[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Works of Sri Vidyashankara

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Sunilji,

Thank you, but I just am not qualified to comment on history.  For example,
I couldn't make any statement on any of the historical comments you refer
to below with any conviction. In the absence of that, I'd rather stay
silent.

If there is any issue on philosophy where it is shown that the GIta bhAshya
and the rest of the bhAshyas differ, then I'd be happy to comment to the
extent I can say something meaningful.

Take for example, your reference to Ms. Isayeva's work. I read pages 41 and
42 of the book that you referred to (
https://www.scribd.com/doc/102196848/Natalia-Isayeva-Shankara-and-Indian-Philosophy)
.
Here are a couple of thoughts:

1) Ms Isayeva says that the references to SundarapANDya's kArikas are found
in the Brahma sUtra bhAshya too - at the end of the bhAshya of sUtra 1.1.4.
2) She also goes on to say "it is believed that that in his commentary on
the Bhagavad Gita, Sankara implies the doctrine of SundarapANDya when he
mentions a logical method of prior superimposition and subsequent denial
(adhyAropa apavAda) used in Advaita VedAnta with reference to the
phenomenal attributes of Brahman"

I am not sure whether we can definitively conclude that the adhyAropa
apavAda method can be traced back to SundarapANDya specifically, but as I
said previously, it is a very standard technique used in the teaching of
advaita vedAnta in general. It is not something that is unique to the
Bhagavad Gita. It is found in most upanishad bhAshyas and brahma sUtra
attributed to Shankara.

Also, Ms Isayeva acknowledges that references to SundarapANDya occur in
brahma sUtra bhAshya too (1 above). So how can we use her second statement
to conclude that the gIta bhAshya was written by some other Shankara, while
ignoring her first statement that the brahma sUtra has also referred to
SundarapANDya?

As I said previously, commenting on philosophy is easier for me than
commenting on history. If you have a specific quote from Prof. Karmarkar
that you would like the list to review, please do share.

If it is a discussion on history, I am really out of my depth here.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan



On 29 Dec 2016 7:16 a.m., "Sunil Bhattacharjya" <
sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

Namste Venkatraghavanjee.

When one cannot be sure one should consider the most probable ones. One has
to check whether the  Bhagavadgita bhashya  comes among the most probable
ones.  Let us dispassionately analyze the issue. : Sri Vidyashankara became
Mathadhipati in 1118 CE and Sri Ramanujacharya passed away in 1137 CE. That
means Sri Vidyashankara reigned as the mathdhipati for 1137-1118 = 19 years
before Sri Ramanujacharya passed away. It is not possible that such a great
Advaitic scholar like Sri Vidyashankara would let Sri Ramanujacharya's
Bhagavadgitabhashya go uncontested and that is why he did write the
Bhagavadgita bhashya from the advaitic angle. Moreover Prof. Karmarkar
pointed out that linguistically Adi Shankara's style as seen in his
Brahmasutrbhashya and other bhashyas is not seen in the Bhagavadgita
bhashya. Further the Pandya kings were ruling when Sri Vidyashankar went to
Kanchipurama and the great Sanskrit scholar king Sundara Pandya was a
contemporary of Sri Vidyashankara. This fact is also to be taken into
consideration that Natalia Isayeva had pointed out the Sundara Pandya
connection in the Bhagavadgitabhshya. All these make it strongly possible
that the Bhagavadgitabhashya was written by Sri Vidyashankara and not by
Adi Shankara.

Please do not take it personally as I am trying my best to arrive at the
truth rather than shirking it off. If you have contrary views you can also
advance your arguments and there is no harm in having friendly discussions
in the  scholarly forums (fora).

Regards,
Sunil KB