[Advaita-l] shabdabrahman

[Sriram Krishnamurthy]

Hi Jaldhar,

I would like to add that the Sage, HH Sri Vidyaranya in his Panchadashi says
that one can attain Brahman through meditation on Aum. According to the
review of Sri Goda Venkateswara Sastri in the latest edition of Tattvaloka
on a translation of Panchadashi he says that Vidyaranya has deviated from
Sri Shankaracharya by stating that one can attain Brahman through meditation
on Omkara. I leave it to the Shastra Vruddhas to ponder on this. Morever
there is a work on Sphota Siddhi by Sri Mandana Mishra, who may be the same
Purvashrama name of Sri Sureshwaracharya who was the Shishya of Sri
Shankaracharya. Another advocate of Shadba was Sri Sarvagnatma Muni, in his
Samkshepa Shareerika.

Thanks and Regards,
Sriram Krishnamurthy



On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 1:27 PM, Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>wrote:

> On Sun, 2 Nov 2008, Srikrishna Ghadiyaram wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > The following quotation is from 'Auspicious Wisdom' by Douglas Renfrew
> > Brooks; page 44:
> >
> > "The author of the Prapacasara Tantra is not likely the "original
> > Shankara," for a host of reasons including his acceptance of
> > shabdabrahman, a position which Shankara the Brahmasutrabhashya author
> > rejects."
> >
> > Would the members please elucidate the position of Shankara on
> > shabdabrahman based on Brahmasutra. Apart from shabdabrahman what other
> > brahmans (?) are rejeted by Shankara.
> >
>
> From the very beginning, the heirs of the rshis placed a lot of emphasis
> on the mystical nature of sound.  For example both the Mundakopanishad and
> the Gita speak of Omkara as brahman.  Among the Vaiyyakaranas or
> grammarians, speculation on these lines led to what some term
> Shabdadvaita.  The roots of this are hinted at in Patanjalis' mahabhashya.
> Bhartrahari developed the idea more systematically in vakpadiya and
> Mandana Mishra wrote sphotasiddhi which went further.
>
> The main feature of this darshana was sphotavada, the idea that meaning
> occurs in a "burst" of comprehension upon hearing a sentence rather than
> word-by-word. Shabdabrahman is the most subtle form of sphota.
>
> In later times Kaunda Bhatta (vaiyyakaranabhushanasara) and Nagesh Bhatta
> (vaiyakkaranalaghumanjusha) were proponents of this theory and their works
> are still studied by pandits today.
>
> I'm not sure Shankaracharya criticised shabdabrahman per se. (It does have
> a vedic basis after all.)  Sphotavada itself is out and later Advaitins
> have criticised it but I don't recall reading about it in the
> brahmasutrabhashya.
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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