[Advaita-l] Whether darkness is bhava - Vivarana Prameya Samgraha of Shri Vidyaranya

[V Subrahmanian]

On Wed, May 8, 2019 at 4:31 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Raghav ji,
>
> in antaryAmI-prakaraNa, prithivI does not refer to astronomical body
> prithivI but to prithivI devatA. That is clear from bhAShya. The prakarana
> is adhidaivta. That is also clear from bhashya. AdhibhUta and adhyAtma come
> subsequently. Therefore, it is clear that one cannot infer darkness from
> the word tamas. You will notice that even 'dik' is enlisted. Therefore, we
> need to find out as to which devata is referred here. That is elaborated in
> Ajatashatru prakarana. There, the devatas are explained. I quote:- दिक्षु
> कर्णयोः हृदि चैका देवता *अश्विनौ* देवाववियुक्तस्वभावौ ..... बाह्ये तमसि
> अध्यात्मं च आवरणात्मकेऽज्ञाने हृदि च एका देवता, तस्या विशेषणम् — *मृत्युः*
> .....  With these references, is it not clear that antarayami-prakarana
> cannot be used to prove existence of tamas as an object like table, chair
> because it is intended for respective devatAs..
>


I think it is reasonable to hold that a devataa can be assigned only when
there is a physical cosmic entity and not otherwise. In the absence of a
positive entity there is no point in assigning a devataa to it. The
ultimate purpose, beyond upasana, is to enable the aspirant to see
chaitanyam everywhere. दश प्राचीर्दर्श दक्षिणा  in the Sri Rudram.  Also,
there are digdevataas.  Even though we might think, and correctly so, that
a direction is only relative, yet, the shaastra sees directions and
sub-directions (upa dik) as a positive, fixed, entity. We get a clue as how
this is in the Taittiriya bhashya:

While explaining 'ayam dakshinah paksha;' (this is the right hand/wing), of
the mantra, Shankara says:  अयं दक्षिणो बाहुः पूर्वाभिमुखस्य दक्षिणः पक्षः ।
  It is south, right side, to a person who is facing the east.

Thus, we know that when we face east, to our right is the south. So, even
though the direction East is relative, yet the loka vyavahara has a
vyavasthaa to have these directions fixed.

regards
subbu

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