Prakarana Granthas of Adi Sankara

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Mon, 25 Mar 2002, kuntimaddi sadananda wrote:

> In the past there were discussions in this list that
> some of the upanishads are not authentic.  Shree
> Jaldhar,  for example had raised questions that
> vajrasuuchi upanishad that discusses the varnaashrama
> in a different perspective and mentioned that it is
> not considered as authentic.

As a recap for those who weren't present for the original thread my
reasoning was as follows:

There are many texts with upanishad in the title not all of which are
genuine.  (For instance there is one called Allah Upanishad!)  How to
distinguish?  Holding non-mainstream views should cause suspicion but it
isn't reason enough for rejection.  After all our tradition is hardly
monolithic.  Many unorthodox views from the past survive in the
refutations of astika authors.  The thing about this work is the
total silence of the past concerning it.  Given that our entire Vedanta
philosophy is based on the Upanishads, surely someone throughout the
centuries would have deigned to mention it--even if only to refute it.
But not one Advaitin or Vishishtadvaitin or Dvaitin or Pashupata or Pushti
Margi, not anyone has noticed it.  Plus that it should suddenly turn up in
the 20th century amongst people whose ability to place truth over politics
is questionable is what makes it unreliable in my eyes.  Perhaps more
evidence will come up later but until then it should not be used as a
pramana.

It's the same with that Mahabharata quotation from last week.  It's not
impossible that it is genuine but the evidence is weak.  I wrote to
Shrinivasan asking him to back up his claims but so far there has been
only silence.


--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/