[Advaita-l] Sphota and Shabda Brahman

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Namaste Siva Senani Noriji,

May I request you kindly to keep the chronological order in mind, as otherwise many like me, may not be able to appreciate your laudable efforts. If I am permitted to say, to my knowledge the Brahmasutra was composed by Badarayana much before Panini composed the Ashtadhyayi. Then came Katyayana (not the Katyayana mentioned in the Mahbharata). Patanjali came after that and composed the Ashtadhyayi. Bhartrihari  composed the Vakyapadia after that and Adi Sankara wrote his bhshya on the Brahmasutra after the vakyapadia was composed. If you think I am wrong you can correct me without hesitation.

Regards,
Sunil KB


________________________________
 From: Siva Senani Nori <sivasenani at yahoo.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2012 12:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sphota and Shabda Brahman
 
Sir
 
I saw your post in BVP and thought some scholars there would attempt a reply. I will try to post my understanding - which is a sort of work-in-progress in the next few weeks using material from the Brahmasutrabhashya, SarvadarSanasangraha and Vakapadeeyam. My initial impression is that many concepts of advaita, which I found difficult and unique, are found in the Vakyapadiya - for instance, adhyaasa and vivarta. Of the twenty two or so commentaries on Brahmasutrabhashya, the five other darSanas and the vadas fo sphota and rasa, it is only advaita vedanta and sphota siddhanta which share the vivartavaada. Then, I have been told by my teacher who taught me the PaspaSaahnika (the first chapter of Mahabhashya, which contains the many concepts of Vakapadiya in seed form) that Sabdabrahman is really one type of Brahman and that the rejection of that concept in the Brahmasutras is to avoid other limiting conjunctions being attached to Brahman. For example, one
could propose a Rasabrahman and that is what many Aalankaarikas like ViSvanaatha and Jagannaatha seem to have done without stating it in so many words - for both of them rasaanubhuti is brahmaanandaanubhooti. So the rejection is to ensure that there is no multiplicity of Brahmans.
 
Then, the fact remains that sphotavaada has been rejected by Acharya; then, we have the statement of Sir Vidyasankar that the vivartavaada, and the advaita, of sphotasiddhanta and advaitavedanta are different. Over the last few years, I found that his views are well informed and would hesitate to believe otherwise; however, this might be a good opportunity to study the issue in more detail.
 
Regards
N. Siva Senani


>________________________________
> From: Ajit Gargeshwari <ajit.gargeshwari at gmail.com>
>To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org 
>Sent: Monday, June 18, 2012 12:12 PM
>Subject: [Advaita-l] Sphota and Shabda Brahman
>  
>Dear Group
>Can anyone please explain to me the difference between Shabda Brahman as
>per Vakyapadeeya and The concept of Brahman as per Shankara Advaita
>and What is the Background for refutation the Sphota Doctrine??
>Regards
>Ajit Gargeshwari
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