[Advaita-l] A Vaishnava Acharya's welcome logic

[V Subrahmanian]

Extract from the commentary by Svāmī Rāmabhadrācārya

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambhadracharya

 on BG 18.41 (brāhmaṇakṣatriyaviśāṃ ...): Rāmabhadrācārya, Jagadguru
Rāmānandācārya Svāmī (1998). Śrīmadbhagavadgītā
saṃskṛtahindīśrīrāghavakṛpābhāṣyasahitā. Volume II. Citrakūṭa:
Śrītulasīpīṭhasevānyāsa. pp. 471, 504–505 -

The Vaishnava Acharya says about the four varna-s being assigned four
body-parts of Bhagavan as their source:

वस्तुतस्तु व्यापकोऽयं परमोदारो हिन्दूधर्मापरपर्यायः सनातनो नो वैदिको धर्मः।
अत्र वर्णव्यवस्था शास्त्रीया किन्तु नेयं परस्परद्वेषहेतुः। अत्र हि
वैदिकोऽयं मन्त्रवर्णो मयोदाह्रियते यं शातपथा धूपार्थं विनियुञ्जते—

ब्रा॒ह्म॒णो॒ऽस्य॒ मुख॑मासीद्बा॒हू रा॑ज॒न्यः॑ कृ॒तः।

ऊ॒रू तद॑स्य॒ यद्वैश्य॑ः प॒द्भ्या शू॒द्रो अ॑जायत॥

(शु॰य॰वा॰मा॰ ३१.११)

//भगवत आनन्दमयत्त्वात्तस्य सर्वाङ्गाणां पावनत्वेन मुखस्योत्कृष्टत्वं
पदयोश्चापकृष्टत्वं इति तु वक्तुं न शक्यते। //

[Since Bhagavan is Anandamaya, embodiment of Bliss, his entire body-parts
being pure, it cannot be said that his mouth is exalted and the feet are
lowly.]

In the Hindi translation of the above it is said: भगवान् के सभी अङ्ग
आनन्दमय हैं इसलिए मुख से उत्पन्न हुए ब्राह्मण की अपेक्षा चरण से उत्पन्न हुआ
शूद्र अपवित्र है यह कहना अत्यन्त भ्रम है।

[Bhagavan's all body-parts are Bliss, anandamaya. Therefore it is complete
delusion to say that 'compared to the pure Brahmana who has come from the
mouth of the Lord, the shudra who has come from the feet of the Lord is
impure'.]

This logic is welcome and applies with full force to the following:

https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/poor-srihari/

In the svarga khaṇḍa (62.2-7) there is this imagery of identifying the
various Purāṇa-s with the various body-parts of Viṣṇu:

ब्राह्मं मूर्धा हरेरेव ह्रदयं पद्मसंज्ञकम्॥
वैष्णवं दक्षिणो बाहुः शैवं वामो महेशितुः । ऊरू भागवतं प्रोक्तं नाभिः
स्यान्नारदीयकम्॥
मार्कण्डेयं च दक्षांघ्रिर्वामो ह्याग्नेयमुच्यते । भविष्यं दक्षिणो
जानुर्विष्णोरेव महात्मन: ॥
ब्रह्मवैवर्तसंज्ञं तु वामजानुरुदाहृतः। लैङ्गं तु गुल्फकं दक्षं वाराहं
वामगुल्फकम् ॥
स्कान्दं पुराणं लोमानि त्वगस्य वामनं स्मृतम् । कौर्मं पृष्ठं समाख्यातं
मात्स्यं मेदः प्रकीर्तितम् ॥
मज्जा तु गारुडं प्रोक्तं ब्रह्माण्डमस्थि गीयते । एवमेवाभवद्विष्णुः
पुराणावयवो हरिः ॥
(- पद्मपुराण, स्वर्गखण्ड , ६२।२-७)

[Brahma Purāṇa is said to be the ‘forehead’ of Śrī Hari, the Padma Purāṇa
is said to be the ‘heart’ of Śrī Hari, theViṣṇu Purāṇa is said to be the
‘right arm’ of Śrī Hari. The Śiva Purāṇa is said to be the ‘left arm’ of
Śrī Hari. The Śrīmad Bhāgavata is said to be his ‘thigh’, the Nārada Purāṇa
is said to be his ‘navel’, The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa is said to be his
‘right-foot’. The Agni Purāṇa is said to be his ‘left foot’, the Bhaviṣya
Purāṇa is said to be his ‘right-knee’, the Brahma Vaivrata Purāṇa is said
to be his ‘left-knee’. The Liṅga Purāṇa is said to be his ‘right ankle’,
the Varāha Purāṇa is said to be his ‘left ankle’, the Skanda Purāṇa is said
to be the hair on the body of Śrī Hari’.  The Vāmana Purāṇa is said to be
his ‘skin’. The Kūrma Purāṇa is said to be his ‘back’. The Matsya Purāṇa is
said to be his ‘stomach’. The Garuḍa Purāṇa is said to be his
‘bone-marrow’. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa is said to be his ‘bone’.
[Padma Purāṇa, svarga khaṇḍa (62.2-7)]

A fall out of the above:  [Read the full article in the above link]

However, when one attempts to identify some purāṇa-s in the above imagery
as ‘tāmasa’, then the tragic scenario unfolds.When all those body-parts of
Śrī Hari that are identified with those particular tāmasa purāṇa-s, then
the unfortunate, unpleasant and unavoidable situation of those body-parts
being tāmasic arises. While the very purpose of taking up this
‘puraṇa-form’ is to enable an aspirant to worship, contemplate, the Lord as
endowed with loveable, adorable, body-parts, the purāṇa classification into
sattva, rajas and tamas, plays spoilsport. The damage is not yet over.
Since it is admitted by those who subscribe to this tri-classification that
even the so-called sattva purāṇa-s are not entirely sattva but have their
quota of tamas, there is no way that even a single body-part of Śrī Hari is
not ‘cancerous’. The only solace, if at all, is that while some parts that
are matched with sattva purāṇa-s are ‘benign’, the rest of the parts are
‘malignant.’ Such is the pitiable state the Lord Śrī Hari stands reduced to
by the protagonists of the purāṇa-tri-classification.

In this scenario, the logic stated by the Vaishnava Acharya that //'Bhagavan's
all body-parts are Bliss, anandamaya. Therefore it is complete delusion to
say that 'compared to the pure Brahmana who has come from the mouth of the
Lord, the shudra who has come from the feet of the Lord is impure'//
applies to the unvedic idea of classification of Puranas as sattva, etc.
and exposes the untenability of such a classification.

Om Tat Sat