[Advaita-l] Tattvabodha of Adi Sankaracharya - 10

[S Jayanarayanan]

 Raghav Kumar Dwivedula raghavkumar00 at gmail.com wrote:
 
> Namaste Jayanarayananji
 
Namaste.
 
> You had written
> "The power of any faculty (hearing etc.) of any
> individual is only limited, both in quality and
> quantity. If one has a limited power, then one
> can infer the possibility of a total power of
> which he/she is a part.
> 
> * So, for each faculty there is a correspond-
> ing total power.
> * Power itself does not have an independent
> function unless there is a wielder of that
> power - for example , seeing power is
> wielded by the seeing person (jIva) and so
> on. Similarly, for the total power, the scrip-
> tures visualized a total power wielder,
> known as presiding deity for that total
> power - the adhiShThAnadevatA - and the sum-
> total of the power of all adhiShThAnadevatA's, is
> the power wielded by the Lord, Iswara or
> Parameswara. The author gives the list of
> the adhiShThAnadevatA's and the faculty that each
> of the devatas presides over."
> 
> That was a lucid explanation about the idea of adhiShThAna devatA. Can you
> please elaborate a little more on this concept?
> 
 
Others would know much better than me. I believe the various Devatas have lordship over their
particular areas - e.g. Varuna for water, Vayu for wind, etc. Ramana Maharshi referred to this
once in the "Talks", #371:
 
 D.: Why are there so many Gods mentioned?
 M.: The body is only one. Still, how many functions are performed
 by it? The source of all the functions is only one. It is in the same
 way with the Gods also.
 
> I was reminded of Pujya Swami Dayananada Saraswati Ji, who would often say
> that individual "laws" or powers that govern the functioning of the cosmos
> at various levels - gross and subtle - represent an "aspect", a partial
> manifestation of Parameshwara, and each aspect is invoked as a devatA viz.,
> Indra , Varuna etc.
> 
 
Sounds perfect!
 
I don't know enough to answer these questions though:
 
> Could you elaborate, for instance, on -
> 1. Can we talk of there being adhiSThAna devatAs for other entities
> encountered in vyavahAra?. Such as planet earth as a whole (prithvI devatA
> surely), hills and mountains (maybe himavAn or some parvata devatA?), viral
> diseases such as small pox, herpes zoster, nCov-19 etc., (maybe various
> female devata-s govern their arising and spreading as per the beliefs in
> vogue in indian folk traditions?).
> 
> 2. What about devatA-s for modern "discoveries" such as the power of
> gravity which is such a huge cosmic determinant of the way things are in
> this physical universe? Is there an adhidaivika aspect viz., a devata for
> gravity?
> 
> 
> 3. If we examine the case of cosmic laws that govern the energetic
> functioning of all stars, then the Sun itself is just a small Star, one
> among billions. So can we assert that this vedic devatA revealed as "sUrya"
> is the wielder of the samaShTi power behind all stars which makes them
> function using fusion etc., the way they do, not only our Sun?
> 
> Warm regards
> 
> Om
> 
> Raghav
> 
> 
 
Regards,
Kartik
 
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, 28 Feb, 2020, 7:38 AM S Jayanarayanan via Advaita-l, <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> 
> > (Continued from previous post)
> >
> >
> > 2.2.1 Organs of Perception (jnAna indriyas)
> >
> > * shrotra.n : Ear (hearing)
> > * tvak : Skin (sense of touch)
> > * chakShuH : Eye (sight)
> > * rasanA : Tongue (taste)
> > * ghrANam : Nose (smell)
> >
> > The power of any faculty (hearing etc.) of any
> > individual is only limited, both in quality and
> > quantity. If one has a limited power, then one
> > can infer the possibility of a total power of
> > which he/she is a part.
> >
> > * So, for each faculty there is a correspond-
> > ing total power.
> > * Power itself does not have an independent
> > function unless there is a wielder of that
> > power - for example , seeing power is
> > wielded by the seeing person (jIva) and so
> > on. Similarly, for the total power, the scrip-
> > tures visualized a total power wielder,
> > known as presiding deity for that total
> > power - the adhiShThAnadevatA - and the sum-
> > total of the power of all adhiShThAnadevatA's, is
> > the power wielded by the Lord, Iswara or
> > Parameswara. The author gives the list of
> > the adhiShThAnadevatA's and the faculty that each
> > of the devatas presides over.
> >
> > shrotrasya digdevatA .
> > tvacho vAyuH .
> > chakShuShaH sUryaH .
> > rasanAyA varuNaH .
> > ghrANasya ashvinau .
> > iti j~nAnendriyadevatAH .
> >
> > * shrotrasya digdevatA . The presiding deity of ear
> > (hearing) is "dik devata" - Quarters (Space).
> > * tvacho vAyuH . Of skin (touch) is Air.
> > * chakShuShaH sUryaH . Of eye (sight) is Surya.
> > * rasanAyA varuNaH . Of tongue (taste) is the Lord
> > of Waters.
> > * ghrANasya ashvinau . Of nose (smell) are the two
> > Aswins.
> > * iti j~nAnendriyadevatAH . Thus are the presiding
> > deities of the sense organs.
> >
> > It should be pointed out that by Waters, Sun
> > etc., we don't mean the gross form of these,
> > but the subtle power behind. Having given the
> > presiding deity over each of the organs of per-
> > ception, the author gives the list of the func-
> > tions of each of these jnAnendriyas.
> >
> > shrotrasya viShayaH shabdagrahaNam .
> > tvacho viShayaH sparshagrahaNam .
> > chakShuSho viShayaH rUpagrahaNam .
> > rasanAyA viShayaH rasagrahaNam .
> > ghrANasya viShayaH gandhagrahaNam iti .
> >
> > * shrotrasya viShayaH shabdagrahaNam . The function of
> > ear is grasping of sound
> > * tvacho viShayaH sparshagrahaNam . The function of
> > skin is perception of touch.
> > * chakShuSho viShayaH rUpagrahaNam . The function of
> > eyes is the perception of forms.
> > * rasanAyA viShayaH rasagrahaNam . The function of
> > tongue is the perception of taste.
> > * ghrANasya viShayaH gandhagrahaNam iti . The function
> > of nose is the perception of smell.
> >
> >
> > (Continued in next post)
> >