[Advaita-l] Shankara Digvijaya Sara - part 12

[jaldhar at braincells.com]

vyāsadarśanādicaritavarṇanamnāma saptama sargaḥ ||7||
Canto 7:  An Account of the Darśana of Vyāsa and Other Stories

73| sa jātu śarīrakasūtrabhāṣyamadhyāpayannabhrasaritsamīpe |
śiṣyāliśaṅkāḥ śamayannuvāsa yāvannabhomadhyamito vivasvān ||1||

73. One cloudless day, he [i.e. Śaṅkara] was teaching the Śarīrakasūtrabhāṣya 
on the river bank.  He cleared all the doubts of the disciples teaching out of 
compassion until the sun rose to its zenith.(1)

(The foundational text of the Vedānta darṣana, is called the Brahma Sūtra or 
sūtras that deal with Brahman.  It is also known as Śarīraka Sūtra because it 
is the key to liberation for embodied beings.  For the one who is unshakable 
in the knowledge that he is not the body there is actually no need for any 
Śāstra.)

74| śrānteṣvathādhītya śanairvineyeṣvācārya uttiṣṭhati yāvadeṣaḥ |
tavadddvijaḥ kaścana vṛdddharūpaḥ kastvaṁ kimadhyāpayasītyapṛcchat ||2||

74. Exhausted by their studies, the disciples had grown listless so the 
teacher stopped the class.  Then an elderly Brāhmaṇa asked him, “Who are you 
and what are you teaching?”(2)

75| śiṣyāstamūcurbhagavānsau naḥ guruḥ samastopaniṣatsvatantraḥ |
anena dūrīkṛtabhedavādamakāri śarīrakasūtrabhāṣyam ||3||

75. The disciples replied, “This is our guru who we consider as Bhagavān. He 
has established the complete system of the Upaniṣads, destroying the theory of 
difference, in his Śarīrakasūtrabhāṣya.”(3)

(There have been many who have attempted to interpret the Upaniṣads but unless 
they understand their message to be non-difference or non-duality their 
understanding is incomplete.)

76| papṛccha so'dhyāyamathādhikṛtya tṛtīyamārambhagataṁ yatīśam |
tadantaretyādikamasti sūtraṁ brūhyetadarthaṁ yadi vettha kiñcit ||6||

76. [The elderly Brāhmaṇa] asked the one who is qualified to teach [i.e. 
Śaṅkara], “Lord of Monks, at the beginning of the third [adhyāya of the 
Brahma Sūtra] is found the sūtra ‘In order to...’ etc. Explain the meaning if 
you have understood it.”(6)

(A sūtra is extremely terse and almost impossible to understand without a 
commentary.  The full text of Brahmasūtra 3.1.1 is "In order to acquire 
[another physical body, the Atman] goes enclosed [in a subtle body.]  [This is
known] from the questions and answers.")

77| sa prāha jīvaḥ karaṇāvasāde saṁveṣṭito gacchati bhūtasūkṣmaiḥ |
tāṇḍiśrutau gautamajaivalīya praśnottarābhyāṁ prathito'yamarthaḥ ||7||

77. He [i.e. Śaṅkara] responded, “when the Ātman leaves the physical body 
after death it goes on to the next birth merely clothed in the subtle body. 
This is explained in the Tāṇḍi Śruti in the questions and answers between 
Gautama and Jaivalī.”(7)

(There were certain thinkers who were prepared to admit that the Ātman is not 
the same as the physical or sthūla body but argued that it is the same as the 
sūkṣma or subtle body.  This sūtra refutes that view as Śaṅkarāchārya 
explains.  The conversation in question and answer form between Ṛṣis Gautama 
and Jaivalī can be found in Chandogyopaniṣad 5.3.3. Chandogyopaniṣad can also 
be called Tāṇḍi Śruti because it forms part of the Tāṅḍya Brāhmaṇa (which was 
seen by Taṇḍi Ṛṣi) of the Kauthuma Śākā of the Sāma Veda. Chandogya means 
"belonging to the sāma-singers".)


78| evaṁ vadantau yatirāṅdvijendrau vilokya pārśvasthitapadmapādaḥ |
ācāryamāheti mahīsuro'yaṁ vyāso hi vedāntarahasyavettā ||10||

78. Observing the debate between the monk and the Brāhmaṇa, it occurred to 
Padmapāda, that this Brāhmaṇa is none other than the teacher Vyāsa who has 
understood the mysteries of Vedānta.(10)

(Veda Vyāsa in order to test Śaṅkarāchārya, took up the incorrect position and 
began to debate vigorously.  Observing the quality of his arguments, Padmapāda 
as Sanandana was now known, realized the elderly Brāhmaṇas true identity.)

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>