[Advaita-l] Did Madhusudana Saraswati Reconcile Bhakti and Advaita?

[V Subrahmanian]

On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 10:55 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <
sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> You said
> Quote
> I have seen a (Dvaita) scholar writing in a book on the three major
> schools of Vedanta: it would be proper to say that since the Buddhists
> formulated their system borrowing from the NirguNa Brahman of the
> Upanishads they are 'pracchanna Vaidika-s'.
>
> Unquote
>
> It will be nice if you can kindly let us know the name of this Dvaita
> scholar as well as the name of the book he had written.
>

The Kannada book 'mata-traya-sameekshA' authored by Dr.A.V.Nagasampige,
Director of Purnaprajna Samshodhana Mandiram, Bangalore, says in the
section 'Advaita' these significant things:

On page 51 it carries a heading: Is AdvaitavAda Bauddhadarshana?
On page 54 there is a heading : Bauddhas are pracchanna vaidikas.  It says:

The charge that Advaita has been influenced by Buddhist thinking has been
stiffly refuted by Shankara, Vachaspatimishra, SarvajnAtmamuni, ShrIharsha,
Anandabodha etc.  They have brought out the doctrinal differences between
the two schools.  This section goes on to substantiate this statement by
several quotes from these Advaita Acharyas' works.  It concludes:
//Therefore since Buddhists accepted the Vedic formulation of NirviShesha
Chaitanya in a changed form they are 'pracchanna vaidika-s.'  //

// ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ವೇದದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ನಿರ್ವಿಶೇಷ ಚೈತನ್ಯದ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಯನ್ನು ಒಪ್ಪಿದ ಬೌದ್ಧರು
’ಪ್ರಚ್ಛನ್ನವೈದಿಕರು.’//

At the beginning of the book the author has acknowledged the help of Vidwan
SheshAchala Sharma, a noted Advaitic scholar of Bangalore.  So the book, on
the portion dealing with Advaita, carries the backing of a traditional
scholar too.  That way the portion is authentic and therefore reliable.  I
have read it and found it quite satisfactory.

>
> Of course, some statements of some people have to be taken with a pinch of
> salt.  For example Yamunacharya called Adi Sankaracharya as the Pracchanna
> Buddha.


Sri Ramanuja has said this as the introductory verse in his 'Vedartha
sangraha':

परं ब्रह्मैवाज्ञं भ्रमपरिगतं संसरति तत् परोपाध्यालीढं विवशम्
अशुभस्यास्पदमिति ।****
श्रुतिन्यायापेतं जगति विततं मोहनमिदं तमो येनापास्तं स हि विजयते यामुनमुनिः
।। इति ।

It says that the Great Yamunacharya dispelled the ignorance (Advaita) that
holds 'Brahman itself owing to ajnAnam succumbs to delusion and remains in
samsara and therefore is the abode of all inauspiciousness which view is
devoid of the support of the scripture and reason.'

One can see how the above is based on a deep ignorance about Advaita which,
on the contrary, says:

[the introductory verse to the Advaitasiddhi of Sri Madhusudana Saraswati]
मायाकल्पितमातृतामुखमृषाद्वैतप्रपञ्चाश्रयः
सत्यज्ञानसुखात्मकः श्रुतिशिखोत्थाखण्डधीगोचरः ।
मिथ्याबन्धविधूननेन परमानन्दैकतानात्मकं
*मोक्षं प्राप्त इव स्वयं विजयते* विष्णुर्विकल्पोज्झितः ॥ इति   ।

The verse says 'VishNu (Brahman) who is innately satya, jnana and sukha, is
the abode of the universe consisting of the unreal dvaita of knower,
knowing and known conjured up by mAyA, and owing to the
akhaNDAkAravRtti-based realization of His native Ananda svarUpa, being
freed from the apparent bondage shines as though liberated, free from all
the vikalpa-s.'

This purport of Advaita has not been recognized by the schools that are
opposed to Advaita.

At other times it becomes difficult to oppose some statements. For example
> the fifth Veda (ie. the Purana) tells us that Lord Buddha was one of the
> avataras of Lord Vishnu.


The Madhvas have an authoritative narrative that does not deny Vishnu's
Bauddhavatara but at the same time 'absolving' Vishnu of all the ignominy
attached to Buddha/ism.  [pl. search on the net for this article.]


> Regards,
>
subrahmanian.v

>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 7:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Did Madhusudana Saraswati Reconcile Bhakti and
> Advaita?
>
> On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 6:01 AM, Sivakumar,Kollam <sivanr8010 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > It is a gross mistake to asses the traditional
> > works by  norms of western academicians
> > and unfortunately this is the task in which most
> > of the present day academic scholars indulge in.This is because most of
> the
> > works on Adwaita and bhakthi literature is concerned with the subjective
> > aspect ie.self which cannot be assessed from an objective aspect which is
> > the approach of the academicians.Lack of understanding of this  seems to
> be
> > the root cause of most of  problem related to study of
> > Adwaita and Bhakthi. Most interesting fact is that despite the caution
> and
> > advise of our Acharyas time to time we again and again indulge in same
> > mistake!
> > sivakumarr.
> >
>
> I share your concern on this.  With regard to almost every aspect of our
> scriptural and related works we are carried away by the ill-conceived
> opinions of academicians.  One such topic is the supposed influence of
> Buddhism on Advaita.  People who have not had an opportunity to study the
> Advaitic texts in their original, under the proper sampradaya, take up a
> study by their own methods and arrive at conclusions that show Advaita in
> poor light. Academicians both Indian and Western are in this campaign of
> tarnishing the image of Advaita.  While Buddhism (and Jainism) came as
> off-shoots of the Sanatana Dharma it would only be apt to conclude that the
> influence, if any, went from the Vedic foundation to those schools.  I have
> seen a (Dvaita) scholar writing in a book on the three major schools of
> Vedanta: it would be proper to say that since the Buddhists formulated
> their system borrowing from the NirguNa Brahman of the Upanishads they are
> 'pracchanna Vaidika-s'.
>
> subrahmanian.v
>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
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