[Advaita-l] (Advaita--i)Another instannce oF Advaita wrongly comprehend.

[Srikanta Narayanaswami]

Advaita differs from other systems of philosophy like,Sankhya,Yoga,Bauddha founded by other thinkers like Kapila,Patanjali,Buddha,because Advaita looks at the question of Truth and comprehends the Truth holistically,without ignoring  one part and highlighting the other part.For instance,Sankhya concerns with defining Purusha and the Prakrthi,and analyses what the cause of sorrow,and finally says freeing the prakrthi from Purusha is Mukthi or liberation.It does not tell one how purusha got mixed up with prakrthi.Yoga concern itself with controlling the mind(Yogah cittavrtti nirodah)and proposes a method through "Ashtanga Yoga,of 8 limbs,of Yama,niyama,asana,pranayama,pratyahara,.dhyana,dharana Samadhi.Patanjali proposed and founded a philosophy which was fourfold.He wrote granthas on control of the body,mind and speech.He wrote Mahabhshya which was a treatise on vak.He wrote Yoga for the control of mana or citta.He wrote Ayurveda for the control and
 health of the body.Thus,Patanjali's system is complete with training on kaya,vacha manasa.But,in Kaliyuga the system fell into the hands of wrong teachers and interpreters who were self styled like the modern day Gurus who are bent on making money.The present day Yoga system is only and exercise,containing different poses.Buddha taught his philosophy to his disciples depending on their temperement and grade.Thus we have different branches in Buddhism,under two main headings,Hinayana,Mahayana.Hinayana is a lower vehicle which could carry one person.It resembled the Vedantha which contented with liberating only one person,the aspirant.It confined itselof in the regions of Sri Lanka,Thailand,Burma etc.Mahayana aimed itself with a larger vehicle which could carry all the beings in the vehicle.To start with Buddha preached only Hinayana which tenets were Ahimsa,astheya,aparigraha,freei8ng one self from desire.Later,the disciples were taught according to
 their capacity and temperament.Thus the Mahayana system has different branches like,vijyana vada,shunya vada,etc.Some Buddhist scholars interacted with Vedantha and their thinking has a mixture of Buddhism with the thoughts of Upanishads.In the Dashavatara concept,Indians included Buddha as an avatar.But,the mimamsakas following Bhatta,excluded Buddha in their ritualistic system.Thus karmadhikaris excluded Buddha in their rituals,but included Adi Shankara.who propsed a Asthika system,unlike Buddha who was a Nasthika thinker.Even today in our sankalpa while doing the nitya naimittika karmas,while chanting,we say.."Bharatha varshe,Bharatha kande,vartamanena,meroh dakshine parshve sakhabhde,and say "Bauddhavatare"in a derogatory sense,that during the advent of Buddha,performance of karmas dwindled with only sins accumulating.It was only Adi Shankara who brought the philosophy of Advaita which fulfills the twin aims of satisfying the brain through his
 brilliant analyses and  a practice through karmas which surrenders the fruit of the karmas to God,Ishwara.Any philosophy cannot be dry,it must appeal to logic,and at the same time it must serve the utility of functioning in the world without sorrow.Adi shankara studied all the systems of philosophy before him like Sankhya,Yoga and the Bauddha an pointed out thye in consistencies in them in thie own light,and showed how Advaita fits the role in the realisation of Truth.He showed how these philosophies have limited purpose,and how Advaita is a holistic Realisation.He thus declared:"Brahma satyam jagan mithya,Jivo Brahmaiva,Naparah"-Brahman alone is Truth,the world is untruth(only an appearance),the Jiva is nothing but  the Brahman alone,and not different.Even the modern science con curs in bringing out new Rsearch which brings out the potentialities of human being,raising him to higher plains.
Regards,
N.srikanta.