[Advaita-l] Question about Sri Vidyaranya's JMV & jnani matra

[Anand Hudli]

On Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 10:25 PM Praveen R. Bhat via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>

> Namaste Anandji,
>
> Its always a pleasure to read your mails. Thanks for these. May I ask a
> couple of questions in a tangent to the thread subject?
>
> On Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 6:45 PM Anand Hudli via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > In this
> > case, the destruction of threads that make the cloth is the cause of the
> > destruction of the cloth.
> >
> Isn't the immediate cause of destruction of the cloth the viyoga between
> threads or is that destruction of threads itself?

>>
Likewise, I like reading your messages very much, Praveenji. Sorry for the
delayed response.

To clear up the confusion, in the cloth destruction example, the
destruction being alluded to is the burning of the cloth as a result of the
burning of the threads. Although, saMyoga of the threads is considered a
cause, to be precise asamavAyi kAraNa, by nyAya, it is not considered for
the purposes of this particular destruction example.
 >>

>
>
>
> > He cites a vArtika, "tasmAt phalapravRttasya yAgAdeH
> > shaktimAtrakam| utpattAvapi pashvAderapUrvaM na tataH pRthak||", where
> even
> > after the destruction (end) of a yAga, it persists in its
> > sUkShma-avasthArUpa as apUrvawhich is accepted as carrying out the
> > accomplishment of the results of the yAga.
> >
> Do we accept apUrva as defined by Purvamimamsakas? What is its locus then?

>>
The brahmasUtrabhAShya of Shankara does not seem to consider apUrva as
having phala-dAtRtva, but note Shankara's words in the bhAShya for 3.2.41
(पूर्वं तु बादरायणो हेतुव्यपदेशात् ), केवलात्कर्मणः अपूर्वाद्वा केवलात्
फलमित्ययं पक्षः तुशब्देन व्यावर्त्यते. The bhAmatikAra too summarizes by
saying, devtArAdhanAt phalaM na tvApUrvAt karmaNo vA kevalAt. They seem to
be saying that fruits of actions cannot be granted by Apurva or karma
*alone*, thereby not ruling out the case where Ishvara is the adhiShThAna
for Apurva. In fact, this is made clear in the gItA-bhAShya 3.14-15, where
Shankara says yajna is Apurva and goes on say that such yajna/Apurva is the
result of activities of the Rtviks and yajamAna. These activities are
prescribed in the Veda, which itself arises from Brahman. Hence, we may
conclude that Apurva, though an unintelligent entity has an intelligent
entity, Ishvara as its adhiShThAna.

Anand