[Advaita-l] Iswara swaruupam - 3

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> 
> In 7.6, the bhAshya says, prakRti-dvaya-dvAreNa ahaM sarvajna ISvaraH 
> jagataH kAraNam ity arthaH. Note also the usage of the grammatical dual
> forms, prakRtI, kshetra-kshetrajna-lakshaNe, parA-apare* in bhAshya 7.6. 
> 

I meant to put a grammar postscript on my previous note, explaining this
asterisk, but forgot, so here it is. Note the long ending vowel, I-kAra in the
word prakRtI.
 
prakRtI is the dual feminine form, e.g. matiH - matI - matayaH. In keeping
with the word prakRtI, lakshaNe and parApare are dual forms, e.g. sItA
(singular) - sIte (dual) - sItAH (plural).
 
In Sanskrit writing, when two specific entities are meant, the dual form is
always used. Conversely, when an author uses the dual form, it is always
because he intends two specific entities. As such, there is absolutely no
room in the gItAbhAshya to say that it is one prakRti that is described as
higher or lower as per the perspective. Whose perspective, would be the
resultant question. And if you say it is the speaker's perspective, then the
response is that there is no speaker outside of the operation of the parA
and aparA prakRti-s, so you are putting the cart before the horse, so to
speak. Rather, in the gItA, there is clearly a lower prakRti and a higher
prakRti and it is the one brahman that is described as higher or lower, as
per the perspective of the higher prakRti or the lower prakRti. And like it
or not, the prakRti responsible for the appearance of jagat and thereby
responsible for saying that ISvara is the ruler of the jagat, IS the aparA
prakRti. Sustaining the jagat is done through the parA prakRti and BOTH
aparA prakRti and parA prakRti are needed for ISvara to be an ISvara
of the jagat, as stated in gItAbhAshya 7.6.

It may not be immediately obvious that BOTH prakRti-s are needed for
omniscience also, so here is a one-line explanation of why this is so. As
parA prakRti is kshetrajna, it follows that aparA prakRti is kshetra and
gItA 13.2 clearly says, kshetra-kshetrajnayor jnAnaM yat taj jnAnam. 
In fact, in addition to reading gItA and bhAshya 7.4, 7.5 and 7.6 together,
read them in conjunction with all of chapter 13 as well.
 
Vidyasankar