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

[V Subrahmanian]

एको देव: सर्वभूतेषु गूढ: सर्वव्यापि सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा |
कर्माध्यक्ष: सर्वभूताधिवास: साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च ||

The above mantra can be explained thus:

Ekaḥ  - One without a second of his own kind  Nirguna Brahman

Devaḥ - Effulgent one, Chitsvarūpam.  The Chandogya 6th chapter has the
word 'devatā' to denote Brahman.  Nirguna Brahman

सर्वभूतेषु गूढ:  - yo veda nihitam guhāyām parame vyoman   is nirguna
brahman

सर्वव्यापि   - All pervading.   Nirguna Brahman

सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा  - This is also antaryāmī, the pratyagātmā, NB

कर्माध्यक्ष:  The witness of all actions of all jivas.  In Advaita it is
mere sākśimātram, a passive presence and not any active doer like taking
down statistics. NB

सर्वभूताधिवास:   The Sat svarūpam inhering in all b beings See BGB 2.16 Sat
in pot, cloth, etc. सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा is for living beings who have atmā. NB

साक्षी - mere witness See Adhyasa bhashya last lines.  चेता The sentience
provider, by merely being present. सविता प्रकाशते (not प्रकाशयति)  NB.
 केवलः  One only without a second of any kind. This is different from
Ekaḥ.  NB.  nirguṇaḥ: devoid of any attribute.

Whatever attributes that can be posited on Brahman as 'ananta kalyāna guna
gaṇa nidhi/ or guṇa pūrṇa is ONLY with relation to the world or jivas.
Without being related to the world/jivas, Brahman can never be said to have
any guṇa whatsoever.  In other words, Brahman has to depend on prakṛti to
have even a single guṇa.

In BSB 'tadadhīnatvādarthavat' Shankara says: we have to admit that latent
power (like the pradhāna of the sānkhyas), for without that power, the
Vedāntic Brahman can not even be the creator.

So, the fundamental requirement of being a creator needs prakṛti, what to
say of all other guṇas!

vs











On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 1:58 PM, Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste
> Ekatva, Devatva, Sarvajnatva and so on can be attributes of Ishwara
> but not Para Brahman is my understanding. That Para Brahman is
> described by Na Antah Prajnam Mantra of Mandukya Sruti.
>
> On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 10:09 AM, Bhaskar YR via Advaita-l
> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> > I'm not sure how you can take ekatva, devatva etc. as attributes. These
> are not features that Brahman is endowed with, these are Brahman's inherent
> nature.
> >
> > praNAms Sri Venkataraghavan prabhuji
> > Hare Krishna
> >
> > Very interesting observation.  May I understand here from your above
> statement  that devatva (karmAdhyakshatva, sarvajnatva, sarvashaktitva
> etc.) are inherent nature of  (para) brahman ??  what are the other
> attributes  adhyArOpita on brahman in that case??  Not for debate just
> curious to know your explanation.
> >
> > Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> > Bhaskar
> >
> >
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>
> --
> Regards
>
> -Venkatesh
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