[Advaita-l] Anantaa vai vedaah

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> I would like to suggest that we take statements like "when brahma 
> vidyA is known, everything else is known", on face value - to 
> encompass all knowledge including all vyavahArika sciences and arts. 

I am not suggesting the opposite. However, I would like to draw everyone's
attention to the fact that in the chAndogyopanishad bhAshya, bhagavatpAda
Sankara says two things:
 
ekena satA vijnAtena sarvam idaM vijnAtaM bhavati - instrumental case
ekasminn sati vijnAte sarvam idaM vijnAtaM bhavati - locative case
 
The instrumental case covers what you say - that brahmavidyA encompasses
all knowledge, sacred and secular. The locative case goes a step beyond and
renders all particular kinds of vyAvahArika knowledge redundant or irrelevant
for the brahmajnAnI.
 
> - Since there is no end to components of kSetra and their interactions, 
> there cannot be any end to veda mantras. Now, can we say that every 
> statement about components of kSetra and their interactions is a 
> veda mantra? Probably not. Though, through sAdhana, it may be 
> possible to refine every such statement until it attains the status 
> of a veda mantra. Not everyone is capable of this feat - those who 
> are, are known as mantra draSTA-s.

That is precisely what I am cautioning about in today's context. It is easy to
delude oneself and/or others that some particular epiphany that one has had
about some issue gives its expression the status of a veda mantra. There is
the nebulously well-intentioned behavior of disciples and believers in one
or the other person, which leads them to think that everything uttered by that
person is vedavAk or its equivalent. In addition, I feel there are many cases in
the world today where the person in question is capable of believing that one's
own utterances are vedavAk or its equivalent. In the absence of strong control
from institution(s) and in the face of ongoing weakening of the transmission of
the existing veda tradition, ours is a dharma that is particularly prone to abuse
and misuse today. I would much rather guard against that than anything else.

Regards,
Vidyasankar