[Advaita-l] प्रामाणिक बुद्धि एवं विमर्शः - by काव्यकण्ठ गणपति मुनिः

[Raghavender Upadhyayula]

Dear Sriram gaaru,

I am delighted and equally happy to see you bring forth an important aspect
pertaining to “प्रामाणिक बुद्धि एवं विमर्शः”.
The great soul (Ganapati muni), I heard, was a genuine seer. I have all his
works at my disposal thanks to Dr. Sampadananda Mishra ji. I can feel the
power of his compositions.
But, I did not find this particular lecture or for that matter any of his
extempore lectures in the collected works published by Ramana Ashrama. I
would be extremely grateful if you would mind sharing it with me for my
personal study.

Thanks

Best Regards,
Raghavender

On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 7:13 PM, Venkata sriram P via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> A thought provoking lecture by Shri.Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni on literary
> criticism.
>
> Shri.Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni was invited as “Guest of Honour” and
> presided the meeting that was held on the
> occasion of Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Sri.Krishnadevaraya Andhra
> Bhasha Nilayam in the year 1927.  This institute is presently in
> Koti at Hyderabad.  The celebrations took place on the dates 16, 17 and
> 18th February 1927.
>
> Shri.Ganapati Muni spoke extempore on various topics related to the
> objectives of the Andhra Bhasha Nilayam,
> Saraswathi Aradhana Vidhi, Veda Swadhyaya, importance of Sanskrit and
> Telugu Language,
> Literary Criticism and appreciation of poetry and literature.  Among such
> topics, was one on “प्रामाणिक बुद्धि एवं विमर्शः”
> [a sort of premeditated thinking towards an authoritative source (a
> person, scholar etc.) versus criticism].
>
> While speaking on these two aspects, Shri.Muni says that both are
> diametrically opposite to each other in methodology.
>
> The prAmANika buddhi (प्रामाणिक बुद्धि) is the mindset that induces
> respect, hero worship towards an author.
> His words become आप्त वाक्यं. Thus, results in 'prejudiced mindset'. With
> this prejudiced mind set, one cannot dare to view his works
> critically which is considered to be blasphemy.
>
> To speak in general, we show great respect and devotion towards our
> ancient scholars. This devotion evokes a “sense of prejudiced mind”
> called प्रामाणिक बुद्धि that pushes the critical and analytical skills of
> the mind to a backseat.  This trend has continued down from ages till date
> among several traditional scholars that has left them with intellect sans
> “critical analysis” (विमशॅ शक्ति).  Even today, our traditional scholars
> look ancient scholars, devotees with great respect and awe; whereas;
> consider the critics to be blasphemous. Whoever tries to point the finger
> towards ancient scholars are looked down upon as rebels.  This is due to
> the fact that we give more importance to
> प्रामाणिक बुद्धि (authority) than विमर्शः (criticism) thereby became
> 'slaves to emotions'.  It is to be noted that except Vedas (shruti), rest
> all the
> literature should be viewed with critical analysis only. Even in Vedas
> too, one must use our critical analytical skills to tap the inner science
> and
> higher truths hidden in them. We need not become emotional slaves to
> commentaries and works of ancient scholars.
>
> The problem is that we give an authoritative status to a ancient
> commentators / authors / scholars even without studying their works,
> thereby, arriving at an erroneous conclusions without being subject to
> critical analysis owing to the respect and devotion towards them.
>
> Thus, a healthy literary criticism has taken a back seat in our country.
>
> with regards,
> Sriram
>
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