[Advaita-l] Advaitin - yAdava prakASa
bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com
bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com
Mon May 12 02:12:58 CDT 2003
praNAms
Hare Krishna
With the kind permission of Sri Jaldhar prabhuji, I am passing the
following web page info. for the kind clarification of the
learned members of this list. Kindly pardon me if it is
outside the scope of list activities.
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!
bhaskar
//quote//
Yadavaprakasha was such a rigid Advaitin, that he would not acknowledge
God with form. Unlike Shankaracharya, he would not even regard this
universe as a maya. To him it was totally insignificant.
//Unquote//
//Quote//
Ramanuja humbly, but firmly disagreed with Yadava Prakasha on the
interpretation of one of the rather confusing mantra from the Chandogya
Upanishad. The mantra was "tasya yatha kapyasam pundarikamevamakshini."
Even it seems Shankaracharya interpreted the meaning of "kapyasam" as
"nates of a monkey".
Yadavaprakasha explained the passage as follows:
'The two eyes of that golden Purusha are like two lotuses which are red
like
the nates of a monkey." Hearing this interpretation, tears rolled down
from
the corners of Ramanuja's eyes likes flames of fire and fell on the thigh
of
Yadavaprakasha. Yadava understood that something troubled his dear
disciple
Ramanuja. When asked for the cause of his anguish, Ramanuja politely
answered, " Revered Sir, from the mouth of a wise person like you, I
never
expected to hear the comparison of the eyes of the Supreme Godhead with
the
posterior of a monkey."
yadava considered this as a display of arrogance by Ramanuja and
challenged
him to give his interpretation. Ramanuja proceeded to give his
interpretation of Kapyasam, the troublesome word in the mantra.
Kapyasam=Kapih+Asam
Kapih= Kam jalam pibatiti Kapih: he who drinks water= Suryah, Sun
Asa=blossomed
Thus, Kapyasam=Sun blossomed or blossomed by the Sun
Now the mantra he translated as : The eyes of the golden Purusha are as
lovely as the lotuses blossomed by the rays of the Sun. Hearing this
Yadava
said that it is not a direct meaning but only a derived meaning.
Nevertheless, he recognized the skill of his student.
The trend continued. One of the famous Upanishadic mahavakyas "Satyam
Jnanam
anantam Brahma" was interpreted by Yadava as Brahman is truth,
Intelligence
and Infinitude.
Ramanuja, again disagreed with Yadava and interpreted it as Brahman is
endowed with the quality of truth, intelligence and infinitude. It is not
correct to hold that all these qualities are He Himself. These qualities
are
His, but not He, just as the body is mine, I am not the body.
//Unquote//
More information about the Advaita-l mailing list