[Advaita-l] Advaita THE Vedanta

[V Subrahmanian]

In the short work 'vyAsatAtparyanirNayaH' the author Sri AyyaNNa DikShitaH
(18th Century A.D.) establishes after much deliberation that it is Advaita
alone that is called by the term 'Vedanta'.  He takes up the question:
after all a biased one will come to such a conclusion alone and answers it
by lining up in proof several works of the SAnkhya, Vaisheshika, NyAya,
PurvamImAmsA, yoga, pAncharAtra, pAshupata, etc. and shows, by profusely
citing from their original and commentarial works that all these schools
which have refuted the 'Vedanta' which is nothing but Advaita alone.  For,
there has to be a 'vAdin' which a school refutes and this vAdin in this
case happens to by Veda VyAsa.  Just like the VedAnta sUtras (bAdarAyaNa
sUtras) have stated and refuted these schools, these schools too state and
refute the Vedanta.  He cites the one to one correspondence between the
Vedanta sutras and the particular schools that, in turn, state and refute
the Vedanta.  In all these cases the stating and refuting is of the Advaita
alone.  The author concludes thus that it is Advaita alone that is the
purport of the Vedanta sUtras, in other words, the VyAsa tAtparya.  In
other words, by 'Vedanta' all these schools understand 'Advaita' alone.

एवं च उक्तग्रन्थेषु तत्र तत्र केवलाद्वैतानुवादपूर्वकनिराकरणस्थले
केवलाद्वैतस्य वेदान्तिमतत्वप्रतिपादनेन  तादृशाद्वैतमेव
वेदान्तशास्त्राभिप्रेतार्थ इति सिद्धौ व्यासस्य वेदान्तशास्त्रप्रवर्तकतया
वेदान्तवादित्वावश्यंभावेन केवलाद्वैतमेव व्यासाभिमतमिति स्पष्टम् ।
तस्मात्सर्ववादिसंप्रतिपन्नकपिलकणादगौतम-पतञ्जलिजैमिनितन्त्रेषु
सूत्रभाष्यवार्तिकवृत्तिग्रन्थेषु
पाशुपतपाञ्चरात्रबौद्धार्हततन्त्रेष्वप्युक्तरीत्या दशसु तन्त्रेषु
*वेदान्तिमतनिराकरणप्रस्तावे
केवलाद्वैतस्यैवानूद्यमानत्वात्*प्रतिवादिवाक्स्त्म्भनपूर्वकं सकलजनहृदयंगमतया
तदेवाद्वैतं व्यासतात्पर्यविष इति युक्तमुत्पश्यामः ॥   [p.34]

The gist of the above quote is what I have stated in brief in the first
paragraph.  The corollaries that follow the above conclusion:


   1. Since the Vedantasutras have for their substance the Vedanta-s,
   UIpanishads, the purport of the Upanishads too are in Advaita alone.
   2. All the Smrtis too have Advaita alone for their ultimate purport.
   3. All the purANas too follow the same pattern as above.

The author cites several verses from the above works as sample to prove his
point.  The sUtasamhitA, which forms part of the skAndapurANa is quoted in
a number of places.  He addresses the question: But then even if the above
were admitted, how  does it  establish Advaita on unshakeable grounds
unless these schools which have refuted Advaita and establish their own
schools propounding prapancha satyatva, jIvanAnAtva, etc. are themselves
not refuted? by replying: Our agenda in this book is not to refute the
other schools; we have embarked on the mission to establish that by showing
that all these schools consider Advaita alone as THE Vedanta, the purport
of Veda Vyasa in authoring the Sutras is in Advaita alone.

At the outset itself the author considers the question:  Each BhashyakAra
(of the Vedanta sutras) has taken pains to establish that his school alone
is purport of the sutras by even citing ancient works like the Bodhayana
vRtti (Ramanuja), Brahmatarka, mUlarAmAyaNa (Madhva), how is it possible to
identify that very school's bhashyam which forms the true purport of the
Sutras?  It cannot be that all the schools can be seen to be the purport of
the sUtras.  Nor can we conclude that since no school can be so identified,
there is indeed no purport at all for the Vedanta sutras, which is absurd
and undesirable.  Therefore there has to be a way in which we decide on
this.  And the method adopted is to show which school has been stated and
refuted by all those schools outside the Vedanta as the Vedanta/Vedantin
and thereby decide, from a third person's perspective, the tAtparya of the
VyAsasUtras.

The book has been translated to Kannada by Vidwan Sri Ranganatha Sharma and
published by:

Udaya Prakashana, No. 984, 11th A Main, 3rd Block, Rajajinagar Bangalore
560010. Phone: 23389143.  Copies are available at this address.  Price can
be enquired there.

Tamil & Telugu versions of the book are available at DLI

VYASATHATHPARYA
NIRNAYAM.<http://www.dli.gov.in/cgi-bin/metainfo.cgi?&title1=VYASATHATHPARYA%20NIRNAYAM&author1=SAMSKINITHALIAR&subject1=VYASATHATHPARYA%20NIRNAYAM&year=1915%20&language1=tamil&pages=130&barcode=1990050051458&author2=&identifier1=CMU&publisher1=N.RAJAM%20amp%20CO,%20MADRAS&contributor1=N.RAJAM%20amp%20CO,%20MADRAS&vendor1=NONE&scanningcentre1=akce,%20universal%20digital%20library&slocation1=NONE&sourcelib1=CMU&scannerno1=&digitalrepublisher1=AKCE%20UNIVERSAL%20DIGITAL%20LIBRARY&digitalpublicationdate1=2024-12-03&numberedpages1=&unnumberedpages1=&rights1=OUT_OF_COPYRIGHT&copyrightowner1=N.RAJAM%20amp%20CO,%20MADRAS&copyrightexpirydate1=0000-00-00&format1=TAGGED%20IMAGE%20&url=/data/upload/0051/463>,
1990050051458. SAMSKINITHALIAR. 1915. tamil. VYASATHATHPARYA NIRNAYAM. 130
pgs.

10637 shriivyaasataatparyanirnd-ayan'.<http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/cgi-bin/metainfo.cgi?&title1=10637%20shriivyaasataatparyanirnd-ayan%27&author1=&subject1=RELIGION.%20THEOLOGY&year=1909%20&language1=Telugu&pages=106&barcode=2020050018658&author2=&identifier1=RMSC-IIITH&publisher1=shriivein%27kat%27eishvara%20mudraqs-arashaala&contributor1=FAO&vendor1=par&scanningcentre1=rmsc,%20iiith&slocation1=IIITH&sourcelib1=NONE&scannerno1=&digitalrepublisher1=Digital%20Library%20Of%20India&digitalpublicationdate1=2005-03-01&numberedpages1=278&unnumberedpages1=22&rights1=OUT_OF_COPYRIGHT&copyrightowner1=Gorge%20Allen%20And%20Unwin%20Ltd&copyrightexpirydate1=0000-00-00&format1=Tagged%20Image%20File%20Format%20&url=/data6/upload/0160/266>,
2020050018658. . 1909. Telugu. RELIGION. THEOLOGY. 106 pgs.


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