[Advaita-l] Sureshwara on 'Tad vishnoh paramam padam...'

[V Subrahmanian]

 Sureshwara on 'Tad vishnoh paramam padam...'

In the Brihadaranyaka Bhashya Vartika of Sureshwara 1.4.746:

 तद्विष्णोरिति मन्त्रोऽपि विष्णोस्तत्परमं पदम् |
चक्षुर्वदाततं व्योम्नि व्याचष्टे *प्रत्यगात्मनि *||

[The mantra 'Tad Vishnoh paramam padam.....dvi iva chakshuraatatam..'  is
teaching the all-*pervasiveness *like the eye, in the expansive space, that
the Pratyagatman, the innermost Self, jiva, is.]

Anandagiri comments: The mantra 'tadvishnoh paramam padam..' is shown as
pramana here, in this context. Param = that which is neither the effect nor
the cause.* Just as the eye pervades the Akasha in all directions, so too
the 'form' of the Supreme is *pervading* in the 'innermost' alone as there
is no other meaning for this other than the pratyak (Atman).

 * In advaita the Turiya, Nirguna Brahman, alone is qualified by the term:
karyakaarana vilakshanam -  that which is neither the effect nor the cause.
 If it is saguna Iswara then it will be designated as the cause,
jagatkaaranam.

This is exactly what Shankara too comments for the Kathopanishat 1.3.9
expression: Tad vishnoh paramam padam:

विज्ञानसारथिर्यस्तु मनःप्रग्रहवान्नरः ।
सोऽध्वनः पारमाप्नोति तद्विष्णोः परमं पदम् ॥ ९ ॥

किं तत्पदमित्याह — विज्ञानसारथिः यस्तु यो विवेकबुद्धिसारथिः पूर्वोक्तः
मनःप्रग्रहवान् प्रगृहीतमनाः समाहितचित्तः सन् शुचिर्नरो विद्वान् , सः अध्वनः
संसारगतेः पारं परमेव, अधिगन्तव्यमित्येतत् , आप्नोति, मुच्यते
सर्वसंसारबन्धनैः । तत् विष्णोः व्यापनशीलस्य ब्रह्मणः परमात्मनो
वासुदेवाख्यस्य परमं प्रकृष्टं पदं स्थानम् , सतत्त्वमित्येतत् , यत्
असावाप्नोति विद्वान् ॥

Since this is not any upasana prakarana but decidedly the jnana (for
moksha) sadhana teaching the Adhyatma Yoga, Shankara's comment nowhere
brings in any deity here. It is purely the Nirguna Atma Tattva jnanam which
is of the Brahma tattvam that Shankara is commenting for the term Vishnu =
Vyapanashiila.  Even the term 'Vasudeva' is of this nature alone as
Shankara has, even when the verse did not say that, in the BGB: 'aham
Vasudeva, there is none other than me' as the realization of the aspirant.

The aim of Advaita Sadhana is to realize one as the Pratyagatma (as
distinct from the pancha koshas which are anatma). And that the
Pratyagatma, which is nirgunam, is non-different from Brahman. 2.1.1:

पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत्स्वयम्भूस्तस्मात्पराङ् पश्यति नान्तरात्मन् ।
कश्चिद्धीरः प्रत्यगात्मानमैक्षदावृत्तचक्षुरमृतत्वमिच्छन् ॥ १ ॥

where the word pratyagatma is there. Shankara comments:  प्रत्यगात्मानं
प्रत्यक् चासावात्मा चेति प्रत्यगात्मा । प्रतीच्येवात्मशब्दो रूढो लोके,
नान्यत्र । व्युत्पत्तिपक्षेऽपि तत्रैवात्मशब्दो वर्तते ; ‘यच्चाप्नोति
यदादत्ते यच्चात्ति विषयानिह । यच्चास्य सन्ततो भावयस्तस्मादात्मेति
कीर्त्यते’ ; इत्यात्मशब्दव्युत्पत्तिस्मरणात् । तं *प्रत्यगात्मानं
स्वस्वभावम्* ऐक्षत् अपश्यत् पश्यतीत्यर्थः....स एवं संस्कृतः प्रत्यगात्मानं
पश्यति । न हि बाह्यविषयालोचनपरत्वं प्रत्यगात्मेक्षणं चैकस्य सम्भवति ।
किमिच्छन्पुनरित्थं महता प्रयासेन स्वभावप्रवृत्तिनिरोधं कृत्वा धीरः
प्रत्यगात्मानं पश्यतीति, उच्यते ।* अमृतत्वम् अमरणधर्मत्वं नित्यस्वभावताम्
इच्छन् आत्मन इत्यर्थः ॥*

Thus there is no way the Advaitin will mean a deity in this context.

That is exactly what Sureshwara has said above and Anandagiri has
clarified. The term 'pratyagatma' in Advaita refers to the true nature of
the jiva, beyond the five koshas. That is never any deity :-)

One can see the consistency across Shankara, Sureshwara and Anandagiri who
all, either explicitly or implicitly, give the etymological meaning alone
to the word 'Vishnu' = vyaapana shiila, aatatam vyomni, vyapnoti   ...and
never the meaning of a deity with a form and attributes.

regards
subbu