[Advaita-l] Adwaita and God

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Dear Srikantaji,

Leaving aside the Lokayata can we put it in the language of the other drashanas? Vaisheshika talks about the Adrishta, the unseen one. Sankhya saya God is asiddha ie, the existence of which cannot be proved. Indirectly it is going to to the "Net, Neti". Yoga talks about Purush and says that the vachaka of Purusha is Om. (which is Brahman). The Vedas say about the higher beings (the gods) as well as the parampada (Tad vishno paramam padam)  Vedanta talks about the Brahman (Saguna and Nirguna). Some doubt may probably linger on Nyaya if one takes it as separate from Vaisheshika. Probably in the 6th century BCE (around the time of Dharmakirti) there were Nyayikas like Udayana, who logically tried to show the existence of God. We have Nyaya scholars among us, who can tell us more on this.

Regards,



--- On Fri, 10/29/10, srikanta <srikanta at nie.ac.in> wrote:

From: srikanta <srikanta at nie.ac.in>
Subject: [Advaita-l] Adwaita and God
To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Date: Friday, October 29, 2010, 12:57 AM

Pranams!Praveen Bhatji!
Infact,all other systems of philosophy except Charvaka,believe in the
Vedas.Sankhya system also believes in Narayana.You can see in the Sankhya
sutras of Kapila and Sankhya karikas of Ishwara Krishna,obeisance is payed
to Purusha or Narayana.The Yoga system pays obeisance to Shiva,Nyaya
system pays obeisance to Shiva or Ishwara,Vedanta to Narayana,Vaisheshika
to Ishwara in the form of an Owl,that is why it is called Aulukya
darshana,Vedanta allows sagunabrahmopasana,though at a lower
stage.Buddhism and Jainism places the perfect man as the ideal and strive
to achieve that end.Buddhism has its own peculiar Bodhisatvas,Jainism has
Sramanas,in that they have in common with "sthithaprajna"of the
Bhagawadgita.I see an echo of sthithaprajna in Buddhism and Jainism.Though
they deny God and the Vedas,their peculiarity with Buddhahood and Jinahood
seem striking.Though Shankara crlticised Vaisheshika system as
Ardhavainashika,he reverentially calls Kanada its founder as
"srimathKanabhujasya mate" in his Brahmasutrabhashya.Navya nyaya of
Gangesha has much modified and refined Gauthama's Nyayasystem.Mimamsa
though basically holds Karma as the deciding factor,it acknowledges God or
Ishwara as the giver of merits and demerits.There are passages in Vedas
which are dependent on Karma as the deciding factor,while in some passages
the vedas say God is the agent in the giving of merits and
demerits.Shankara also followed "Bhatta Nyaya"which belongs to the
Kumarila system of Mimamsa darshana.
                                                         N.Srikanta.
















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