[Advaita-l] Dvaita Vaada - Vadiraja Teertha's Nyayaratnavali Slokas 310 - 314 Pativrataa Stree

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Commentary - Seeing Vadiraja bowling underarm last ball the umpire
Vedanta Desikachar has given him a strict warning. 'If you bowl
underarm again I will disqualify you from this game'. Vadiraja has run
out of options. But Captain Madhvacharya has given him an idea. If you
tell the batsman some disturbing news he will lose his mental
concentration. Then you can easily get him out. Vadiraja is walking to
the batsman to tell him something.

कर्ता कर्म न चेद्ब्रह्म गम्यं दृश्यं मतं श्रुतम् ।
ध्यातं गातं द्रष्टृमन्तृश्रोतृध्यातृचितः पृथक् ॥
यद्यैक्यश्रुतिसाचिव्यादभेदः कर्तृकर्मणोः ।
तर्हिचेत्स्वप्रकाशत्वश्रुत्या वेद्यस्यवेत्तृता ॥
तत्र श्रुतेर्बलवती युक्तिश्चेदत्र पञ्चधा ।
स्पष्टं निरूपितायुक्तिः पञ्चबाणशरोपमा ।
तव श्रुतिस्त्रियं चोरः कुरुते स्वैरचारिणीम् ।
आत्मा वा इति वाग्ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति वाक् च ते ॥
ब्रह्मणः कर्मतामाह पञ्चधा या प्रपञ्चिता ।
If you say Subject cannot be Object but the Brahman should be reached
should be realized should be heard of should be reflected on should be
meditated on. The one reaching, realizing, hearing, reflecting and
meditating should be separate from Brahman. If you take help of Abheda
Srutis saying Jeeva and Brahman are same there will be nondifference
of Subject and Object. The Svaprakasha Sruti will make the Known and
Knower nondifferent also. If your reasoning of Subject and Object is
strong because of Sruti the second reasoning in five ways is like the
five arrows of Kaama Deva. The thief is making your wife Sruti to
behave as she likes and go to other men. The Srutis 'Atma Va Are' and
'Brahmavid Apnoti Param' are saying Brahman is an Object in five ways.
But you are showing it is a deception.

Vadiraja is trying to show a Contradiction in Advaitis reasoning. They
are using three reasonings. A) Subject and Object in Perception cannot
be same. They must be different. B) The Srutis आत्मा वा अरे द्रष्टव्यः
श्रोतव्यो मन्तव्यो निदिध्यासितव्यो and ब्रह्मविद् आप्नोति परम् are
saying Brahman can be Object in five ways. 1) We can Attain it. 2) We
can see It. 3) We can hear of It. 4) We can reflect on It. 5) We can
meditate on It.  C) The Abheda Srutis like 'Tat Tvam Asi' are telling
Jeeva and Brahman are the same. A is  saying Subject and Object must
be different. But B and C are C combined are saying Brahman is both
Subject and Object. In the sentence 'I am seeing a book'  the Subject
is myself and the object is the book. I am the Knower the book is the
Known and the Knowledge is 'This is a book'. The Subject and Object
are different. The Self is like a light shining on all objects in the
world. When the Self light shines on some object the Self can see it
and know it. But how can the Self see  itself? How can the light shine
on itself?

How to solve this Contradiction?

You Advaitis are saying A is very strong. Subject and Object cannot be
same. The Atma Va Are and Brahmavid Apnoti Srutis are also strong
because in 5 ways they are saying Brahman is Object.  Therefore C
cannot be correct. Jeeva and Brahman Abheda Sruti like 'Tat Tvam Asi'
cannot be correct literally. It must have a meaning Jeeva and Brahman
are different.

He is giving a Poetic Simile here. For Advaiti the Abheda Srutis are
his faithful wife. But the 5 ways of making Brahman an Object are like
the 5 arrows of Kaama Deva. He is shooting the 5 flowery arrows at
her. She beomes very uncontrolled with Passion and goes to other men.
She will not be faithful to her husband Advaiti. She will lose her
character and start loving other men like Dvaitis.

Advaiti Response -
People learned in Advaita have pointed to big blunders in the above
argument. Vaadiraaja has not read even Adi Sankara's Adhyaasa Bhaashya
properly. A person will make a Superimposition on the Self like this.
'I am fat', 'I am thin', 'I am fair', 'I am dark' and so on. In these
sentences the Subject and Object are the same. He is not saying some
other person or thing is fat, thin, fair and dark. He is saying he
himself is fat, thin, fair and dark. The Subject is the person saying
it. The Object is also the person saying it. There is nothing wrong in
Subject and Object being same. But here the Self is Superimposed by
things not Self. This is Error.

To correct the Superimposition Error the Upanishads will give
instruction on Self. This Instruction is like 'You are Brahman' and 'I
am Brahman'. The person will hear of, reflect on and meditate on his
Self as Brahman. The Subject and Object are the same here also. The
person will meditate on himself as Brahman. Take the example 'You are
the 10th man'. Ten people were crossing a river with strong currents.
After crossing one man was counting others. He was counting only nine
people and became worried one was missing. Someone told him 'You are
not counting yourself. You are the10th man'. The counting man realized
'I am the 10th man'. His worry was removed. Here in 'I am the 10th
man', the Subject is myself and object is also myself. I am not
realizing some other person as 10th man. I am realizing myself as 10th
man.

In the Adhyasa Bhashya Adi Sankara has said -
कथं पुनः प्रत्यगात्मन्यविषये अध्यासो विषयतद्धर्माणाम् ? सर्वो हि
पुरोऽवस्थित एव विषये विषयान्तरमध्यस्यति ; युष्मत्प्रत्ययापेतस्य च
प्रत्यगात्मनः अविषयत्वं ब्रवीषि । उच्यते — न तावदयमेकान्तेनाविषयः,
अस्मत्प्रत्ययविषयत्वात् अपरोक्षत्वाच्च प्रत्यगात्मप्रसिद्धेः ;
Translation by Gambhirananda - How again can there be any
superimposition of any object or its attributes on the inmost Self
that is opposed to the non-Self and is never an object of the senses
and the mind? For everybody superimposes something else on what is
perceived by him in front and you assert that the Self is opposed to
the non-Self and is not referable by the concept 'you'. The answer of
the Vedantin is: The Self is not absolutely beyond apprehension
because it is apprehended as the content of the concept 'I' and
because the Self opposed to the non-Self is well known in the world as
an immediately perceived entity.

Here Adi Sankara is saying the Self is 'Asmatpratyaya Vishaya'. It is
the Object of the 'I' idea.

In 1 - 1 - 4 Sutra Bhashya he is saying -
अविषयत्वे ब्रह्मणः शास्त्रयोनित्वानुपपत्तिरिति चेत्, न ;
अविद्याकल्पितभेदनिवृत्तिपरत्वाच्छास्त्रस्य । न हि शास्त्रमिदंतया
विषयभूतं ब्रह्म प्रतिपिपादयिषति । किं तर्हि ? प्रत्यगात्मत्वेनाविषयतया
प्रतिपादयत् अविद्याकल्पितं वेद्यवेदितृवेदनादिभेदमपनयति । तथा च
शास्त्रम् — ‘यस्यामतं तस्य मतं मतं यस्य न वेद सः । अविज्ञातं विजानतां
विज्ञातमविजानताम्’ (के. उ. २-३) ‘न दृष्टेर्द्रष्टारं पश्येः’ (बृ. उ.
३-४-२) ‘न विज्ञातेर्विज्ञातारं विजानीयाः’ (बृ. उ. ३-४-२) इति चैवमादि ।
Translation by Gambhirananda - Opponent: If Brahman be not an object
of knowledge It cannot logically be presented by the scriptures.
Vedantin: Not so, for the scriptures aim at the removal of the
differences fancied through ignorance. Not that the scriptures seek to
establish Brahman as an entity referable objectively by the word
'this'. What do they do then? By presenting Brahman as not an object
on account of Its being the inmost Self (of the knower) they remove
the differences of the 'known', the 'knower', and the 'knowledge' that
are fancied through ignorance. In support of this are the texts
'Brahman is known to him to whom It is unknown while It is unknown to
him to whom It is known. It is unknown to those who know and known to
those who do not know'. (Ke. II.3) 'You cannot see that which is the
witness of vision ... you cannot know that which is the knower of
knowledge'. (Br. III.4.2) and so on.

The Atma that is Brahman cannot be known like an object of the world.
But it can be an object of Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana and the
person doing this can Realize and Attain It.The Atma Va Are and
Brahmavid Apnoti Srutis are saying this only. Therefore the Aikya
Srutis like 'Tat Tvam Asi' and 'Aham Brahmasmi' will not lose the
Abheda meaning of Jeeva Brahma Abheda.

More comments and points from learned members are welcome.

The Poetic Simile given by Vaadiraaja is not correct. This is the
correct simile. The wife is the Abheda Sruti like 'Tat Tvam Asi' and
'Aham Brahmasmi'. The God of Love Kaama Deva will shoot his 5 flowery
arrows at her to arouse her passion. She will go to the only man in
the whole world - her husband. There is no other man in the world
because there is only one Jeeva. That Jeeva with Sruti's help will do
5 things and will enjoy Bliss for ever.

Commentary - Vaadiraaja walks to the Advaiti batsman to tell him
something and mentally disturb him. He says 'Your wife Mrs. Sruti is
having affairs with some of our team members'. Then he plans to bowl
the next ball. He is sure the batsman will lose his concentration
after hearing the disturbing news. But the Advaiti batsman immediately
knows it is only a trick. He has full faith and trust in his wife's
'Paativratya'. It is impossible for her to do anything like this. He
waits for the next ball undisturbed. Vaadiraaja bowls an out swinger
moving away from the off stump. The batsman elegantly hits it over the
third man boundary for another six.

-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh