[Advaita-l] Apoureshyatva - Faith or Logic?

[V Subrahmanian]

On 7/1/12, Rajaram Venkataramani <rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Sri Sunil,
 But > we know for certain that the idea of paureshyatvam was put forward by
> Buddhists and Jainas. We also Kanada puts forth that view and so does
> Gautama. Their preceptors might have held that view for a long time before
> them. But we dont have any literary evidence to support that. So, the
> conclusion is that VedApaureshyatvam is an ancient opinion that came under
> attack in the last 2500 - 2800 years.
>


In the Chandogya Upanishad and some other places we encounter an
'asadvAda' which Shankara identifies as that of 'Bauddha'.  Some years
ago I asked a knowledgeable person:  If this is the Buddhist school,
do we conclude that the Bauddhas existed even before the Veda?  But we
all understand that Gautama Buddha is a historical figure.'  The reply
I got was -  Even though Gautama Buddha is a historical entity, the
'vAda' attributed to him or propounded by him has existed for ever.
That is the reason we find it being taken up as a pUrvapakSha even in
the Veda.  It is only possible that Gautama Buddha articulated it at
that point in history.'

So, that leaves us with the thinking:  The opposition to the Veda
apauruSheyatva has been existing for ever and that Veda apauruSheyatva
has been held/upheld by the Vedantin for ever.  What we see as
Badarayana or Jaimini are only names/individuals that appeared and
disappeared even as Gautama Buddha appeared and disappeared in
history.

subrahmanian.v