[Advaita-l] How to read Puranas?

[V Subrahmanian]

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 8:32 AM, Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>wrote:

>
>   The two mImAMsAs differ in subject matter (dharma and brahman
> respectively) but their intellectual approach is the same.
>
> This is very true.  Recently I heard a beautiful exposition on the subject
by the foremost multi-shAstra scholar Vidwan Dr. Mani Dravid Sastrigal.  He
brought out some amazing facts on the very close correspondence between the
two mImAmsA sutras and their bhAShyas.  I was thrilled to hear the facts and
figures reeled out by him on how even the sentence construction in the two
BhAshyas correspond with each other.  Shankara's faithful adherence to the
'method' of pUrvamImAmsA shAstra takes our appreciation for the very shAstra
sampradAya to great heights.  I wish I get to hear the scholar speak on the
subject once again.  As I have my own drawbacks I desist, most regretfully,
from providing the particular instances of this correspondence.

A scholar stood up and questioned:  How do you say the pUrva mImAmsA has any
relevance in a discussion, for instance, of sriShTi, creation, in Vedanta.
Dr.Mani Dravid did not lose a single moment in providing the answer:  There
is the mention of the creation of three bhUtas in the Chandogya Up. and five
bhUtas in the Taittiriya Up.  To reconcile this sort of a 'contradiction',
he quoted a pUrva mImAmsA nyAya and a similar kind of situation in that
shAstra where this rule is applied.

There were two other discourses on a similarly styled theme: 1. The
application of the nyAyashAstra in Vedanta and 2. the application of the
vyAkaraNa shAstra in Vedanta - by two other highly accomplished scholars
Mahamahopadhyaya Dr.R.Krishnamurti sastrigal and Pandita pravaraH Dr.
Swaminathan Sharma of Tiruapti.  The latter had so much material on
vyAkaraNa that his very introduction of the topic took a full 45 minutes and
there was no indication of an end to this.  It left the audience
dumbfounded. We felt an extra hour was due to him for the actual
presentation of the instances of the vyAkaraNa shastra intricacies in the
vedAnta.

Regards,
subrahmanian.v