[Advaita-l] Shankara and DrishTi-SrishTi vAda - eka jeeva vaada

[Anand Hudli]

>If vAkyajnAna is unnecessary does it not mean that vAkya itself is
>superfluous and unnecessary? It could as well be substituted by just a pada
>(पद ). In other words according to your statement mahAvAkya itself is
>superfluous and unnecessary. So where is the question of Guru giving its
>upadEsha? This is what I meant in my above first cited quote.

This is my response to a general objection/doubt regarding "tattvamasi"
mahAvAkya in the context of DSV/EJV. If the main pada is "tvam", what
happens to "tat" and "asi". Do they become redundant? If they indeed become
redundant, what happens to the upadesha by the Guru? Does it mean upadesha
by Guru is not required?! This is the doubt.

MadhusUdana Sarasvati has dealt with this vexing question in his siddhAnta
bindu. He says, "mahAvAkye ca
tatpadamanantasatyAdipadavadajnAnAnupahitacaitanyasya
lakShaNayopasthApakamiti." In the context of DSV/EJV, the "tat" pada
denotes the anupahita caitanya, the shuddha caitanya with no upAdhis
(delimiters). This denotation is exactly like the denotation by implication
(lakShyArtha) of words such as "satyam", "jnAnam", "anantam". These words
imply anupahita Brahman by implication.

What happens in an SDV type of upadesha is this. The "tat" pada is
the upahita Brahman, i.e. Brahman endowed with qualities such as
"sarvajnatva", etc., to be equated to the jIva. This is possible through
the well known method of jahadajahallakShaNa, where the upAdhis of both
Ishvara and the jIva are eliminated. A classic example cited in the
vivekacUDAmaNi is the equation of king=soldier. The kingdom is the upAdhi
of the king, while the shield is the upAdhi of the soldier. When the
upAdhis are eliminated, there is neither king nor soldier. rAjyaM
narendrasya bhaTasya kheTakastayorapohe na bhaTo na rAjA.

What happens in a DSV/EJV type of upadesha is this. The "tat" pada is not
upahita Brahman but anupahita Brahman, the shuddha caitanya Itself. The
jahadajahallakShaNa method is applied only to the "tvam" pada and the
inquirer (sAdhaka) is told "you yourself are the creator of all this,
having created all this as in a dream". However, your real nature is
shuddha caitanya - tat tvam asi.

Anand