवादगोचरो भवति,   In this passage the word prakrti means simply material cause and not the mula prakriti, the Shakti.  He says here: That a single entity is both the material and instrumental cause is in accordance with the shruti and the bhagavata school accepts this format. The Vedantin has no issues with them on this. But there are other issues with them that do not concur with the Vedanta.
That such a shakti has to be admitted by the Vedantin as otherwise the Brahman of the Vedanta cannot even be the creator (since Brahman is nishkriyam) is stated by Shankara in BSB 1.4.3:परमेश्वराधीना त्वियमस्माभिः प्रागवस्था जगतोऽभ्युपगम्यते, न स्वतन्त्रा । सा चावश्याभ्युपगन्तव्या ; अर्थवती हि सा ; न हि तया विना परमेश्वरस्य स्रष्टृत्वं सिध्यति, शक्तिरहितस्य तस्य प्रवृत्त्यनुपपत्तेः ।

It is also to be remembered that creation passages are not there with a view to teach a real creation but only to teach the jiva-brahman identity. Shankara has said this on more than one occasion. 
Prakriti is the parinami upadana karana and Brahman is the vivartopadana karana. With the former we can account for creation sustenance and laya. With the latter we can establish advaita.

vs


     

Regards
Kalyan
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