[Advaita-l] Shankara Digvijaya Sara - part 16

[jaldhar at braincells.com]

It took longer than I had expected but I'm back.

śrīmadācāryamaṇḍanamiśrasaṁvādaḥ ||8||
Canto 8: The conversation between Śrīmadācārya and Maṇḍana Miśra

95| atha pratasthe bhagavānprayāgāttaṁ maṇḍanaṁ paṇḍitamāśu jetum |
gacchansvasṛtyā puramāluloke māhiṣmatīṁ maṇḍanamaṇḍitāṁ saḥ ||1||

95. Now Bhagavān [i.e. Śaṅkara] having left Prayāga wishing to meet Paṇḍita 
Maṇḍana, quickly reached the city of Māhiṣmatī adorned by Maṇḍana.(1)

(There seems to be a lot of confusion about exactly where Māhiṣmatī is 
located. Some suggestions include Kashmir, Bihar, Karnataka and just south of 
Delhi. It seems to me the area with the best claim is modern Madhya 
Pradesh though even there as well there are several plausible candidates.)

96| praphullarājīvavane vihārī taraṅgariṅgatkaṇaśījarārdraḥ |
revāmarutkampitasālamālaḥ śramāpahṛdbhāṣyakṛtaṁ siṣeve ||3||

96. The cool breezes of the river Revā which is decorated by groves of 
blooming lotuses, which makes the tall trees on the riverbanks sway, blew and 
sprayed water on the Commentator [i.e. Śaṅkara] refreshing him.(3)

(Revā is another name for the Narmadā river which further strengthens the idea
that Madhya Pradesha is the location of Māhiṣmatī.)

(I must confess that reading this śloka reminded me of an old joke slightly 
paraphrased: "I just flew in from Prayāga and boy are my arms tired." Such 
naughty thoughts were quickly squashed! :-)

97| tasminsa viśramya kṛtāhnikaḥ sankhasvastikārohaṇaśālinīne|
gacchannasau maṇḍanapaṇḍitauko dāsīstadīyāḥ sa dadarśa mārge ||4||

97. He rested in a park and at sunrise performed his daily duties.  Going to 
the mansion of Paṇḍita Maṇḍana, he met some servant-girls in the street.(4)

(Even a paramahaṁsa has some daily duties such bathing, wearing bhasma, 
meditating on omkāra etc. and occasional ones such as observing chaturmāsa 
etc.  The difference is that they are not obligations nor is he concerned 
with accumulating pāpa or puṇya by doing them or not.  They either flow 
out of his enlightened nature or are for the purpose of lokasaṁgraha.)

98| kutrālayo maṇḍanapaṇḍitasyetyetāḥ sa papraccha jalāya gantrīḥ |
tāścāpi dṛṣṭvā'dbhutaśaṅkaraṁ taṁ santoṣavatyo daduruttaraṁ sma ||5||

98. He asked the women who were going to fetch water, “Where is the house of 
Paṇḍita Maṇḍana?” On seeing the wondrous Śaṅkara, they gladly replied...(5)

99| svataḥ pramāṇaṁ parataḥ pramāṇaṁ kīrāṅganā yatra giraṁ giranti |
dvārastha nīḍāntara saṁniruddhā jānīhi tanmaṇḍanapaṇḍitaukaḥ ||6||

99. “When you see a house where the parrots in cages hanging outside by the 
door argue, ‘it is authoritative in itself.’ and ‘its authority depends on 
another.’ know that it is the house of Paṇḍita Maṇḍana.”

(It is a testament to the great learning of Maṇḍana Miśra and let us not 
forget his wife Ubhaya Bhāratī who is a great scholar in her own right as we 
shall see, that the servants and even the pet parrots in his household were
able to discuss philosophical controversies.

Here the argument is on the authority of the Vedas.  Pūrva Mimāṁsā and Vedānta 
following suit, hold that the Vedas do not need any created being to be 
authoritative on the subject of Dharma and jñāna.  Knowledge of the meanings 
of the words which are eternally related to their sound is sufficient.  Nyāya 
on the other hand says the words of an āpta or expert are authoritative.  As 
Iśvara is the creator of the entire universe, He is the ultimate expert and 
therefore His words as recorded in the Vedas are authoritative.  See Brahma 
Sūtra 1.3.26-33 and the bhāṣya thereon for an extensive discussion.)

100| phalapradaṁ karma phalaprado'jaḥ kīrāṅganā yatra giraṁ giranti |
dvārastha nīḍāntara saṁniruddhā jānīhi tanmaṇḍanapaṇḍitaukaḥ ||7|

100. “When you see a house where the parrots in cages hanging outside by the 
door argue, ‘karma causes its own results.’ and ‘the results of karma are 
granted.’ know that it is the house of Paṇḍita Maṇḍana.”

(Pūrva Mimāṁsā and Vedānta part company on the question of how karma causes 
results or phala.  The former say it is a purely mechanistic process caused by 
a force they call apūrva.  The later say Iśvara impartially bestows 
karmaphala. See Brahma Sūtra 3.2.38-41 and the bhāṣya thereon.)

101| jagaddhruvaṁ syāñjagaddhruvaṁ syātkīrāṅganā yatra giraṁ giranti |
dvārastha nīḍāntara saṁniruddhā jānīhi tanmaṇḍanapaṇḍitaukaḥ ||8|||

101. “When you see a house where the parrots in cages hanging outside by the 
door argue, ‘the world is permanent.’ and ‘the world is impermanent.’ know 
that it is the house of Paṇḍita Maṇḍana.”

The Bauddhas claim that even consciousness itself is kṣaṇika or momentary and 
therefore the material world is unreal.  Advaitins will go as far to say the 
world-appearence is unreal but, they like all astikas agree that there is 
something real underlying that illusion and that it is knowable.See Brahma 
Sūtra 2.2.28-34 and the bhāṣya thereon.

102| pītvā taduktīratha tasya gehātgatvā bahiḥ sadma kavāṭguptam |
durveśamālocya sa yogaśaktyā vyomādhvanā'vātaradaṅgaṇāntaḥ ||9||

102. Then having taken in these words, he found that house and saw that the 
front door was locked.  Seeing that he would be unable to enter, he took to 
the air with his yogic powers and alighted inside.(9)

103| saudhāgrasañcchannanabho'vakārāṁ praviśya tatprāpya kaveḥ sakāśam |
vidyāviśeṣāttayaśaḥprakāśaṁ dadarśa taṁ padmajasannikāśam ||11||

103. Entering into the inner rooms of that mansion, he saw the poet [i.e. 
Maṇḍana] resplendent in the lustre of learning equalled only by the Lotus Born 
[i.e. Brahma].(11)

(Here kavi or poet is being used loosely to mean an educated man.  In 
Saṁskṛta, even the driest technical works are writen in verse so the knowledge 
of subjects such as chhanda, alaṁkāra etc. are indespensable to anyone who
wishes to call himself a Paṇḍita.)

104| tapomahimnaiva taponidhānaṁ sajaiminiṁ satyavatītanūjam |
yathāvidhi śrāddhavidhau nimantrya tatpādapadmānyavanejayantam ||12||

104. That epitome of tapa [i.e. Maṇḍana], by the glory of his tapa was able to 
invite Jaimini and Satyavatī’s son [i.e. Vyāsa] for a duly-performed śrāddha. 
He was washing their lotus-like feet.(12)

(The śāstras say the best guest to be invited for feeding at a śrāddha is a
vidvān Brāhmaṇa, the more learned the better.  Jaimini is the author of the
sūtras for Pūrva Mimāṁsā and Vyāsa is the same for Vedānta so you cant get much
more learned than that.)

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