[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Yet another Mahavakya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

[Venkatraghavan S]

Read this sentence as: "So if one sentence conveys two meanings, it is not
*one* vAkya, but two. "

On Sun, 24 Oct 2021, 09:18 Venkatraghavan S, <agnimile at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Vinodh ji,
>
> Upon doing a search for the word mahAvAkya in advaitasharada, it appears
> only once in the prasthAna traya bhAShya-s.
>
> In the devatAdhikaraNa of the brahmasUtra, in the sUtra भावं तु
> बादरायणोऽस्ति हि ॥ ३३ ॥ (1.3.33), Shankaracharya raises a pUrvapaksha
> wherein he uses the word mahAvAkya in the sentence - न हि
> महावाक्येऽर्थप्रत्यायकेऽवान्तरवाक्यस्य पृथक्प्रत्यायकत्वमस्ति ;
>
> However here the word mahAvAkya does not mean jIva brahma aikya bodhaka
> vAkya, it means a combination of words or sentences that serve to convey a
> unitary import.  Jaimini in his pUrvamImAmsA sUtra has defined a vAkya as
> अर्थैकत्वात् एकं वाक्यम् - that is, a vAkya is not merely a sentence - it
> is a combination of words that together conveys one meaning. So if one
> sentence conveys two meanings, it is not vAkya, but two. Conversely, if
> there are many sentences that together convey the same meaning, then
> together they are one vAkya - this is called vAkyaikavAkyatA.
>
> Here the context is the pUrvapakshi arguing that devatAs do not have the
> right to brahmajnAna, because the portions that talk of them having
> attained liberation occur in arthavAda portions which have ekavAkyatA with
> a vidhi and the mahAvAkya (the compound vAkya consisting of the vidhi and
> arthavAda taken as a unitary whole) has meaning only in the injunction.
> Therefore, when the mahAvAkya is conveying one meaning (do the act), we
> must ignore the arthavAda portions (avAntara vAkya) because a part of a
> vAkya cannot be said to have a meaning when that part in conjunction with
> the rest of the vAkya conveys a unitary meaning.
>
> That is by the by and not relevant to the topic.
>
> The only other reference by Shankaracharya that I could find is in the
> Vivekachudamani - here the meaning of mahAvAkya is a vAkya that conveys the
> meaning of the identity of jIva and Brahman.
>
> संलक्ष्य चिन्मात्रतया यदात्मनो -
> रखण्डभावः परिचीयते बुधैः ।
> एवं महावाक्यशतेन कथ्यते
> ब्रह्मात्मनोरैक्यमखण्डभावः ॥ २५१ ॥
>
> Regards,
> Venkatraghavan
>
>
> On Sat, 23 Oct 2021, 14:07 Vinodh, <vinodh.iitm at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Sri Venkatraghavan ji and other respected scholars, an additional
>> question strikes me about "mahavakya" upon further reflection.
>>
>> Was this word "mahavakya" ever used by Shankara Bhagavadpada himself?
>> What is the first known usage of this word?
>>
>> Namaskaram 🙏
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Oct 23, 2021 at 6:13 PM 'Raghav Kumar' via advaitin <
>> advaitin at googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Namaste Venkatraghavan ji
>>> I recollect many Acharyas mentioning tasmAdva etastmAt atmana
>>> AkAshassambhUtaH etc as a mahavAkya since tasmAt and etAsmAt are in
>>> samAnAdhikaraNyam. That part is quite clear. There are thus many mahAvAkyas
>>> other than the four canonical ones.
>>>
>>> But one clarification on mananam etc  being action -
>>>
>>> However, by “meditation” here, I mean the mananam and nididhyasanam of
>>> the statement (that is, a thorough analysis and reflection on the
>>> statement) that reveals that jiva is Brahman until one attains firm
>>> conviction of this Truth. Why is this required?
>>>
>>> This is also an action only.
>>>
>>> Mananam and nidhidhyAsanam (in the context of Advaita vedAnta) are of
>>> the nature of vastu-tantra manovRttis - being pramANa-based and serve only
>>> to highlight the Gyaanam itself. They are surely different from upAsana (be
>>> it even nirguNa upAsana) which is puruSha-tantra.
>>>
>>> For example mithyAtva niscaya through the yukti using the prasiddha hetu
>>> would be part of mananam. Does such mananam constitute karma/upAsana? It
>>> would appear not. The yuktis used in mananam only give rise to "seeing
>>> rightly" and removing false notions. All such pramANa vyApAra is not really
>>> karma, don't you think? I do understand the commonality of the result being
>>> pratibandhaka nivRtti for both karma/upAsanam and mananam/nidhidhyAsanam.
>>> Yet I understand the latter to be not karma. Is that tenable?
>>>
>>>
>>> Om
>>> Raghav
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
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>>>
>>> On Sat, 23 Oct 2021 at 5:27 pm, 'Bhaskar YR' via advaitin
>>> <advaitin at googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> It is also worth noting that shravanadi are called "sadhana" merely out
>>> of limitation of language and from the point of view of an ajnani. This is
>>> because the Truth, which is eternally present, need not need be attained as
>>> a siddhi after performing some action.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> praNAms Sri Vinod prabhuji
>>>
>>> Hare Krishna
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes, jnApakaM hi shAstraM na tu kArakaM, shAstra would teach us only
>>> bhUta vastu ( that which is already exists) and it does not create anything
>>> new.  shravaNAdi sAdhana is ofcourse for the ajnAni, who still see the
>>> pramAtru, pramANa and prameya triputi rvyavahAra.  For him the direct means
>>> is shravaNAdi sAdhana says bhAshyakAra : sAkshAdeva cha kAraNatvAt
>>> shravaNamanananidhidhyAsanAnAm because shruti itself says AtmA vA Are
>>> drashtavyaH shOtavyaH, maNtavyO nidhidhyAsitavyaH.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
>>>
>>> bhaskar
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>