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

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Raghav ji,

Your question is a rather difficult one to answer.

I was wondering whether it is  tenable to hold that there were other
earlier  *Advaita vedAnta* Acharyas who held positions different from Sri
Shankara? (This is different from just saying that there are vedAnta
Acharyas before Shankara.)

Pre-Sankara vedAnta teachers held in great esteem by SankarAchArya like
upavarSha, Tanka, drAviDAchArya, etc. are considered as advaitins by
advaitins, vishiShTAdvaitins by the followers of rAmAnuja and bhedAbheda
vAdins by the followers of bhAskara. Their original views are known to us
today only through the quotations in the works of SankarAchArya, rAmAnuja
and bhAskara. Therefore, classifying them as belonging to any one school is
quite tricky. In certain instances, the views of some of these teachers as
presented by rAmAnuja and bhAskara are different from Sankara's, but is
that a case of their interpretation being different or are their views
different in substance? We are increasingly sliding towards subjectivity
and speculation in attempting to answer the question.

Coming to maNDana miSra - we can be fairly certain that his views were
different from Sankara in some respects. His view is classified as
bhAvAdvaita, which is considered an ekadesha mata of advaita. According to
him, upon moksha, the world is sublated, leaving Brahman as the only thing
existent - that is, there is only one bhAvarUpa padArtha (hence
bhAva-advaita). However, he says that when the world is sublated, it leaves
behind many absences, abhAvarUpa padArtha-s - Each absence corresponding to
a particular object in the world.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan