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

[Kalyan K]

>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.'


Dear Sri Subramanian, Perhaps what the above acAryAs are referring to in
the last two statements is something similar to this -

In the BU bhAshya on 1.4.10 BU, Sri Sankara says (according to Swami
Madhavananda's translation) -

"Opponent's objection - We do not say that there is no superimposition on
Brahman of attributes not belonging to It, as in the case of a
mother-of-pearl, but that Brahman is not the cause of the superimposition
of these attributes ·on Itself, nor the author of ignorance."

"Reply: Let it be so. Brahman is not the author of ignorance nor subject to
error. But it is not admitted that there is any other conscious entity
but Brahman which is the author of ignorance or subject to error....."

And then Sankara gives some examples of some Sruti texts to show that there
is no other knower than brahman etc.

Regards
Kalyan


On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 11:44 AM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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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