[Advaita-l] Brihad Aranyaka 1.5.23

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Hari Om,

I had gone through the Vartika and Tika before posting the question. I did
not find answer to my question. Hence the post.

Regards.
Sudhanshu.

On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 12:01 PM H S Chandramouli <hschandramouli at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Namaste Sudhanshu Ji,
>
> Reg  << In this regard, please share your views on 1.5.23 >>,
>
> The vArtika of Sri Swami Sureswaracharya covers the BU mantra 1-5-23. You
> may like to refer to BUBV verses 1-5-376 to 390. The tIka of Sri Anandagiri
> Acharya also, both on the Bhashya as well as on the relevant vArtika
> portion, may be referred. In fact I think it directly addresses the
> question raised by you.
> Regards
>
> On Mon, May 13, 2019 at 2:41 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> Hari Om,
>>
>> It is a well-known rule that if there is a prima facie contradiction
>> between Shruti and pratyaksha, then it is to be inferred that Shruti
>> intends to say something else.
>>
>> In this connection, I was struggling with the intended meaning of Brihad
>> Aranyak Shruti 1.5.23. It states that sun goes to VAyu in evening during
>> sunset. In Adhyatma, the chakShu (counterpart of sun) goes to PrAna
>> (counterpart of VAyu).
>>
>> The topic is for upAsanA of PrAna.
>>
>> However, the merger of chakShu in PrAna is an empirical fact whereas
>> merger
>> of sun in VAyu is not an objective fact. Nothing happens to sun in
>> evening.
>> It remains where it is and where it was. Sunrise and sunset are said with
>> respect to earth and are to be understood in a secondary sense.
>>
>> How to resolve this contradiction?
>>
>> If we were to say that it is an adhidaivata sun which is talked about,
>> then
>> is it true that Surya merges with Vayu devata in *evening *and during
>> *sunset?
>> *This should not be so for He is available for other people of same earth.
>>
>> If it is neither physical sun which merges in VAyu nor Surya devatA, then
>> how exactly should we understand the reference of merger of sun in vAyu in
>> evening during sunset.
>>
>> If we were to hold that the statement can make sense for the purposes of
>> upAsana, then my question is whether we can do the upAsana with a
>> factually
>> wrong statement. Will we get requisite shraddhA. The upAsanA should also
>> be
>> logical. For e.g. in Brahma Sutra BhAShya, BhagvAn BhAShyakAra says that
>> there is nothing illogical in worshipping omnipresent at a particular
>> localized place but the vice versa cannot be proper.  अत्रोच्यते —
>> नायंदोषः
>> न तावत्परिच्छिन्नदेशस्य सर्वगतत्वव्यपदेशःकथमप्युपपद्यते सर्वगतस्य तु
>> सर्वदेशेषुविद्यमानत्वात्परिच्छिन्नदेशव्यपदेशोऽपि कयाचिदपेक्षया सम्भवति.
>> (1.2.7)
>>
>> Thus, it appears that upAsanA cannot be recommended by way of factually
>> wrong statement. It can be, however, recommended through statements having
>> figurative usage.
>>
>> In this regard, please share your views on 1.5.23.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Sudhanshu.
>>
>> --
>> Joint Commissioner of Income-tax,
>> Pune
>>
>> sudhanshushekhar.wordpress.com
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-- 
Joint Commissioner of Income-tax,
Pune

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