[Advaita-l] Did Vyaasa mean Athaato Vishnu Jijnaasaa or Shiva Jijnaasaa?

[Srinath Vedagarbha]

2016-07-18 23:14 GMT-04:00 Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>:

> Namaste
>
> Guru or Vyaasa Poornima is today. We can ask - what is in the mind of
> Brahma Sutra Kaara Vyaasa? Advaita or Vaishnavism or Saivism?
>
> In the Prastaavanaa for the book Madhva Tantra Mukha Mardana it is written
> -
>
> सूत्राणां शिवविष्ण्वादिप्रतिपादकत्वे ’अथातो विष्णुजिञ्जासा’
> ’शिवजिञ्जासा’  इत्येवमेव सूत्रारम्भो भवेत् । न तथा दृश्यते ।
>
> If the Brahma Sutras are describing Vishnu or Siva they should begin
> with Athaato Vishnu Jijnaasaa or Athaato Siva Jijnaasaa. But we are
> not seeing that. We are seeing Athaato Brahma Jijnaasaa. This Brahma
> is the Brahman of the Upanishads.
>
>
Who/What is Brahman?

Shruti itself ask the question 'Why Brahman is called 'Brahman'? ' ataH
kasmAt ucchatyE bhahmEti ? The answer comes from the same shruti 'brihantO
asmin hi guNAha' . That's how idea of Brahman as ananta-guNa pUrNa.

The same idea is echoed in mahA nArayaNa Upanishad's assertion "tad Eva
brahma paramaM kavInaam". It says about deity Who is sarvOttama resting on
the seprpent. At the very end, this Upanishad concludes with assertion 'tad
Eva brahma paramam kavInaam'. Kavi-s (jnyAni-s) call this being only (tad
Eva) as 'paramaM Brahma'. Please note the prefix 'paramaM' in case anyone
were to say such deity is gouNI brahman. Thus, vishNu only is Parabrahma
according to this pramANa.

Also, when it come to the term 'Atma', we have shruti saying AtatatvAchha
mAtrutvAdAtmEti paramO hariH | AtmA bhAsAstadanyE tu na heYtEShAM tatA
guNAH ||

Krishna's direct words in this sense nails the dispute on who is known from
all of shAstra-s -- 'vEdEschha sarvErahamEva vEdyaH'

Not all sUtra-s are about advaitic nirguNa bahman -- for example, second
sUtra is about creation and under advaitic reading this sUtra is talking
about creator gouNI brahman and not nirguNa brhamn.

/sv