[Advaita-l] Different prakriya-s in one place - Brahma sutra bhashyam 2.3.46

[V Subrahmanian]

Different prakriya-s in one place - Brahma sutra bhashyam 2.3.46

In the Brahmasutra bhashya 2.3.46, Shankara mentions four distinct
'vaada-s' (prakriya-s) to drive home the point that the jiva is not really
a samsarin.  The four prakriya-s, analogies, are pointed out by Sri
Sringeri Kavi Narasimha Bhatta in his preface to his Kannada translation
(1999) of the 'Panchapadika' of Sri Padmapadacharya.

The author calls the four prakriyas 1. upaadhi-vaada, 2. avaccheda vaada
and 3. pratibimba vaada. 4. Brahma bhaava vaada. The four are distinctly
shown in the following bhashya passage thus:

1. यथा प्रकाशः सौरश्चान्द्रमसो वा वियद्व्याप्य अवतिष्ठमानः
अङ्गुल्याद्युपाधिसम्बन्धात् तेषु ऋजुवक्रादिभावं प्रतिपद्यमानेषु
तत्तद्भावमिव प्रतिपद्यमानोऽपि न परमार्थतस्तद्भावं प्रतिपद्यते,
[Just as, when the light emitted by the sun or the moon pervades the entire
firmament, upon one interfering with his vision by poking a finger at the
eye, etc. the light appears to take on varied shapes even though no such
variation really takes place in the light...]

2. यथा च आकाशो घटादिषु गच्छत्सु गच्छन्निव विभाव्यमानोऽपि न परमार्थतो
गच्छति,
[just as ether appears to move when the pot, etc. are moved, yet in truth
ether moves not...]

3. यथा च उदशरावादिकम्पनात्तद्गते सूर्यप्रतिबिम्बे कम्पमानेऽपि न
तद्वान्सूर्यः कम्पते —

[just as when the water pot, saucer, etc. is shaken, the sun's reflection
in the water there appears to shake even as the sun does not shake...]

एवमविद्याप्रत्युपस्थापिते बुद्ध्याद्युपहिते जीवाख्ये अंशे दुःखायमानेऽपि न
तद्वानीश्वरो दुःखायते । जीवस्यापि दुःखप्राप्तिरविद्यानिमित्तैवेत्युक्तम् ।

4. Brahma bhaava vaada:

तथा च अविद्यानिमित्तजीवभावव्युदासेन *ब्रह्मभावमेव *जीवस्य प्रतिपादयन्ति
वेदान्ताः — ‘ तत्त्वमसि’ इत्येवमादयः । तस्मान्नास्ति जैवेन दुःखेन परमात्मनो
दुःखित्वप्रसङ्गः ॥ ४६ ॥

  ...as in the above analogies, even when the jiva, limited by the
avidya-projected adjunct (upadhi) of the intellect, buddhi, experiences
misery, Ishwara (Brahman, whose upadhi the buddhi is) does not undergo
misery.. It has been said (in the foregoing, in the Brahma sutra bhashya)
that even for the jiva, experience of misery is due to avidya. Therefore
the Upanishads, by setting aside the avidya-caused jiva-bhaava, establish
brahma-bhaava for the jiva through the passages such as 'tat tvam asi'.
Thus there is no way Brahman is afflicted by the misery of the jiva.

Note: The author chose to name as a separate vaada even the Brahma bhaava,
perhaps because in the absolute sense, jiva is brahman alone and even the
'bhaava' suffix would be redundant then.

Om Tat Sat
subbu