[Advaita-l] On Bhamati, Vivarana, SSS

[Siva Senani Nori]

sarvebhyo namah

Sri Bhaskar writes with scholarship and great conviction. Here are some of the weak links:

* Forget all vaidika siddhantas, even some vedantic schools - for instance, dvaita, - do not admit of brahma-jIva aikyata, or they do in such a way - as viSishTAdvaita does - that it totally distorts the teachings of Upanishads, or introduces irreconcilable inconsistencies. 
* Similarly not all schools accept j~nAna as the only means to moksha. To give but one example, pUrva-mImAmsA which had a fairly strong following during Sankara's time holds karma as the mokshasAdhana.
* BhagavatpAda's preface to gItAbhAshya proves the reverse of the thesis that there is near "unanimity" amongst rival schools regarding final conclusions.
* A part of evolution of advaita is also due to reaction to rival schools. It is well known that both Sri Ramanuja and Sri MadhvAchArya had a very thorough knowledge of SA~Nkara bhAshyas. Later Acharyas like Madhusudana Sarasvati had to counter the criticism of the Acharyas of other schools and that was one strand in the development of advaita vedanta.
* The teachings of either BhAmatI or VivaraNa school do not negate or violate the teachings of the BhagavatpAda: they treat certain aspects untouched by Sri Sankara differently, and they certainly do not constitute an alternate prakriya to Sankara's.
* "Brutally attacked each other" would project a picture quite different from the actual things said. I am saying this blindly: Let Sri Bhaskar show the three most brutal attacks by BhAmatI and three most brutal attacks by VivaraNa, so that the members of the list might understand how "brutal" the attacks were. It must also be remembered that there are more than twenty bhAshyas on the Brahma Sutras and not every reference to "others" is to Bhamati or VivaraNa.
* As to why bhashyas are required, consider these... Are vedas not self-sufficient? Since the vedic language is not difficult, why did we need the nyAya prasthAna, or the bhAshyas on upanishads? Why was there a need for an alternate advaita prakriya to the vaidika prakriya? Then, if the Brahma Sutras are so unintelligible, how did they serve as long as they did? Similarly, are we saying that Lord Sri Krishna's words need explanation or that another avatara is capable of / required to tell what Sri Krishna Parabramha's words mean? And, then further, why did we require prakaraNa granthas or stotras after the prasthAnatrayI was gifted to the world. The answers (as repeated many times on this list, adhikArabhedatvAt - due to difference in the preparedness / qualifications of the students) which we supply to the above also tell us why vArtikas and tIkas were written on bhAshyas.
 
tasmAt jAgratta
Senani

----- Original Message ----
From: "bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com" <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 5:04:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Fwd: SSS, avidyA, shrI Ramakrishnan


praNAms
Hare Krishna

Shankara says  in bruhadAraNyaka Upansishad bhAshya that there is no
disagreement among all the followers of the upanishads that the knowledge
of the jIva-brahma yEkatva is what the main purport of all upanishads.  And
, shankara elsewhere in sUtra bhAshya states that all those who teach the
mOksha have agreed that jnAna is the only means for that.  From these
bhagavadpAda's clarifications it is evident that at shankara's time all
vaidiks (upanishad siddhAnta followers) had the *unanimous* opinion on
upanishad's ultimate siddhAnta & there is no disagreement among them that
jnAna is the means to achieve IT...But inspite of that Shankara says in
gIta bhAshya's introduction that somany people have interpreted this gIta
in somany ways, incorrectly but now I shall show you how this smruti text
to be *interpreted* correctly...So, it is clear that shankara started to
write his commentary despite the fact that  there is absolute unity with
regard to upanishad siddhAnta among his contemporaries & predecessors &
shown us the unique shuddhAdvaita prakriya (methodology)  in his prasanna,
gaMbhIra bhAshyAmruta vANi.  What does this show us??  shankara was more
particular about *his* own tradition's prakriya irrespective of the fact
that END is same among all vaidika dharma followers....Now, today, we are
saying AchArya's followers are not parrots, they are human beings & they
can invent their own unique methodologies to approach to upanishadic
truth...and this invention by later Acharya-s does not do any harm to
shankara's prakriya coz. ultimately all prakriya-s end in *same* siddhAnta
etc. etc. !!! Interestingly, if we go by shankara's own words, at the time
of shankara too, the scenario was same & all vaidiks were of the same
opinion about upanishad siddhAnta...nevertheless, shankara written his
commentary!!!......  And now, we are coming out with all sorts of excuses
to justify *new inventions* by later vyAkhyAnakAra-s  as against fool proof
shankara prakriya...The question is why there is a need of an alternative
prakriya to shankara prakriya in shankara saMpradAya itself ??  is shankara
prakriya not self-consistent & self-sufficient??  Why these *human beings*
who have come in the lineage of shankara claimed that they are representing
the shankara saMpradAya & have presented the shankara prakriya correctly,
when they wanted to exercise their own will & wish to invent new
methodologies??  (bhAmati & paNchapAdika- vivaraNa have found their
origination by commenting on shankara's sUtra bhAshya)...If both of them
(vivaraNa & bhAmati) are the religious followers of shankara siddhAnta  why
they have brutally attacked each other in their respective works holding
shankara bhAshya as the base ??  if these vyAkhyAnakAras' task was just to
clarify certain difficult/complex  concepts in shankara bhAshya, why on the
earth bhAmati attacked vivaraNa & vice versa to propagate their *own*
prakriya ??   God only knows the answer to these questions.  And those who
donot want to lost themselves in this vAkya jAla of later vyAkhyAnakAra-s
opted to *go back* to original works of shankara....

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar


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