[Advaita-l] Shankara Digvijaya Sara - part 19

[jaldhar at braincells.com]

Sorry about the delay but there were some difficult passages in this 
portion.

115| prātaḥ śoṇasarojabāndhavarucipradyotite vyomani prakhyātaḥ sa vidhāya karma niyataṁ prajñāvatāmagranīḥ |
sākaṁ śiṣyavaraiḥ prapadya sadanaṁ sanmaṇḍitaṁ māṇḍanaṁ vādāyopaviveśa paṇḍitasabhāmadhye munirdhyeyavit ||57||

115. In the morning as the Sun, the friend of lotuses, began to illuminate the 
sky, the Foremost of the Wise, [i.e. Śaṅkara] performed his daily activities 
and went along with his disciples to the home of Māṇḍana adorned with those 
who had gathered to hear the debate.  The sage who is the Knower of That Which 
is to be Contemplated Upon [i.e. Brahman] sat in the assembly of paṇḍitas.(57)

(It is not explained whether the disciples also reached Māhiṣmatī by yogic 
siddhis or the long way around but they are present now.  As saṁnyāsis, 
Śaṅkarāchārya and his disciples must try and keep their distance from 
householders as far as possible so MDV says they stayed at a mandir on the 
banks of the Reva for the duration of the debate.)

116| tataḥ samādiśya sadasyatāyāṁ sadharmiṇīṁ maṇḍanapaṇḍito'pi |
sa śāradāṁ nāma samastavidyāviśāradāṁ vādasamutsuko'bhūt ||58||

116. Then Paṇḍita Māṇḍana nominated as moderator of the assembly his wife, 
known as Śāradā for her mastery of all branches of learning, and sat in 
eagerness to commence the debate.(58)

117| patyā niyuktā patidevatā sā sadasyabhāve sudatī cakāśe |
tayorvivektuṁ śrutatāratamyaṁ samāgatā saṁsadi bhāratīva ||59||

117. Accompanied by her husband, that beautiful lady who held her husband as a 
God entered the assembly convened in order to discern which of the two 
disputants were of greater intellectual rank and seemed to the assembled as if 
Bhāratī [i.e. Sarasvatī] Herself.(59)

(Of course she really is Sarasvatī but the audience doesn't know this.)

118| pravṛddhavādotsukatāṁ tadīyāṁ vijñāya vijñaḥ prathamaṁ yatīndraḥ |
parāvarajñaḥ sa parāvaraikyaparāṁ pratijñāmakarotsvakīyām ||60||

118. Knowing him [i.e. Māṇḍana] to be filled with eagerness to debate, the 
Lord of Yatīs, foremost amongst those who know the Immediate and the Ultimate 
and their unity, began to declare his proposition. (60)

119| brahmaikaṁ paramārthasaccidamalaṁ viśvaprapañcātmanā śuktī rūpyaparātmaneva bahalājñānāvṛtaṁ bhāsate |
tajñānānnikhilaprapañcanilayā svātmavyavasthā paraṁ nirvāṇaṁ janimuktamabhyupagataṁ mānaṁ śrutermastakam ||61||

119. “Brahman is one, the Supreme Goal, of the nature of Truth, Consciousness, 
and Purity. It is the substrate of the entire world-appearance and appears in 
many forms due to being covered by Ajñāna.  When by Jñāna the entire 
world-appearance is known as contained in Brahman, the final Liberation is 
obtained.  The authority for this is the highest teaching of Śrutī.”(61)

(Vedānta does not believe the material world is an illusion but that it is a 
delusion.  Due to ignorance of its true nature, the world appears to contain 
multiplicity but at the dawn of knowledge, its real unitary nature is 
understood and this is liberation. As the authority of the Vedas is the 
central concern of Pūrva Mimāṁsā, Śaṅkarāchārya emphasises that this is the 
highest teaching of the Vedas -- the "head" of the Vedas as described before,
and subsumes any other things it might teach.)

120| bāḍhaṁ jaye yadi parājayabhāgahaṁ syāṁ saṁnyāsamaṅgaṁ parihṛtya kaṣāyacelam |
śuklaṁ vasīya vasanaṁ dvayabhāratīyaṁ vāde jayājayaphalapratidīpikā'stu ||62||

120. “I am confident of victory but if for some reason I am defeated, I will 
give up saṁnyāsa and its symbols, remove the saffron clothes and wear white. 
Dvaya [i.e. Ubhaya] Bhāratī will pronounce the result of the debate.”(62)

(Brāhmaṇas can wear coloured clothes but they typically wear white.)

121| itthaṁ pratijñāṁ kṛtavatyudārāṁ śrīśaṅkare bhikṣuvare svakīyām |
sa viśvarūpo gṛhmedhivaryaḥ cakre pratijñāṁ svamatapratiṣṭām ||63||

121. After the revered monk Śrī Śaṅkara boldly declaimed his doctrine, the 
revered householder Viśvarūpa also established his proposition.(63)

(Maṇḍana Miśra was also known as Viśvarūpa.)

122| vedāntā na pramāṇaṁ citivipuṣi pade tatra saṅgatyayogātpūrvo bhāgaḥ pramāṇaṁ padacayagamite kāryavastunyaśeṣe |
śabdānāṁ kāryamātraṁ prati samadhigatā śaktirabhyunnatānāṁ karmabhyo muktiriṣṭā tadiha tanubhṛtāmāyuṣaḥ syātsamāpteḥ ||64||

122. “[the words of the] Vedānta [i.e. Upaniṣads] describing the Supreme 
Consciousness [i.e. Brahman] are not authoritative because words in isolation 
do not have meaning, only in sentences which must contain a verb. The prior 
parts [of the Vedas] are authoritative because they do contain sentences 
expressing action.  The words which do not enjoin action are ineffective and 
liberation is performing action until the end of ones life.”(64)

(Vedānta can have two meanings: that which is the culmination or summation of 
the Vedas, or that which is at the end of the Vedas.  The passages dealing 
with jñāna are typically in the positionally later parts of the Vedic corpus 
whereas material dealing with karma is towards the beginning.  Maṇḍana Miśra is
using the word in the second sense here.

While Pūrva Mimāṁsā yields to no one in defending the authority of the Vedas, 
it does not mean they think every word contained in the Vedas is equally 
useful. The purpose of the Vedas, they say, is to enjoin "do this" or "don't 
do this." these commands are indicated by sentences in which there is an 
active verb. Other Vedic sentences (the vast majority actually) are only 
subordinate and their only purpose is to explain or encourage some action or 
another.

A statement such as ahaṁ brahmāsmi doesn't tell you to do anything.  At best
it might praise the sacrificer as an agent of action.  So there is little point
in concentrating on such sentences.  If the dos and don'ts taught in the Vedas
are followed diligently for all ones life, there is freedom from pain and 
suffering.  This is liberation nothing else.)

123| vāde kṛte'sminyadi me jayānyaḥ tvayoditātsyādviparītabhāvaḥ |
yeyaṁ tvayā'bhūdgaditā prasākṣye jānāti cetsā bhavitā vadhūrme ||65||

123. “If I am defeated in this debate, I will accept the reverse of what you 
said. As my wife judges it, let it be so.”(65)

(In other words, he will give up gṛhasthāśrama and its symbols such as śikhā 
and yajñopavīta, remove the white clothes and wear saffron.)

124| jetuḥ parājita ihāśramamādadītetyetau mithaḥ kṛtapaṇau yativiśvarūpau |
ambāmudāradhiṣaṇāmabhiṣicya sākṣye jalpaṁ vitenaturatho jayadattadṛṣṭī ||66||

124. Having agreed that upon defeat they would each adopt the others āśrama, 
the householder and the Lord of monks installed the reknowned guru-mother 
[i.e. Ubhaya Bhāratī as Sarasvatī] as referee and began to debate, each with 
an eye to obtaining victory.(66)

(The word kṛtapaṇau which I have translated as householder is actually one of 
those wonderful Saṁskṛta words that should be literally translated as a whole 
sentence.  It means "one whose hands have accomplished deeds.")

125| āvaśyakaṁ parisamāpya dine dine tau vādaṁ samaṁ vyatanutāṁ kila sarvavedau |
evaṁ vijetumanasorupaviṣṭayostāṁ mālāṁ gale nyadhita sobhayabhāratīyam ||67||

125. Both of these knowers of the entire Vedas conducted their daily duties 
and sat down to debate each day. She [i.e. Ubhaya Bhāratī] would offer each of 
them a garland.(67)

(As a dhārmika woman, Ubhaya Bhāratī garlanded her husband and then gave the
second garland to him to place upon Śaṅkarāchārya.)

126| mālā yadā malinabhāvamupaiti kaṇṭhe yasyāpi tasya vijayetaraniścayaḥ syāt |
uktvā gṛhaṁ gatavatī gṛhakarmasaktā bhikṣāśane'pi carituṁ gṛhimaskaribhyām ||68||

126. [Ubhaya Bhāratī would say] “If the garland should wither on ones neck, it 
indicates the opposite of victory for him.” and go inside the house to perform 
the household tasks and prepare food for the residents and bhikṣā.(68)

(Note the careful way she says "opposite of victory".  Even though there will
be a winner and a loser in this debate, it is being conducted not for ego or
to exhibit rhetoric but for the sake of investigation into truth.  However
heated their arguments may have gotten at times, both men had the same goal in
mind, to discern the meaning of the Vedas.  So even the "loser" will not really
have been defeated because they will have learned something new and that is
the best victory.

Also note that Ubhaya Bhāratī despite this important duty she has taken on, 
does not perform it at the expense of her svadharma.  This is an example she
has set for the world to learn from.)


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