[Advaita-l] No default form/body for Ishwara - Shankara says in Brihadaranyaka Bhashya

[V Subrahmanian]

In the Brihadaranyaka there is the famous AntaryAmi BraAhmaNam: 3rd
chapter, 7th brahmanam.  Therein the Para Brahman is presented as the
Antaryami of all beings with a view to finally establish that the jiva
chaitanyam is non-different from the Antaryami chaitanyam.  A long list of
'beings' is given and the first one is Prithvi devatA. Shankara gives an
elaborate commentary only here and the theme applies to the rest of the
beings too.  Shankara says, in essence, that the AntaryAmi, inner
controller/impeller of this Prithvi devatA is Brahman and it is the
body-mind-organs complex of this Prithvi that is being
impelled/controlled/activated by Brahman. And most importantly Shankara
says: the body-mind-organ complex of the Prithvi devatA is that of this
AntaryAmi which has no default body-organ-complex:

Read Swami Madhavananda's English translation of the Mantra and the Bhashya
here:

https://archive.org/details/Brihadaranyaka.Upanishad.Shankara.Bhashya.by.Swami.Madhavananda/page/502/mode/2up
यः पृथिव्यां तिष्ठन्पृथिव्या अन्तरो यं पृथिवी न वेद यस्य पृथिवी शरीरं यः
पृथिवीमन्तरो यमयत्येष त आत्मान्तर्याम्यमृतः ॥ ३ ॥
यः पृथिव्यां तिष्ठन्भवति, सोऽन्तर्यामी । सर्वः पृथिव्यां तिष्ठतीति सर्वत्र
प्रसङ्गो मा भूदिति विशिनष्टि — पृथिव्या अन्तरः अभ्यन्तरः । तत्रैतत्स्यात् ,
पृथिवी देवतैव अन्तर्यामीति — अत आह — यमन्तर्यामिणं पृथिवी देवतापि न वेद —
मय्यन्यः कश्चिद्वर्तत इति । यस्य पृथिवी शरीरम् — यस्य च पृथिव्येव शरीरम् ,
नान्यत् — पृथिवीदेवताया यच्छरीरम् , तदेव शरीरं यस्य ; शरीरग्रहणं च
उपलक्षणार्थम् ; करणं च पृथिव्याः तस्य ; स्वकर्मप्रयुक्तं हि कार्यं करणं च
पृथिवीदेवतायाः ; तत् अस्य स्वकर्माभावात् अन्तर्यामिणो नित्यमुक्तत्वात् ,
परार्थकर्तव्यतास्वभावत्वात् परस्य* यत्कार्यं करणं च — तदेवास्य, न स्वतः* ;
तदाह — यस्य पृथिवी शरीरमिति । देवताकार्यकरणस्य ईश्वरसाक्षिमात्रसान्निध्येन
हि नियमेन प्रवृत्तिनिवृत्ती स्याताम् ; य ईदृगीश्वरो नारायणाख्यः, पृथिवीं
पृथिवीदेवताम् , यमयति नियमयति स्वव्यापारे, अन्तरः अभ्यन्तरस्तिष्ठन् , एष त
आत्मा, ते तव, मम च सर्वभूतानां च इत्युपलक्षणार्थमेतत् , अन्तर्यामी यस्त्वया
पृष्टः, अमृतः सर्वसंसारधर्मवर्जित इत्येतत् ॥
Thus, as per Shankara, the bodies - organs complex of all the beings is
that of the Antaryami, Brahman, which has no default body-organ complex of
its own.
Elsewhere, in the Brahma sutra bhashya  Shankara has said: "Brahman/Ishwara
can and does take on a form, to bless/help an aspirant in his sadhana.:
स्यात्परमेश्वरस्यापि इच्छावशात् मायामयं रूपं साधकानुग्रहार्थम् ।
(1.1.vii.20) (Ishwara, out of compassion, takes on, by His Maya, a form to
grace the spiritual aspirant."
This body taken out of compassion, is not the default body of Brahman.
Since, Brahman has to already be there in order to 'take' a body.
The above section of the Upanishad culminates in declaring that 'there is
no seer other than this Antaryami in each body.'
Thus when srishti, sthiti and laya of the creation happen, it is this
body-less Brahman that is at the support on which these cosmic activities
happen.
The Aitareya Upanishad 3.5.3 statement:

………एष ब्रह्मैष इन्द्र एष प्रजापतिरेते सर्वे देवा इमानि च पञ्च महाभूतानि
पृथिवी वायुराकाश आपो ज्योतींषीत्येतानीमानि च क्षुद्रमिश्राणीव । बीजानीतराणि
चेतराणि चाण्डजानि च जारुजानि च स्वेदजानि चोद्भिज्जानि चाश्वा गावः पुरुषा
हस्तिनो यत्किञ्चेदं प्राणि जङ्गमं च पतत्रि च यच्च स्थावरम् । सर्वं
तत्प्रज्ञानेत्रं प्रज्ञाने प्रतिष्ठितं प्रज्ञानेत्रो लोकः प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठा
प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म ॥ ३ ॥

says that it is this Brahman that is the four-faced Brahma, Indra,
Prajapati and all other devas. By extension, all beings, species,,in
creation are actually this Brahman alone.

Shankara has cited the above Aitareya mantra in the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad while determining the status of Hiranyagarbha:

Read the full post here:

https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2018/03/10/the-status-of-hiranyagarbha-as-per-shankara-and-others/

Thus, One Consciousness alone, called Ishwara, Brahman, takes on all the
various forms in creation. There is no separate entity called Ishwra.  The
forms of Rama, Krishna, etc. are incidental, contextual and not absolute.
There is  no absolute default body mind complex for Brahman.  One Brahman
alone takes on various forms, including all the life forms in creation.

subbu