[Advaita-l] ANOTHER QUESTION ON RV AND VEDANTA ROOTS...

[V Subrahmanian]

Thank you Shri Anand ji for a very informative post.  I went through the
older post on the nAsadIyasUktam as well.  There, by this expression:

// there was no indication of either Day or Night - the Sun and the Moon.//

could it be taken as the 'absence of the concept of Time' prior to creation?

Now reverting to the message of the current post, here is one instance of a
Rg Vedic hymn on mAyA -

चतुष्कपर्दा युवतिः सुपेशा घृतप्रतीका वयुनानि वस्ते ।

तस्यां सुपर्णा वृषणा निषेदतुः यत्र देवा दधिरे भागधेयम् ।

एकः सुपर्णः स समुद्रं आविवेश स इदं विश्वं भुवनं विचष्टे ॥। (10.114.3,4)


being used by Shankara in the following verse of the shatashloki:


The essence of the above mantra has been captured by Shankaracharya in the
Shatashloki, a book of a hundred verses on the causes of bondage and the
means to transcend it.  Every verse is based on the Veda and what could be
derived from the teachings of the Veda.  The 26th verse here reads thus:


चत्वारोऽस्याः कपर्दा युवतिरथ भवेन्नूनता नित्यमेषा

माया वा पेशला स्यादघटितघटनापाटवं याति यस्मात् ।

स्यादारम्भे घृतास्या श्रुतिभवयुवनान्येवमाच्छादयन्ती

तस्यामेतौ सुपर्णाविव परपुरुषौ तिष्ठतोऽर्थप्रतीत्या ॥ (२६)

The ‘glories’ of mAyA are depicted in a four-fold manner :


http://atma.sulekha.com/blog/post/2009/11/four-glories-of-maya-a-study-of-a-rg-vedic-mantra.htm<goog_867650625>

Regards,
subrahmanian.V


On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 8:35 PM, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com> wrote:

> >So, I would like to hear your opinions about whether the vedAnta roots are
> able to be found in the RV or not, and in what measure we could be certain
> of that?
>
> A central concept in Advaita Vedanta is that of Maya, so much so that
> Advaita Vedanta has been called Mayavada by many. Only by understanding the
> concept of Maya is it possible to have a good grasp of Advaita philosophy.
> The word Maya in its simple or compound forms has been used in some 75
> hymns
> of the Rg Veda. It is useful to make a study of these forms, using Sayana's
> commentary as a guide. After the study of these Rg Vedic hymns, it is
> possible to interpret Maya as a mysterious power or deception. Two other
> hymns are to be studied, with Sayana's commentary, by those interested in
> finding Vedantic ideas in the Rg Veda. These are the Purusha Sukta (X.90)
> and the Nasadiya Sukta (X.129). I have briefly discussed the Nasadiya sukta
> earlier on this list:
>
> http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2010-March/024123.html
>
> Anand
>