[Advaita-l] [advaitin] rAma-krishna-shiva-durga etc. are not same in shAstric vyavahAra!!!

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Subbuji,

In the bRhadAraNyaka upaniShad bhAShya vArttika of this brAhmaNa, there is
an interesting verse (verse 16 of the puruShavidha brAhmaNa chapter):
तेन तेनाऽऽत्मकार्येण स्वात्माभासतमोवधिः।
विशिष्टः ससृजे विष्णुस्तेजोबन्नादि मायया॥
vishNu delimited by the darkness in which consciousness is reflected,
endowed with his own product (hiraNyagarbha), creates the universe
consisting of fire, water and earth, using mAyA.

In Anandagiri AchArya's gloss, this somewhat complex verse is explained
thus:
स्वातमनश्चिद्धातोराभासो यत्र तेन तमसाऽवधिशब्दितोपाधिनोपहितः परः
सूत्राद्यात्मना स्वकार्येण विशिष्टः भूतभौतिकं जगदुत्पादितवानित्यर्थः ।
ब्रह्मा स्रष्टा पालयिता विष्णुरीशः संहर्तेत्यर्थभेदं परिहर्तुं
विष्णुरित्युक्तम् ।
The supreme one (parah), delimited by the darkness adjunct (denoted by the
word avadhi) - in which is reflected the consciousness self element -
endowed with His own product, the sUtrAtma, creates the universe consisting
of the elements and their products. The word viShNu is used in the verse to
negate any possible distinction such as Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is
the sustained and Shiva is the destroyer.

In the above passage - the supreme is nirguNa brahma. The supreme delimited
by darkness is Ishvara. Ishvara's product is sUtrAtma / hiraNyagarbha.

Two things can be discerned from this verse and its gloss -

One, even if creation happens through the medium of hiraNyagarbha
(sUtrAtma) who is the product of Ishvara, it is Ishvara who is the creator.

Two, the trimUrti-s are not three distinct entities. As there is an
apparent distinction in the functions of creation, preservation and
dissolution, the performer of the functions is sometimes spoken of as
though different. To avoid any value being placed on the notion that the
act of creation is performed by one deity, preservation by another deity,
destruction by another deity, the vArttikakAra uses the term viShNu.

Therefore, in my view, I think there is no  merit in seeking to separate
the trimUrti-s. I think it is perhaps better to say that it is the one
Ishvara who performs all functions, through the medium of the first born
sUtrAtma.

From that perspective, each of kailAsha, vaikunTha, brahmaloka etc can be
said to be really one satyaloka, to which all upAsaka-s go after their time
on earth comes to an end.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan


On Tue, 14 Feb 2023, 11:55 V Subrahmanian, <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:

> (Since this post is likely to be disallowed for its length in Advaita l, I
> am copying this to Advaitin Google groups too where such length issue is
> not there. So I request members to access this post of mine in Advaitin
> (under the same header) in case this post does not appear here.)
>
> Thanks a lot Venkat ji for the detailed clarification.  I had always felt
> there is a need for a clarification of the idea of
> Hiranyagarbha/Virat/Prathamashariri.  Here is another instance from the
> Mundaka Bhashya which I had made a post before;
> https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2017/08/02/vishnu-is-samashti-jiva-shankara-in-mundaka-bhashya/
>
> In the Mundakopanishat 2.1.4 there is the description of the Virāt puruṣa:
>
> अग्निर्मूर्धा चक्षुषी चन्द्रसूर्यौ दिशः श्रोत्रे वाग्विवृताश्च वेदाः ।
> वायुः प्राणो हृदयं विश्वमस्य पद्भ्यां पृथिवी ह्येष सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा ॥ ४ ॥
>
> 4 The heavens are His head; the sun and moon, His eyes; the quarters, His
> ears; the revealed Vedas, His speech; the wind is His breath; the universe,
> His heart. From his feet is produced the earth. He is, indeed, the inner
> self of all beings (pancha bhūta-s).
>
> Shankara's commentary is:
>
> सङ्क्षेपतः परविद्याविषयमक्षरं निर्विशेषं पुरुषं सत्यम् ‘दिव्यो ह्यमूर्तः’
> (मु. उ. २ । १ । २)
> <http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Mundaka?page=2&id=MD_C02_S01_V02&hl=%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%83> इत्यादिना
> मन्त्रेणोक्त्वा, पुनस्तदेव सविशेषं विस्तरेण वक्तव्यमिति प्रववृते ;
> सङ्क्षेपविस्तरोक्तो हि पदार्थः सुखाधिगम्यो भवति सूत्रभाष्योक्तिवदिति । यो
> हि प्रथमजात्प्राणाद्धिरण्यगर्भाज्जायतेऽण्डस्यान्तर्विराट् , स
> तत्त्वान्तरितत्त्वेन लक्ष्यमाणोऽप्येतस्मादेव पुरुषाज्जायत
> एतन्मयश्चेत्येतदर्थमाह, तं च विशिनष्टि —
>
> The Supreme Brahman, Akṣaram, free of all attributes, that is the subject
> matter of the Parā vidyā, was stated concisely as 'divyo hyamūrtaḥ
> puruṣa...' Mundaka 2.1.2. Now, in the sequel, with a view to present that
> Puruṣa alone along with attributes, in an elaborate manner, the Upaniṣad
> proceeds. This manner of consice-elaborate presentation, like sutra-bhāṣya,
> will enable one to grasp the tattva easily. He who is born of the
> First-born Hiraṇyagarbha, within the Cosmic Egg (Golden Egg), who is called
> 'Virāt', even though shown as born once-removed (that is, through the
> medium of Hiranyagarbha), is actually born of the Supreme Puruṣa alone and
> thus is of that content alone. With a view to state this, the current
> mantra describes him (virāṭ)-
>
>
> अग्निः द्युलोकः, ‘असौ वाव लोको गौतमाग्निः’ (छा. उ. ५ । ४ । १)
> <http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Chandogya?page=5&id=Ch_C05_S04_V01&hl=%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8C%20%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B5%20%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8C%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%83> इति
> श्रुतेः । मूर्धा यस्योत्तमाङ्गं शिरः, चक्षुषी चन्द्रश्च सूर्यश्चेति
> चन्द्रसूर्यौ ; यस्येति सर्वत्रानुषङ्गः कर्तव्यः अस्येत्यस्य पदस्य
> वक्ष्यमाणस्य यस्येति विपरिणामं कृत्वा । दिशः श्रोत्रे यस्य । वाक् विवृताश्च
> उद्घाटिताः प्रसिद्धा वेदाः यस्य । वायुः प्राणो यस्य । हृदयम् अन्तःकरणं
> विश्वं समस्तं जगत् अस्य यस्येत्येतत् । सर्वं ह्यन्तःकरणविकारमेव जगत् ,
> मनस्येव सुषुप्ते प्रलयदर्शनात् ; जागरितेऽपि तत
> एवाग्निविस्फुलिङ्गवद्विप्रतिष्ठानात् । यस्य च पद्भ्यां जाता पृथिवी,
>
> [The cosmic Puruṣa, Virāṭ's description is: His head is the heavenly
> region, his eyes are the sun and moon, etc. ]
>
>  एष देवो विष्णुरनन्तः प्रथमशरीरी त्रैलोक्यदेहोपाधिः सर्वेषां
> भूतानामन्तरात्मा । स हि सर्वभूतेषु द्रष्टा श्रोता मन्ता विज्ञाता
> सर्वकरणात्मा ॥
>
> This god Viṣṇu, Ananta, is the first-embodied one with the three worlds as
> his upādhi and is the self of all beings (pancha bhūta-s). He is the seer,
> hearer, etc. in all beings. [Anandagiri says for the bhāṣya
> passage: त्रैलोक्यदेहोपाधिः सर्वेषां भूतानामन्तरात्मा । ...self of pancha
> bhūta-s]
>
> There are similarities between this Mundaka bhashya and the Brihadaranyaka
> bhashya:  the 'prathamashariri/prathama jiva/anDaja', savishesha/saguna
> brahman, Hiranyagarbha, etc.
>
> In the Prashnopanishat bhashya we have:
>
> इन्द्रस्त्वं प्राण तेजसा रुद्रोऽसि परिरक्षिता ।
> त्वमन्तरिक्षे चरसि सूर्यस्त्वं ज्योतिषां पतिः ॥ ९ ॥
> The Bhashya:
>
> किञ्च, इन्द्रः परमेश्वरः त्वं हे प्राण, तेजसा वीर्येण रुद्रोऽसि संहरन्
> जगत् । स्थितौ च परि समन्तात् रक्षिता पालयिता ; परिरक्षिता त्वमेव जगतः
> सौम्येन रूपेण । त्वम् अन्तरिक्षे अजस्रं चरसि उदयास्तमयाभ्यां सूर्यः त्वमेव
> च सर्वेषां ज्योतिषां पतिः ॥
> The sense/motor organs do a stuti of Prana whom they have now accepted to
> be their 'leader':
> They say Prana, you are Parameshvara, you as Rudra destroy, as Vishnu
> protect.  (This translation is based on Shankara's bhashya and Anandagiri's
> gloss on it.) That Prana is the creator is already stated in an earlier
> mantra. So the Trimurtis are this Hiranyagarbha.
> From this we get the idea that the Trimurtis are this
> Prana/Prajapati/Hiranyagarbha/Prathamashariri.
> That in Advaita the saguna brahma upasakas go to Brahma loka which is
> called Hiranyagarbha loka.  It is here, I understand from the wordings of
> the last section of the Brahma sutra bhashya that the upasakas, having
> become muktas there, attain 'Ishvara saayujyam' as Shankara says.  And this
> 'Ishwara' has to be this head of this loka: the
> Prajapati/Hiranyagarbha/VirAt.  That this person is said to ultimately
> attain videha kaivalya at the end of that loka in maha pralaya also points
> to the fact that the Trimurti loka in Advaita is this one Satya loka and no
> distinct vaikuntha, kailasa is admitted beyond creation in Advaita.
> I would like the above conclusions of mine are reviewed.
> warm regards
> subbu
>
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