[Advaita-l] Ishwara srushti - shruti bhAshya sammata

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

Just returned from a Chinmaya Spiritual camp in Chicago where the texts that were covered were Ishavasya Upanishad and Sundara Kanda of Ramayan.


Ø     IshAvAsyamidaM sarvaM yakinchya jagatyAmjagat says IshAvAshya in the very first mantra shankara’s commentary on this really worth reading.


The invocation sloka - purna madaH purnamidam - introduces first that creation is infinite (idam purnam) and then the Existence-consciousness that I AM (purna adaH) is also infinite and there cannot be two infinities - puurnaat purnam udachyate - from the Pure existence-consciousness that I AM the idam purnam has come out. Here we are not referring to I AM identified with local BMI but pure existence-consciousness - sat chit ananda swaruupa Brahman is the very source of creation too. Since purnam added to or subtracted from I AM, will not affect I AM since infinity plus minus infinity remains as infinity.


Ø     Yes, pUrNAm is always  pUrNam only,  even though pUrNAm originates from pUrNam, pUrNaM remains pUrNaM only…it is because of the simple fact that kArya jagat is nothing but kAraNa in its svarUpa. And kAraNa is not using some part of it to create kArya.


The rest of the Upanishad is an explanation of the above sloka where Isha or Iswra is introduced as the all-pervading reality of the whole universe. There is no vyashTi creating samashTi anywhere. The whole Bri. Upanishad is supposed to be a commentary on this Ishawasya Up.


Ø    And for vyAshti jeeva’s (micro jeeva) sake samashti (macro) provides the stage of this jagat (avidyA saMyukta jeeva)…The ‘purpose’ behind Ishwara srushti is that.  Though from the srushti he does not get any prayOjana since he is AptakAma, nitya trupta.


Rope/snake example is to show the adhyasa aspect of the creation to negate the reality that one assigns. But not to confuse the creation as praatibhaasika satyam - that is the mental projection of the individual Jeeva.


Ø   Individual jeeva cannot / does not have the capacity to create giri, samudra etc.  This nAma rUpa vyAkaraNa sAmathyaM possible ONLY to Ishwara and NOT aneeshvara and samsara jeeva and for that matter even for the siddha yOgi-s / siddha purusha-s who are the custodians of aNimAdi siddhi-s this jagat creation transaction is NOT possible explicitly clarifies bhAshyakAra.  Hence IMHO, the topic : bhrAnta jeeva srushti vAda or prAtibhAsika vastu utpatti vAda not eligible to even consider for any meaningful debate.   Better to be ignored as nAstika vAda or aneeshvara vAda.



However in both sRishTi-dRishTi or dRishTi-sRishTi - there is drashtaa - or seer. Hence we need to look at the validity of the seer before one evaluates the validity of the seen. Since mind itself is inert we have to come to grips with the all-pervading consciousness or Orignal consciousness (OC), the mind (the reflecting medium RM) and the reflected consciousness (RC or chidaabhasa). Then who is the real seer among these? OC cannot see, RM cannot see, and RC cannot exist without out OC and RC. Without the seer the seen cannot be established, even thought seer is not creating seen and then seeing it.


Ø     I was just wondering whether these two viewpoints  DSV and SDV particularly mentioned by bhAshyakAra when it comes to srushti prakriya!!?? I don’t think so.  Only prakaraNa grantha-s like yOga vAshishta, vyAkhyAna grantha-s and some stretched interpretation (like brahman’s Ekshata has been attributed to individual jeeva etc.) of bhAshya vAkya we can find DSV.  And seeing the danger of attributing this srushti to jeeva / saMsAri / vyashti bhAshyakAra  mUla bhAshyakAra explicitly denies the possibility of any srushti from aneeshvara jeeva, bhrAnta saMsAri jeeva, pradhAna, aNu, etc.  And reiterated what is vedAnta saMpradAya,  what SARVA VEDANTA says with regard to srushti and what is vedAnta maryAda when it comes to srushti prakriya.  It is brahman only, Ishwara only the jagat kAraNa and NOT the jeeva / saMsAri.  When bhAshyakAra particulary list the saMsAri jeeva in the list along with aNu pradhAna etc. we are showing the ‘uddhatatana’ to even ignore the bhAshyakAra’s verdict just to float the pet theory of jeeva bhrAnta srushti or saMsAri srushti of giri / samudra etc.


The vyaavarika satyam is more like the sunrise and the sunset example and is perceived even after knowing it is not really real - since it is not individual creation but Iswara's creation. This aspect of Iswra Creation is beautifully explained in the Iswavasya Upanishad. The definition of Iswara is best described in Mudaka Up. Ch. 1 sloka 9 after giving three examples of how creation is starting with spider example.


Ø     And somany other places as well.  Even though we consider rise and set of sun is our own srushti due to jnAnAbhAva i.e. sun neither rises nor sets, The existence of sun itself is NOT our bhrAnta srushti he is brahman itself.  A vishesha darshana of that nirivikAri, nirvishesha, niravayava brahman.


Planning to write more of what I have learned at the camp - starting with Sundara Kanda.


Ø     Kindly do that prabhuji to educate the bhrAnta jeeva-s like us ☺


Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar