[Advaita-l] Nyayasudha Objections 1

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sun, Mar 13, 2016 at 12:37 AM, Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> The advaita position is that bheda vAkyas in the shruti are not to be taken
> as pramANa for bhedatvam.
>
> 1) For any means of knowledge to be a pramANa, it has to reveal things
> that are not previously known. That there is bhedA is well known through
> everyday experience. One does not need the vedA to tell us that fire is
> hot, it is knowable via pratyaksha. Similarly we experience bhedA
> everyday, and therefore we don't need the vedA to tell us that bhedA is
> satyam.
>

In the Brhadaranyaka bhashyam 5.1.1 Shankara says:

तस्मात् श्रुतिस्मृतिन्यायविरोधात् अनुपपन्नेयं कल्पना । अस्याः कल्पनायाः
वरम् उपनिषत्परित्याग एव । अध्येयत्वाच्च न शास्त्रार्था इयं कल्पना ; न हि
जननमरणाद्यनर्थशतसहस्रभेदसमाकुलं समुद्रवनादिवत् सावयवम् अनेकरसं ब्रह्म
ध्येयत्वेन विज्ञेयत्वेन वा श्रुत्या उपदिश्यते ; प्रज्ञानघनतां च
उपदिशति ; ‘एकधैवानुद्रष्टव्यम्’
(बृ. उ. ४-४-२०)
<http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/php/format.php?bhashya=Brha&page=04#BR_C04_S04_V20>
इति
च ; अनेकधादर्शनापवादाच्च ‘मृत्योः स मृत्युमाप्नोति य इह नानेव पश्यति’ (बृ.
उ. ४-४-१९)
<http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/php/format.php?bhashya=Brha&page=04&hval=%E2%80%98%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%B8%20%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BF%20%E0%A4%AF%20%E0%A4%87%E0%A4%B9%20%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B5%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BF%E2%80%99%20(%E0%A4%AC%E0%A5%83.%20%E0%A4%89.%20%E0%A5%AA-%E0%A5%AA-%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%AF)#BR_C04_S04_V19>
इति
; यच्च श्रुत्या निन्दितम्, तन्न कर्तव्यम् ; यच्च न क्रियते, न स
शास्त्रार्थः ; ब्रह्मणोऽनेकरसत्वम् अनेकधात्वं च द्वैतरूपं निन्दितत्वात् न
द्रष्टव्यम् ; अतो न शास्त्रार्थः ; यत्तु एकरसत्वं ब्रह्मणः तत्
द्रष्टव्यत्वात् प्रशस्तम्, प्रशस्तत्वाच्च शास्त्रार्थो भवितुमर्हति ।
यत्तूक्तं वेदैकदेशस्य अप्रामाण्यं कर्मविषये द्वैताभावात्, अद्वैते च
प्रामाण्यमिति — तन्न, यथाप्राप्तोपदेशार्थत्वात् ; न हि द्वैतम् अद्वैतं वा
वस्तु जातमात्रमेव पुरुषं ज्ञापयित्वा पश्चात्कर्म वा ब्रह्मविद्यां वा
उपदिशति शास्त्रम् ; न च उपदेशार्हं द्वैतम्, जातमात्रप्राणिबुद्धिगम्यत्वात्
; न च द्वैतस्य अनृतत्वबुद्धिः प्रथममेव कस्यचित् स्यात्, येन द्वैतस्य
सत्यत्वमुपदिश्य पश्चात् आत्मनः प्रामाण्यं प्रतिपादयेत् शास्त्रम् । नापि
पाषण्डिभिरपि प्रस्थापिताः शास्त्रस्य प्रामाण्यं न गृह्णीयुः । तस्मात्
यथाप्राप्तमेव द्वैतम् अविद्याकृतं स्वाभाविकम् उपादाय स्वाभाविक्यैव अविद्यया
युक्ताय रागद्वेषादिदोषवते यथाभिमतपुरुषार्थसाधनं कर्म उपदिशत्यग्रे ; पश्चात्
प्रसिद्धक्रियाकारकफलस्वरूपदोषदर्शनवते
तद्विपरीतौदासीन्यस्वरूपावस्थानफलार्थिने तदुपायभूताम् आत्मैकत्वदर्शनात्मिकां
ब्रह्मविद्याम् उपदिशति ।

Translation by Swami Madhavananda:


// You said that one part of the Vedas would be"
invalid in the sphere of ceremonials because of the
absence of the dual world, while another part would
be valid in the realm of unity. This is wrong, for the
scriptures seek to instruct merely according to existing
circumstances. They do not teach a man, as soon as
he is born, either the duality or the unity of existence,
and then instruct him about rites or the knowledge of
Brahman. *Nor does duality require to be taught ; it*

*is understood by everyone as soon as he is born ; and*
*nobody thinks from the very outset that duality is*
*false, in which case the scriptures would :first have to*
*teach the reality of the dual world and then establish*
*their own validity*. (The unreality of the universe is
no bar to the validity of the scriptures, for) even the
disciples of those who deny the Vedas (and do not
believe in an objective universe)! would not hesitate
to accept the authority of their scriptures when they
are directed (to do something helpful in accordance
with them) by their teachers. Therefore the scriptures,
taking the dualistic world as it is-created by ignorance
and natural to everybody-first advise the performance
of rites calculated to achieve the desired ends to those
who are possessed of that natural ignorance and defects
such as attachment and aversion ; afterwards, when
they see the well-known evils of actions, their factors
and their results, and wish to attain their real state of
aloofness, which is the opposite of duality, the scriptures
teach them, as a means to it, the knowledge of
Brahman, consisting in the realisation of the unity of
the Self.//

subrahmanian.v



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