[Advaita-l] The meaning of Sat in "सदेव सोम्य" Shruti

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste Bhaskar ji.
// it has to be parabrahman only otherwise ekamevAdvitiyam does not suit to
ajnAna vishishta brahman 😊 Before talking about anything srushti prakriya,
shruti talks about parabrahman only at the start which is second to none.
But however, shankara elsewhere clarifies whenever brahma-tattva associated
with jagat srushti it is kArya brahman / upAsya / apara...it does not
anyway mean brahman endowed with avidyA even before the creation and
introduction of jeeva aspect 😊//

If we see MANDUkya 1.2 bhAshya, there AchArya says - ननु, तत्र *‘सदेव
सोम्य’ *(छा. उ. ६ । २ । १) इति प्रकृतं सद्ब्रह्म प्राणशब्दवाच्यम् ; *नैष
दोषः, बीजात्मकत्वाभ्युपगमात्सतः* । यद्यपि सद्ब्रह्म प्राणशब्दवाच्यं तत्र,
तथापि जीवप्रसवबीजात्मकत्वमपरित्यज्यैव *प्राणशब्दत्वं सतः सच्छब्दवाच्यता च*
। यदि हि निर्बीजरूपं विवक्षितं ब्रह्माभविष्यत् , ‘नेति नेति’ (बृ. उ. ४ । ५
। ३) ‘यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते’ (तै. उ. २ । ९ । १) ‘अन्यदेव तद्विदितादथो
अविदितादधि’ (के. उ. १ । ४) इत्यवक्ष्यत् ; ‘न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते’ (भ. गी. १३ ।
१२) इति स्मृतेः । निर्बीजतयैव चेत् , सति प्रलीनानां सम्पन्नानां
सुषुप्तिप्रलययोः पुनरुत्थानानुपपत्तिः स्यात् ; मुक्तानां च
पुनरुत्पत्तिप्रसङ्गः, बीजाभावाविशेषात् , ज्ञानदाह्यबीजाभावे च
ज्ञानानर्थक्यप्रसङ्गः ; *तस्मात्सबीजत्वाभ्युपगमेनैव सतः*
प्राणत्वव्यपदेशः, *सर्वश्रुतिषु
च कारणत्वव्यपदेशः* ।

Sat has sat-shabda-vAchyatA without renouncing the bIjAtmakatA. It is not
the nirbIja Brahman, which is stated by the word 'sat' in 'sadeva somya'
Shruti as explained here.

Also, if we see BrihadAraNyaka 1.4.17 - आत्मैवेदमग्र आसीदेक एव सोऽकामयत
जाया मे स्यादथ - which is used as an example to illustrate the context,
there AchArya says - स एवैक आसीत् — जायाद्येषणाबीजभूताविद्यावानेक एवासीत्.
That he alone was there is explained as --- bIja-bhUtA-avidyA-vAn eka-eva
AsIt. Thus, ajnAna-vishishTa-AtmA does not contradict its non-duality.
Rather that alone is stated to be the meaning by AchArya here in 1.4.17.

With these references, it appears quite clearly that the vAchya-artha of
sat is sabIja-Brahman i.e. ajnAna-vishishTa-Brahman. The lakshya-artha can,
however, be nirvishesha Brahman.

V Subramanian ji, Chandramouli ji, Praveen Bhat ji, Venkataraghavan ji and
other learned members. Please share your view in the matter.

Regards.
Sudhanshu Shekhar.