[Advaita-l] Re: bhagavad.h gItA 2.11

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

A few, short additions to what Sri Siva Senani has said about this gItA 
verse and bhAshya:

1. The straightforward split of prajnAvAda is prajnA + vAda. Often, the same 
compound can be split in two or more ways. A good rule of thumb to apply to 
most sAMskrta poets is that unless specifically required by the 
context/meaning, one should parse a samAsa in the most straightforward way 
possible. There were only a few poets who deliberately composed in a 
complicated manner, to whom this thumb rule would not be applicable.

E.g. the straightforward parsing of the compound karNasUnu is karNasya sUnuH 
(the son of karNa), but when the word is used to refer to sUrya, one has to 
understand the compound as karNo yasya sUnur asau saH (he whose son is 
karNa). The same word then refers to the father of karNa, rather than the 
son of karNa. This is determined by context.

2. The intention of the verse 2.11 is generally as follows, "you grieve 
unnecessarily, yet speak words of wisdom. However, the truly wise do not 
grieve over these things." The word paNDita in the second half of the verse 
in fact gains in force when prajnAvAda in the first half is understood as 
prajnA + vAda and not as prajnA + avAda. There is hardly any point in 
talking wisdom to someone who is completely ignorant or an utter fool. 
Pointing out the way of true wisdom is appropriate only to one who has an 
inkling of knowledge but is confused about it.

Best regards,
Vidyasankar

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