[Advaita-l] About Patanjali and Panini

[Siva Senani Nori]

Sir
I don't know why you say that Patanjali "stated that only veda's mantra part is Vaidiki but the rest is loukik?" Which particular statement in Mahabhashya do you have in mind?
I am guessing here that you refer to the text quoted below. In the first Ahnika (day-lesson) popularly known as पस्पशाह्निकम् the opponent challenges the stance of Siddhanti शास्त्रेण धर्मनियमः क्रियते by stating that there are certain usages sanctioned by Sastra, but not actually found: अस्त्यप्रयुक्ताः। सन्ति वै शब्दा अप्रयुक्ताः। तद्यथा - ऊष, तेर, चक्र, पेच - इति। After some discussion, Patanjali says that one must simply not state that these Sabdas are not used, but must make an effort to find the usage: 
उपलब्धौ यत्नः क्रियताम्। महान् शब्दस्य प्रयोगविषयः। सप्तद्वीपा वसुमती, त्रयो लोकाः, चत्वारो वेदाः साङ्गाः सरहस्या बहुधा भिन्नाः . . .
Translation: Effort ought to be made to find out [the usages]. The subject/topic of usage of language is vast. The earth consists of seven islands; there are three lokas, and four Vedas along with its subsidiary elements (Vedangas) and with Rahasyas (Upanishads). 
Now, some people may say that just like Angas, a clearly external part as far as Vedas are concerned are mentioned, the external part of Upanishads are also similarly mentioned - साङ्गाः सरहस्याः। Given below are the reasons why Upanishads are not external to the Vedas.


I. bhedavivakshA vs. abhedavivakshA
Within Mahabhashya, Patanjali shows that whether we refer to an avayava separately or not is the wish of the speaker (vivakshA). As such no inference can be drawn from such usages. For instance if I hurt my right hand's index finger, I can choose to use any of the following sentences:
1. I hurt myself, 2. I hurt my right hand, 3. I hurt a finger on my right hand, 4. I hurt the index finger on my right hand, 5. I sustained a deep cut on the distal phalanx of my right index finger. 
So it does not necessarily mean that Rahasya is not Veda, just like usages 2 to 5 above do not mean that the distal phalanx of my right index finger is not included in the word "I"

II. Different interpretation
He is clearly stating that Upanishads are a part of Veda. Why didn't he say सब्राह्मणाः and सारण्यकाः? Because, Upanishads are the last part.

III. Rahasya need not mean Upanishad only
Further, Nagesabhatta in his commentary offers a resolution: रहस्यम् - उपनिषत्। म्वादिस्मृतयो वा, वेदनिगूढार्थप्रकाशत्वात्। In Purvamimamsa, it has been shown that Smritis throw light on parts of Veda which are otherwise not accessible.
If we look at literature of that time, we see that other Sastras - Mimamsa, Apastambasutra, Manusmriti etc. agree that Veda means Mantra bhaga and brAhmaNabhAga (here brAhmaNa means brAhmaNa, AraNyaka and upanishat).

IV. General vs. Particular
Also, within Mahabhashya there are sentences like नामाख्यातोपसर्गनिपाताश्च proposing a four-fold division of words. Now, it is well known that according to Panini, words are of two types - सुबन्तम्, तिङन्तम् (substantive and verb). Therefore in the four-fold division mentioned, i.e. नामाख्यातोपसर्गनिपाताश्च, upasarga and nipAta are necessarily a part of nAma.

V. Sentences quoted in Mahabhashyam
Finally, within Mahabhashya, many Vedic sentences occur such as (all these occur in PaspaSa only in the context of discussion about dharmaniyama)a) पयोव्रतो ब्राह्मणः यवागूव्रतो राजन्यः आमिक्षाव्रतो वैश्यःb) बैल्वः खादिरो वा यूपः स्यात्c) अग्नौ कपालान्यधिश्रित्याभिमन्त्रयते
All these sound like extracts from Brahmana-bhAga (unless they are from Krishnayajurveda where the saMhitA portion is mixed with instructions / guidelines like these, but then Patanjali belonged to Atharvaveda). Admittedly, one has to trace these quotations before concluding this line of argument.
RegardsN Siva Senani


 
      From: Shashwata Shastri via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
 To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org 
 Sent: Wednesday, 9 March 2016 11:57 AM
 Subject: [Advaita-l] About Patanjali and Panini
   
Lord Shankara has accepted all four parts of the shruti as vedas. But why 
did patanjali in his mahavashya stated that only veda's mantra part is 
Vaidiki but the rest is loukik? 

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