[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Shankaracharya merges Vyavaharika Satta into Pratibhasika Satta in the Gita bhashya

[sunil bhattacharjya]

Dear friends

The compound word 'Jaganmithya' (Jagat-Mithya) was used in Upanishad, and
it means anitya. Lord Krishna told clearly in a verse, which says*:* what
was there in the past and what will be there in future is not there at
present and that shows what is there today is as good as not there. This is
Vyavaharika Satya and is not called Vyavaharika Mithya. In Mahabharata,
Yudhisthira tried to fool Drona (albeit reluctantly) by saying "Ashvatthama
hata iti gaja" and that was a vyavaharika asatya and for that he was given
appropriate punishment in course of time.

That is the great vedic culture we inherited, where Truth is Dharma.  The
historical truths also must be equally respected. For example, towards the
end of the 18th century AD, there was a war between the armies led by Hyder
Ali and Tipu against the British led army near Kanchipuram, and within a
decade, the Kanchipuram Math authorities left the disturbed area of
Kanchipuram and moved to the temple city of Kumbhakonam towards the south
and the math was shifted back  to Kanchipuram in the 19th century, when the
situation in Kanchipuram returned to normalcy. But there are many ignorant
advaitins, who distrust this truth.

Similarly, when Malik Kafur, the general of Alauddin Khilji attacked
Karnataka the beginning of the 14th century AD, the attackers  did not
spare the original Shringeri math at the confluence of the holy rivers
Bhadra and Tunga in Kudali in the Shimoga district. The attackers
devastated the establishment and broke the original wooden idol of mother
Sharada Devi and the Mathadhipati Swami Vidyashankara Tirtha had to save
his life by running away to Kanchipuram, and the broad-minded authorities
of the Kanchipuaram Math welcomed him and gave him the status of a
mathadhipati. To my knowledge, that is why the Guru-parampara of the
Kanchipuram Math mentions two mathadhipatis (including the name of Swani
Vidyashankara Tirtha) in the 14th century AD. In my humble opinion, all
advaitins following Adi Shankara, should be proud of this rare
fellow-feeling showed by the Kanchi Kamakoti math, where Adi Shankara too
spen this last days. Swami Vidyatirtha and Swami Vidyaranya, during their
younger days, had to go to Swami Vidyashankara tirtha in Kanchipuram for
their training, and thereafter Swami Vidyatirtha returned to
Kudali-Shringeri Math as the mathadhipati.  He was followed by Swami
Vidyaranya, as the mathadhipati.  As regards Swami Vidyashankra Tirtha, he
continued to stay in Kanchipuram (the Dakshina-kashi) and in his old age he
left for Varanasi(Kashi) for good.

Later on, with the initiative from swami Vidyatirtha and Swami Vidyaranya
and the liberal grants from the Vijayanagara king, a new math was
established in New Shringeri at the bank of the river Tunga in the
Chikkamagaluru district, which is at a distance of about 100 KM from the
original Kudali Shringeri math in the Shimoga district of Karnataka.  A
temple dedicated to Swami Vidyashankara tirtha was erected in the New
shringeri math  in the Chikkamagaluru district. At a much later date a
temple dedicated to  Swami Vidyashankara tirtha was erected in the original
Kudali Shringeri math also. This is the truth about the great history of
the Shringeri  math and all Advaitin truth - lovers should be proud of the
great historical link between the Kanchi Kamakoti math and the two
Shringeri maths.

If any advaitin friend has any question on the above, please don't hesitate
to question me, either publicly or personally.

'TRUTH IS DHARMA'
My 2 cents
Sunil Kumar Bhattacharjya

On Sat, Jun 17, 2023 at 11:41 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> In the commentary for BG 2.16 Shankara says:
>
>  सर्वत्र बुद्धिद्वयोपलब्धेः, सद्बुद्धिरसद्बुद्धिरिति ।
> यद्विषया बुद्धिर्न व्यभिचरति, तत् सत् ; यद्विषया व्यभिचरति, तदसत् ; इति सदसद्विभागे बुद्धितन्त्रे स्थिते, सर्वत्र द्वे बुद्धी सर्वैरुपलभ्येते समानाधिकरणे न नीलोत्पलवत् , सन् घटः, सन् पटः, सन् हस्ती इति ।
>
> All perceptions have two aspects: one, the unchanging one and the other is
> the changing one, for example 'pot is', 'cloth is', 'elephant is'. Of these
> two the unchanging one is Sat, Brahman and the changing one is asat, mithya.
>
> Having said this, he concludes the teaching by saying:
>
> एकाधिकरणत्वं घटादिविशेष्याभावे न युक्तमिति चेत् , न ;
> ‘इदमुदकम्’ इति मरीच्यादौ अन्यतराभावेऽपि सामानाधिकरण्यदर्शनात् ॥
>
> An objection: It is illogical to say that two aspects are there in a
> perception ...In reply to this Shankara cites the example of the perception
> of mirage water where even though there is no water, yet the perception is
> of the nature 'this is water' where the 'this' aspect is real and the
> 'water' aspect is unreal.
>
> Shankara says this is the teaching for Arjuna from this verse 2.16:
>
>
> त्वमपि तत्त्वदर्शिनां दृष्टिमाश्रित्य शोकं मोहं च हित्वा शीतोष्णादीनि नियतानियतरूपाणि द्वन्द्वानि ‘विकारोऽयमसन्नेव मरीचिजलवन्मिथ्यावभासते’ इति मनसि निश्चित्य तितिक्षस्व इत्यभिप्रायः ॥
>
> /Therefore, you too, by adopting the vision of the men of realization and
> giving up sorrow and delusion, forbear the dualities, heat, cold, etc. --
> some of which are definite in their nature, and others inconstant --,
> mentally being convinced that this (phenomenal world) is changeful, verily
> unreal and appears falsely like water in a mirage. This is the idea.//
>
> Thus for the same verse, in the commentary Shankaracharya starts off with
> vyavaharikta Satya example of pot, cloth and elephant and concludes the
> commentary citing the Pratibhasika Satya analogy of mirage water.  Shankara
> has thereby dovetails the vayavaharika into the pratibhasika.
>
> Thus for Shankara the world is of the nature of pratibhasika satya.
>
> Om Tat Sat
>
>
>
>
>
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