[Advaita-l] Kumarila Bhattas devotion to Shiva Bhagavan

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Nov 13, 2018 at 11:33 AM Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
> Shri Kumarila Bhatta (circa 7th or 8th Century AD) is one of the eminent
> acharyas of Purva Mimamsa.  His commentary on the Mimamsa Sutras and
> Shabarabhashya is in three parts: shlokavarttika on the first pada of the
> first adhyaya, the tantravarttika on the remainder of the first adhyaya
> through the third adhyaya, and the tuptika on the rest.  Here is the first
> shloka of the shlokavarttika:
>
> vishuddhaGYAnadehAya trivedidivyachakShuShe |
> shreyaHprAptinimittAya namaH somArddhadhAriNe ||
>
> In M.M. Ganganath Jha's translation:
>
> "Reverence to Him who wears the crescent moon, Him who is embodied in pure
> consciousness, Him whose three eyes are the three Vedas, and who is the
> source from which all prosperity flows."
>

A vishishtadvaitin who commented on the above work of Kumarila Bhatta, not
happy with the direct meaning the verse gives, proposed a Vishnu-specific
meaning to it. There is also the practice of avoiding any deity and giving
a purely karma-para meaning to the verse as well.

In any case, we have here a rare verse from Kumarilabhatta:

At the end of his commentary 'गोपालिका' to the work (on Vyaakarana)
'sphoTasiddhi' of Mandanamisra, the commentator Rishiputra Parameswara of
Kerala (13 - 14 Century CE) cites a verse as that of Kumarilabhatta (see
first image).  All images can be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/subrahmanian.vaidyanathan/posts/2322199981126683



यथोक्तं भट्टपादैः -

यदीयशक्त्यनाविष्टं जगत्स्पन्दितुमक्षमम् |
युक्तिभिस्तमपह्नोतुं कः शक्तः परमेश्वरम् || इति |

As has been stated by Bhattapada:

Who indeed can negate, with logic, that Supreme Lord, Parameswara, without
whose power the universe cannot pulsate?

The verse is significant in that it comes from a Purva Mimamsaka, Kumarila
Bhatta. The concept is completely Vedic for it is the Veda that accepts a
Supreme Lord who is the creator, sustainer and destroyer of creation. It is
because of the power of this sentient being, nay, the very sentience that
is at the base of the creation, the inert world, gets enlivened.

The verse reminds one of the famous opening verse of the Soundarya lahari
of Shankaracharya:

शिवःशक्त्यायुक्तो यदि भवति शक्तः प्रभवितुं
न चेदेवं देवो न खलु कुशलः स्पन्दितुमपि।
अतस्त्वाम् आराध्यां हरि-हर-विरिन्चादिभिरपि
प्रणन्तुं स्तोतुं वा कथमकृ्तपुण्यः प्रभवति॥

Shiva united with Shakti becomes able to manifest
If otherwise, this god knows not even how to pulsate.
How then could one of ungained merit be able to bow to, or even praise
One such as you, adored by Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma.

Some information about the commentator Rishiputra Parameshwara is available
from his own works and the editor of the commentary derives his time as 13
- 14 CE. We find that the author is a Hari-Hara abheda and Trimurti Aikya
vaadin (see the rest of the images below)

The editor of the book (1931), Vidwan Ramanatha Sastry, says at the index
part that the verse of Kumarila Bhatta cited by the commentator could be
from a non-extant work 'BrhatTIkaa' of Bhattapaada.
One can easily conclude that Bhattapaada was a Vedantin.
There is a chapter called* आत्मवाद in श्लोकवार्तिकम्*, wherein Kumarila
takes up the discussion between *Maitreyi and Yajnavalkya *quoted by
Sabarasvamy - *विज्ञानघन एव एतेभ्यः भूतेभ्यः समुत्थाय तान्येवानुप्रविशति ;
अविनाशी वा अरे अयमात्मा* .... and explains the cryptic meaning .

At the end Kumarila suggests  ’* वेदान्तनिषेवणम् *’ for details --

इत्याह नास्तिक्यनिराकरिष्णुः आत्मास्तितां  भाष्यकृदत्र युक्त्या ।
दृढत्वमेतद्विषयश्च बोधः प्रयाति वेदान्तनिषेवणेन ॥

Parthasarathimisra of *न्यायरत्नाकर* explains --

*नित्यात्मसत्तामात्रेणैव वेदप्रामाण्यसिद्धेः *तन्मात्रमिह प्रतिपादितम् ।
दार्ढ्यार्थिभिस्तु* वेदान्तविहितेष्वेव* *श्रवणमनननिधिध्यासनादिषु
यतितव्यमिति*।


regards
subrahmanian.v

>
>
> This is interesting because many surveys of Purva Mimamsa suggest that it
> is atheistic.
>
> But specifically what they object to is a creator God because they wish to
> establish the supreme authority of Shruti above any interpreter human or
> divine.  But as this shloka shows, this need not rule out other
> conceptions of the divine.
>
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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