[Advaita-l] apUrva in vedAnta

[Anand Hudli]

On Sun, Apr 7, 2019 at 1:45 PM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Anand ji
> Apologies for intruding but I was reminded of the following passage from
> Kena ३.१२
>
> बीजक्षेत्रसंस्कारपरिरक्षाविज्ञानवत्कर्त्रपेक्षफलं कृष्यादि,
> विज्ञानवत्सेव्यबुद्धिसंस्कारापेक्षफलं च सेवादि । यागादेः
> कर्मणस्तथाविज्ञानवत्कर्त्रपेक्षफलत्वानुपपत्तौ
> कालान्तरफलत्वात्कर्मदेशकालनिमित्तविपाकविभागज्ञबुद्धिसंस्कारापेक्षं फलं
> भवितुमर्हति, सेवादिकर्मानुरूपफलज्ञसेव्यबुद्धिसंस्कारापेक्षफलस्येव ।
> तस्मात्सिद्धः सर्वज्ञ ईश्वरः सर्वजन्तुबुद्धिकर्मफलविभागसाक्षी
> सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा ।
>
> Can we say that this idea of sevyabuddhi saMskAra of Ishvara is a suitably
> modified idea of the apUrva of the mImAmsakas? Given that both (apUrva and
> Ishvara's samskAra ) represent a kind of avyakta entity which is a
> necessary intermediate entity to connect karma and karmaphala across time,
> space and even possibly  janma)?
>

Yes, this Ishvara saMskAra is similar to the sUkShma-avasthA of the yAga,
as described by Madhusudana in the advaitasiddhi. Jaimini's view is that
Dharma bestows the results of karma, vide BrahmasUtra 3.2.40 (dharmaM
jaiminirata eva). jaiministvAchAryo dharmaM phalasya dAtAraM manyate, says
Shankara. However, this view can also be reconciled with the advaita view
of Ishvara being the phaladAtA, because we have sayings such as, "rAmo
vigrahavAn dharmaH". Ishvara is the embodiment of dharma.

Anand