[Advaita-l] Fw: Re: Buddhism, Advaita and Dvaita - 1

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

--- On Sat, 5/14/11, Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Buddhism, Advaita and Dvaita - 1
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2011, 9:29 PM

Dear friends,

Quote
//Taking material from the UpaniShads and also from the MahAbhArata (which
includes the BhagavadgItA), Buddha, even as the brAhmaNa-s (vaidika-s) were
wide awake, accomplished a great fortune - literally filled up his treasury
- (of establishing a vibrant system).//

Such is the piracy that Buddhism has indulged in that its source material is
none other than the scriptures of the SanAtana Dharma, the Vaidika
sampradAya.
Unquote

In such a nice write-up I was pained to find some derogatory words for Lord Buddha. I have to draw the kind attention of the learned scholars that Lord Buddha did no plagiarisn. He himself said that what he was teaching was in fact told by the ancient seers in the
 past.

Regards,

Sunil KB

--- On Sat, 5/14/11, Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:

From: Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
Subject: [Advaita-l] Buddhism, Advaita and Dvaita - 1
To: "Advaita-L" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2011, 4:17 PM

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>

Srigurubhyo namaH

In his really very nicely produced book 'The History of the Dvaita school of
Vedanta and its literature' (The Book)

Tiny URL:

http://tinyurl.com/42vhs3d

Dr.BNK Sharma (BNK) has
 made several points as a commentary on the Dvaita
system and also on its perception of Advaita.

On page 146 of the Book in the footnote are given by BNK the eight verses
quoted by Sri Madhvacharya in the work 'Tattvodyota':

सत्यं तु द्विविधं प्रोक्तं सांवृतं पारमार्थिकम् ।
सांवृतं व्यवहार्यं स्यान्निवृत्तौ पारमार्थिकम् ॥१
विचार्यमाणे नोऽसत्त्वं सत्त्वं चापि प्रतीयते ।
यस्य तत्सांवृतं तत्स्यात् व्यवहारपदं च यत् ॥ २
निर्विशेषं स्वयंभातं निर्लेपमजरामरम् ।
शून्यं तत्त्वमविज्ञेयं
 मनोवाचामगोचरम् ॥ ३
जाड्यसंवृतिदुःखान्तपूर्वदोषविरोधि यत् ।
नित्यभावनया भातं तद्भावं योगिनं नयेत् ॥ ४
भावार्थप्रतियोगित्वं भावत्वं वा न तत्त्वतः ।
विश्वाकारं च संवृत्या यस्य तत्पदमक्षयम् ॥ ५
नास्य सत्वं न वा सत्वं न दोषो गुण एव वा ।
हेयोपादेयरहितं तच्छून्यं पदमक्षयम् ॥ ६
अवाच्यं सर्वशब्दैस्तल्लक्ष्यतेऽखिलैः पदैः ।
अज्ञेयं ज्ञानलक्ष्यं च तच्छून्यं
 पदमक्षयम् ॥ ७
यदखण्डं पदं लक्ष्यं सर्वैरपि विशेषणैः ।
सर्वैर्विशेषणैर्मुक्तं तच्छून्यं पदमक्षयम् ॥ ८

BNK says that Madhva has not given the source of these verses and that it is
confirmed from other researchers' works that these are genuinely buddhistic
ones.  These verses are quoted by Madhva to demonstrate the point that
Advaita is no different from Bauddha darshana.

In the sequel a few of such points have been taken up for analysis. This is
a study to show that the verses under reference have directly or indirectly
a basis/origin in the Vedanta Scripture which includes the Shruti, the
BhagavadgIta and other PuraNa-s.  

In a private conversation Vidwan Sri Mani Dravid Sastrigal mentioned this
verse of
 महेन्द्रवर्मा in the ’मत्तविलासप्रहसनम्’ -
वेदान्तेभ्यो गृहीत्वार्थान् यो महाभारतादपि ।
विप्राणां मिषतामेव कृतवान् कोशसञ्चयम् ॥

Mahendravarman in his work 'mattavilAsaprahasanam' says this about the
coming into being of the Buddhistic system:

//Taking material from the UpaniShads and also from the MahAbhArata (which
includes the BhagavadgItA), Buddha, even as the brAhmaNa-s (vaidika-s) were
wide awake, accomplished a great fortune - literally filled up his treasury
- (of establishing a vibrant system).//

Such is the piracy that Buddhism has indulged in that its source material is
none other than the scriptures of the SanAtana Dharma, the Vaidika
sampradAya.

The verse first quoted by Sri
 Madhva is now taken up for a detailed study:

सत्यं तु द्विविधं प्रोक्तं सांवृतं पारमार्थिकम् ।
सांवृतं  व्यवहार्यं स्यान्निवृत्तौ पारमार्थिकम् ॥१

//Satyam is spoken of in two modes - sAmvRtam and paaramArthikam.  The
former is 'vyavahAryam' and upon its
removal/destruction/dispelling/negation/sublation (one attains to) the
pAramArthikam.//

In the BhagavadgIta 7th Chapter in verses 4 and 5 the Lord has specified His
nature, prakRti, as two-fold: aparA and parA.  The aparA constitutes the
entire created universe which is inert and is the viShaya, kShetram,
bhogya.  And the parA is the Consciousness Principle that is the viShayI,
kShetrajna, the (apparent) bhoktA. We get the confirmation that the above
understanding
 is correct in the opening verses of the 13th Chapter where the
kShetram and the kShetrajna have been elaborately dealt with where the very
2nd verse says that the knowledge about the two, the kShetram and the
kShetrajna, constitutes 'The Knowledge' meaning that that is the liberating
knowledge.  So, we have in the Gita firm evidence for presenting 'Satyam' /
'tattva' into two, as two-fold.  Of course we have in the Mandukya Upanishad
the clear distinction, the statement, of the tattva as 'relative' in the
pAdatraya and 'absolute' in the Turiya pAda.   

That the two are vyavahAryam and pAramArthikam respectively is also
established in the Shruti.  For example the Mandukya Upanishad specifies
Brahman as four-quartered, chatuShpAt.  The first three pAda-s are the
break-up of the kShetram and the fourth, the TurIya, is the true nature of
the kShetrajna.  In the seventh mantra
 delineating the turIya there is a
word 'avyavahAryam' - that which never enters into the category of the
vyAvahArika, or the realm that is subject to the transactions involving the
knower-knowing-know(n)able in the three states of waking, dream and sleep. 
By explicitly calling the Turiya, brahman, अव्यवहार्यम् the Shruti is implying
that the other-than-turIya is व्यवहार्यम्.  The Mandukya kArikA 1.17 has the
line: मायामात्रमिदं द्वैतं, अद्वैतं परमार्थतः ।  It is interesting to note that the
Mandukya up. 7th mantra has another word: advaitam.  Thus Advaitam is
pAramArthikam and dvaitam is vyAvahArikam.  The sole objective of the
Vedanta is to free the jIva-chaitanya from the erroneous idea of
samsAritva.  This idea is conveyed by the word 'निवृत्तौ’ in the
 above verse.