[Advaita-l] A 5th Century AD view of Vedanta (Some Comments)

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

* The translators opinion is that Bhavya has taken his understanding of 
Vedanta from Gaudapada acharya.  The date for Gaudapadacharya is usually 
taken from the statement of Shankaracharya that he is his paramaguru 
(Guru's Guru.)  The date for Shankaracharya is held to be 788-820 AD.  So 
Gaudapadacharya would be two generations before that, maybe circa 700-730 
AD.  However the scholarly estimate of Bhavya's date is 480-570 AD.  Even 
if we take the most recent end of that range (and it is more likely to be 
the earlier end), it is still long before.  Which would mean either

1. The date for Gaudapadacharya has to be moved back therefore the date 
for Shankaracharya does too.

2.  The date for Gaudapadacharya has to be moved backed and Shankaracharya 
cannot literally have him as paramaguru.  (Maybe the term is just used to 
mean a venerated elder in the parampara.)

3. Bhavyas source is not Gaudapadacharya.  The Mandukya karikas views seem 
similar only because they were established arguments and examples in the 
tradition.

Personally I think 3 is more plausible.

* It is clear that for Bhavya Vedanta means only Advaita Vedanta.

* It seems that early Vedantins often prefered the term Purusha not 
Brahman.  Indeed other early authors often refer to Vedanta as 
Purushavada.  However is is also crystal clear that Brahman as we 
understand it is meant not the inert Purusha of Samkhya.  It would be 
interesting to read Bhavyas chapter on Samkhya (which I have not seen) to 
see if he grasps the difference.

* The Purusha is described as Maheshvara.  In another place the highest 
place is described as Achyuta (i.e. Vishnu) Padam.  This shows that bhakti 
was a component of Vedanta from early times and those Vedantins were not 
sectarian.

* The Vedantic practitioner is called a Yogin.  However according to the 
translator this might be an artifact from the Tibetan translation.  On the 
hand in shloka 8, the Purusha is said to possess the the yogic siddhis 
such as anima, mahima, laghima etc.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>