[Advaita-l] Fwd: Hiranyagarbha/Brahmaa - in VP and Anandagiri and Mundakopanishad opening mantra

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Thank you for sharing the references indicating that hiraNyagarbha, the
first jeeva is different from the trimurtis (brahmA, viShNu and maheshvara)
who are *all* svayambhU forms Ishvara, not jeevas.

That idea of placing trimurtis on par is more plausible than rather
awkwardly saying that sRShTi alone is by a jeeva but sthithi and laya are
not by the mediacy of the jeeva.

This scheme of tanmAtra sRShTi etc., by TrimUtika Ishvara preceding the
creation of the first jeeva and the rest of the process by hiraNyagarbha
should address all ideas of wrongly conflating the first cause/primary
sRShTi-kartA (the kAraNa brahman) with the kArya Brahman aka hiraNyagarbha
purusha who is an exalted jeeva.

Om
Raghav




On Sat, 18 Mar, 2023, 4:28 pm V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Vedanta Paribhasha says Hiranyagarbha is different from the Trimurtis. He
> is the first-born. Brahman (Parameshwara) is directly the creator of the
> Pancha tanmatras, etc. 17 part-sukshma sharira and Hiranyagarbha. For the
> creation of the world beyond Hiranyagarbha, Ishwara's role is only passive,
> through Hiranyagarbha.
> तत्र परमेश्वरस्य पञ्चतन्मात्राद्युत्पत्तौ सप्तदशावयवोपेतलिङ्गशरीरोत्पत्तौ
> हिरण्यगर्भस्थूलशरीरोत्पत्तौ च साक्षात् कर्तृत्वम् इतरनिखिलप्रपञ्चोत्पत्तौ च
> हिरण्यगर्भादिद्वारा, " हन्ताहमिमास्तिस्रो देवता अनेन जीवेनात्मनानुप्रविश्य
> नामरूपे व्याकरवाणि"(छा.उ. ६.३.२.)
> <
> https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Chandogya?page=6&id=Ch_C06_S03_V02&hl=%22%20%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE%20%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A8%20%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%20%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%87%20%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%BF%22(%E0%A4%9B%E0%A4%BE.%E0%A4%89.%20%E0%A5%AC.%E0%A5%A9.%E0%A5%A8.)
> >
> इति
> श्रुतेः ।
>
> हिरण्यगर्भो नाम *मूर्तित्रयादन्यः प्रथमो जीवः* । " स वै शरीरी प्रथमः स वै
> पुरुष उच्यते । आदिकर्ता स भूतानां ब्रह्माग्रे समवर्तत ॥", " हिरण्यगर्भः
> समवर्तताग्रे"(ऋ.सं. १०.१२१.१.) इत्यादिश्रुतेः । एवं
> भूतभौतिकसृष्टिर्निरूपिता ।
> Anandagiri on Sutra bhasya and Gitabhashya:
> Shankara has cited the Shvetashwataropanishad 'एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु
> गूढः सर्वव्यापी
> सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा। ...' in both the Sutra bhashya and the Gita bhashya.
> न्यायनिर्णयव्याख्या
>
> ……… मूर्तित्रयात्मना भेदं प्रत्याह — एक इति । यथाहुः - ‘हरिर्ब्रह्मा
> पिनाकीति बहुधैकोऽपि गीयते ‘ इति  ………The word 'EkaH' in the mantra is a
> refutation of the idea of the division/difference among Trimurtis. And
> quotes: As stated (by Sureshwaracharya in Brihadaranyaka Bhashya vartika)
> 'He is called variously as Hari, Brahma, Pinaki, though One only.)
>
> In the Gita bhashya too Shankara cites this mantra and Anandagiri says the
> same there too, without citing Sureshwaracharya:
>
> आनन्दगिरिटीका (गीताभाष्य) -  मूर्तित्रयात्मना भेदं वारयति- एक इति । ………
>
>
> In this opening mantra of the Mundakopanishad, where Brahma is the
> First-born, the creator and protector, who imparts Brahmavidya to Atharva,
> the first son, Shankara comments that he is excels everyone in Jnana,
> Dharma, Vairagya, Aishwarya. He manifested 'independently', not the way
> bound jivas take birth conditioned by dharma-adharma. He cites a Manu
> smriti verse.
>
>
> ब्रह्मा देवानां प्रथमः सम्बभूव विश्वस्य कर्ता भुवनस्य गोप्ता ।
>
> स ब्रह्मविद्यां सर्वविद्याप्रतिष्ठामथर्वाय ज्येष्ठपुत्राय प्राह ॥ १ ॥
> ब्रह्म परिबृढो महान् धर्मज्ञानवैराग्यैश्वर्यैः सर्वानन्यानतिशेत इति ;
> देवानां द्योतनवतामिन्द्रादीनां प्रथमः गुणैः प्रधानः सन् , प्रथमः अग्रे वा
> सम्बभूव अभिव्यक्तः सम्यक् स्वातन्त्र्येणेत्यभिप्रायः । न तथा यथा
> धर्माधर्मवशात्संसारिणोऽन्ये जायन्ते, ‘योऽसावतीन्द्रियोऽग्राह्यः’ (मनु. १ ।
> ७) इत्यादिस्मृतेः । विश्वस्य सर्वस्य जगतः कर्ता उत्पादयिता, भुवनस्य
> उत्पन्नस्य गोप्ता पालयितेति विशेषणं ब्रह्मणो विद्यास्तुतये । सः एवं
> प्रख्यातमह.
> See English translation image here:
> https://groups.google.com/g/advaitin/c/rjuvP1MDPlg
> Anandagiri comments for the above:
>
> “ज्ञानमप्रतिमं यस्य वैराग्यं च जगत्पतेः ।
> ऐश्वर्यं चैव धर्मश्च सह सिद्धं चतुष्टयम् ॥”वायुपुराणम्(वायुपुराणम् १।१।३)
>
> Unmatched knowledge, dispassion, splendor, dharma - all these are naturally
> there in Jagatpati (Brahma mentioned in the first mantra) (Vayupuranam
> 1.1.3)
>
> इति स्मरणाद्धर्मज्ञानवैराग्यैश्वर्यैः सर्वानन्यानतिक्रम्य वर्तत इति
> परिवृढत्वं सिद्धमित्यर्थः। Based on this smriti, Brahma surpasses everyone
> else in the above four.
> “योऽसावतीन्द्रियोऽग्राह्यः सूक्ष्मोऽव्यक्तः सनातनः ।
> सर्वभूतमयोऽचिन्त्यः स एष स्वयमुद्बभौ ॥”(मनु. १-७)
>
> He, who is beyond the senses, beyond grasp, who is subtle, unmanifest and
> eternal, absorbed in all created things and inconceivable — Appeared by
> Himself. (The epithet 'achintya' is popularly found in the Mandukya
> Upanishad 7th mantra on Turiya.)
>
> “स्वयमुद्भूतः शुक्रशोणितसंयोगमन्तरेणाऽऽदिर्भूतः” इति स्मृतेः |
> स्वातन्त्र्यं गम्यते इत्यर्थः।
>
> 'He has manifested by himself without the intervention of father-mother,
> the first one.' Accordingly he is independent of anything.
>
> Swami Vidyaranya in the Mundskopanishat section in Anubhuti prakasha says
> this Brahma is Chaturmukha.
>
> From Shankara's Mundaka bhashya/Anandagiri, Brahma is not born of any agent
> but manifests by himself. According to the Vedanta Paribhasha Hiranyagarbha
> who is not part of the Trimurtis is the first-born, created directly by
> Ishwara.
>
> Om tat sat
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