[Chaturamnaya] Upadesa-pancakam of Adi Sankaracharya - 8

[S Jayanarayanan]

 (Continued from previous post)
 
 
Through śravaṇam, one knows the teaching of vedānta, and in mananam one analyzes all the systems which say other than vedānta
and see whether they can be accepted or not. And this problem is more in the case of vedānta because, for a beginner, it is
very difficult to accept the teachings of vedānta. Because, vedānta tells something contrary to whatever idea one has been
habituated to. In fact, vedānta makes statements regarding three fundamental things – namely, jīva, jagat and īśvarā.
 
Vedanta says that the jīva is infinite, is ānandasvarūpaḥ and is immortal! Then, it makes a statement about the world —
that the world is unreal, which is even more unacceptable to a layman. And the third statement that Vedanta makes it that
you are non-different from īśvarā, which one  cannot comprehend at all — because we have heard that Lord is sarvajñaḥ,
sarveśvaraḥ, sarva śaktimān, whereas, I know, I am alpajñaḥ, alpaśaktimān. Therefore, how, I can be identical with the Lord?
The other systems seem to be appealing because they all say that you are just a mortal, and not brahman and all, and the
jīvātmās and are distinct from paramātmā, which is only one. They also say the world is solidly real – jagat satyameva.
Except advaita, all other darsanas are of this view only. They also claim that they are rational systems based on logic
and reasoning – tarka-pradhāna śāstrās. For example, sāṅkyā, yoga, nyāya, vaiṣeśika, jaina, bouddha, — are all tarka-pradhāna
philosophies, whereas, the advaitins claim to be   Sruti-pradhAna based upon Sruti, the Vedas and have kept tarka as only a
tool or subsidiary to VedAnta. And that is why, in the defining the eligible – adhikAri – for learning VedAnta –  it is said
that SradhhA or faith in the Sruti is a must. Where as a rational person will never talk of faith; they say that those who
hold on to faith, belief etc are weak people, without intellectual capacity and call the advaitins as superstitious people
holding on to some scriptures. And so, what is required is a thorough analysis of those systems. And this is called mananam –
in which every other system is clearly weighed. And the beauty is, when we study those systems, we cannot take the help of
Vedas, because they don’t give importance to Vedas – but to Logic. So, one has to analyze all those systems with the
measuring rod of logic itself, and that is why all advaita AcAryas are great logicians also! Sankaracharya analyzes in his
brahmasUtra bhAshya – second chapter, which is dedicated exclusively, where every system is thoroughly analyzed. Having
dismissed all those systems, Sankaracharya establishes that logic cannot be used in the discovery of reality, because logic
has got intrinsic limitations. Thus Sankaracharya establishes the deficiencies of logic by using logic itself! And He says
that Sruti also says the same thing, namely,
naishA tarkeNa matirApaneyA  proktA anyenaiva sujnAnAya preshTA
anIyAn hya-tarkyam aNupramAnA  -
Sruti itself has talked about the limitation of tarka by using the word a-tarkya: AtmA
and this logical refutation of other systems and seeing the innate deficiency of logic alone will increase our faith in
VedAnta. Therefore this is the second job called mananam given in the 2nd line
दुस्तर्कात्सुविरम्यताम्। dus-tarkAt su-viramyatAm  –  May you get away from all those systems which are purely logic based. This is called
mananam.  Then one may wonder, if logic is deficient and cannot reveal the truth, then does it mean that logic should be
totally given up? Sankaracharya says  that logic need not be totally given up, but logic can be used for understanding the
VedAntic teaching – as a tool to extract the meaning of the sastras. That is, not to use logic to invent a philosophy –
but use it to bring out the teaching of the sastras. This tarka is called Sruti-matas-tarka: – subservient to, the Vedas.
 
Because for all our questions and doubts, Vedas do not give explicit answer, but at the same time, answers are hidden in
Vedas for any question implicitly. So, one has to extract the answer to remove a particular doubt, and  the method of
bringing out the answer is through logic. That is why, Sruti itself says, srotavya:, mantavya:, nidhidhyAsitavya:
Srotavya:  — Sruti pradhAna:
Mantavya: –  tarka supported Sruti
And this should also be followed by,
अनुसन्धीयताम्। anusandhIyatAm – may you dwell upon.  Thus answering all of one’s doubts is mananam. The benefit of mananam is
conviction in VedAntic teaching. Sravanam gives knowledge; mananam gives conviction.
 
There afterwards, if other people accept Vedanta or not, I don’t care, I am doubly sure about what I have understood. I can
say ‘aham brahmasmi” without any vagueness.
 
 
(To be Continued)
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