[Advaita-l] Vaadiraaja Teertha's Yuktimallika - Advaita Criticism - Slokas 1-511 to 1-524

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Praveen ji,


On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 1:28 PM, Praveen R. Bhat via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
> > Sri vAdirAja's question is if the pramANa viShaya is
> > vyAvahArikam, it is by definition bAdhyam upon brahma jnAna.
>
> ​Upon brahmajnAna, except for vastu, everything is bAdhya. Ergo, Vadiraja's
> questioning prAmANya is invalid after jnAnotpatti. Its valid only in
> vyavahArakAla. Thence...
>
> Yes agreed.

>
> > pramANa
> > according to advaitins is abAdhitArtha viShayatvam,
>
> I would say that such definition means anya pramANena
> abAdhitArtha-viShayatvam/ abAdhitArthabodhanaparatvam. This includes
> Ishvara, higher lokas such as svarga, etc, and their means such as
> agnihotra, etc, and several other means such as putrakAmeShTi, yajna for
> rains, etc. Another way Vedas are talked about that they are alaukikopAya
> for laukikaphala.
>

That abAdhitArthabodhanaparatvam / anadhigatatvam is a key condition for
something to be a pramANa is something I am in agreement with. However, the
visheShaNa of anya pramANena in abAdhitArtha viShayatva lakshaNa is a bit
problematic as it leads to ativyApti in several instances, e.g. shukti
rajata jnAna. One sees shell silver first, and through pratyaksha itself
(ie not anya pramANa) viShaya bAdha happens.

>
> Interestingly, I found an argument similar to Vadiraja's dismissed so here
> < >,
> with your specific supplementation of the argument:
>
> प्रश्न - यदि अद्वैत वाद वेदों का प्रामाण्य स्वीकार करता है तो वेदों के
> कार्मकाण्ड प्रतिपाद्य विषय को बाधित मानता है या अबाधित। यदि बाधित मानता है
> तब तो उसका अप्रामाण्य स्वीकार करना हुआ और यदि अबाधित मानता है तो
> द्वैतापत्ति होगी।
>
> उत्तर - वेदों का प्रामाण्य फलवान निश्चित अर्थ के बोधन में है, परमार्थ
> अबाधितार्थ के बोधन में नहीं है। इसलिए कर्मकाण्ड-प्रतिपाद्य विषय बाधित होने
> पर भी वेद का अप्रामाण्य नहीं हो सकता।
>
> While both phalavatvam and asandigdha viShayakatvam are necessary
conditions for pramANa, they are not sufficient (there is ativyApti in
dehAtma aikya bhrama for example), the viShaya has to be abAdhitam too.

In the strictest interpretation of this rule, the only pramANas are shruti
vAkyas that have Brahman as their viShayam, because their artha is
abAdhitam.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan