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srI:
SrI  upakAra  sangraham ? 54
--- 
adikAram ? 1
poorva upakAra paramparai
(The Foremost Series of Favours) 
---   
SECTION ? 5 (11) [continued] 
(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for
MOKSHAM)  
-----   

        We just saw how poorva-meemAsa system did not accept
the study of the uttara-meemAmsa which establishes the
ultimate reality as the Brahman which is to be
attained by all human beings by the means explained in
it. There is also just an opposite view expressed by
the advaita system that the poorva-meemAmsa can
skipped and one can directly take up the study of the
Brahma-meemAmsa, that is, the uttara-meemAmsa. This
was proposed by Adi Shankara who codified the advaita
system in his commentary on the Brahma-sootra. 
        
Now, we shall consider the advaita system from which
also the Lord saved the sAttvika persons from being
misled, so that they continue their progress towards
Him in His Abode, SrIvaikuNtam. 
        
The advdaita system is also known as Eka jIva-vAdam or
MAyAvAdi religion.  This system is also based on the
Vedanta, the Upanishads. According to its philosophy,
Brahman is the sole Truth. It is j~nAna itself bereft
of any attributes or a form. It is known as
nirvishESha-cin-mAtra. The universe that we perceive
is a myth. Brahman itself appears as the jIva because
of avidhyA, ignorance which is also a myth. But it
envelops the Brahman leading to the different illusive
appearances including innumerable jIvas and material
objects of the sensual perception. In reality, all
these are non-existent. No one can say since when
these appearances are there. They are anAdhi ? of
unknown beginning. The person who sees only these
appearances and has not realized the Brahman,
undergoes the miseries in the form birth, death,
rebirth, old age etc. in the world. 
        
The advaita system is also based on the Upanishad
statements. But, it took cognizance of only those
statements which postulate the abhEda (non-difference)
theory as the true statements and rejected other
statements which speak of difference as false and they
cannot be taken as valid source of knowledge. This
system centres on five sentences from the Upanishads
and declared that one who knows the meaning of these
five sentences alone becomes a mukta, liberated soul. 
        
These five sentences are: 

1)  ?sadEva sOmya idamagra Aseet EkamEva advateeyam?
(ChAndOgya Upanishad, 6-2-1)

(Existence alone, my dear child, this was in the
beginning, one without a second.)

2) ?satyam j~nAnamanantam brahma?  Taitthireeya
Upanishad, Anadavalli, 2-1-1)

(The Brahman is Existence.)


3)  ?niShkalam niShkriyam shAntam? (shvEtArOpanishad,
6-19)

(He is without parts, He is without actions and He is
tranquil.)

4)  ?ayamAtmA bhrahma? (BruhadAraNyakOpnishad, 6-4-5)

(This Atma (the self) is the Brahman.)

5)  ?tat tvamsi?  (ChAndOgya Upnishad, 6-8-7)

 (That thou art.)

        The Brahman, enveloped by avidhyA, attains the nature
of a jIva and dreams. In the dream, it sees other
beings and material objects. It is just as we witness
many objects during dreams and all of them disappear
as we wake up and we say those were untrue. In the
same way, the world of sentient beings and
non-sentient objects is too untrue. When the Brahman
in the form of jIva gets the knowledge of reality, it
attains salvation. 
        
In the advaita system, everything other than the
Brahman is untrue. Even avidhya is false; Scriptures
are false. The knowledge acquired through the
scripture is also untrue; the world which is perceived
with that knowledge is also untrue. But, the Brahman
is self-luminous and so it is not at all affected by
the defects of either avidhya or its effects. 
        
SrI rAmAnuja in his SrIbhAshya has dismissed the views
of the advaita as not correct. Merely the knowledge of
the syntactic meaning of those five sentences will not
constitute the final release from the bonded life.
Also just the removal of ignorance (avidhya) does not
result from the knowledge of the meaning of these
sentences. He pointed out that one attains salvation
only through dhyAna (meditation) and upAsana (worship)
of the Ultimate Reality, that is the Brahman Who is
none other than SrIman nArAyaNa. The meditation should
be continuous and unbroken, like a stream of oil: 

 ?dhyAnam ca tailadhAravat avicchinna
smrutisantAnaroopam? (SrIbhAsyam, 1-1-1)
        
Such a firm memory is declared to be the means of
final release (mOkSha).  So declare many Upanishads. 
     
The theory of BhAskara: 
        
The post-Shankara schools of VedAnta which did not
agree with Shankara?s brand of advaita based on
mAyAvAda, the theory of unreality of this world.
BhAskara, a strict VedAntin, presented a Brahman with
innumerable auspicious attributes, but, without any
particular form. In his view, the Brahman is of the
nature of knowledge. The appearance of numerous jIvas
and the difference between jIvas and the Brahman is
due to upAdhi (a special cause). Non-difference
between Brahman and jIvas is true. BhAskara
recommended performance of scripture-ordained duties
without any desire for their fruits and meditation on
Brahman, as a sAdhanA for the jIva?s oneness with
Brahman. As he did not accept a Personal God, there is
no place for divine grace in his system. The system of
BhAskara is described as either dvaitAdvaita or
bhEdAbhEda. 

The theory of YAdavaprakAsha: 

        This is also bhEdAbheda system with some differences
from BhAskara?s theory. According to YAdavaprakAsha,
Brahman is separate, and at the same non-separate from
the sentient beings (jIvas) and non-sentient things in
the world. Both difference and non-difference are
natural. This system also accepts a Brahman with
attributes. Brahman itself turns into devas, humans,
animals, plants, the jIvas in the hells, jIvas in the
heaven and also mukta jIvas (liberated souls). At the
same time, the Brahman is unique in possessing
wonderful powers. This system accepts the world as
true.

        SrIbhAshyakAra dismisses both these systems also as
inconsistent.

The system of Grammarian (VaiyAkaraNa system):

        This system is similar to advaita, YAdavaism, and
Buddhism in one or two respects. The VaiyAkaraNa
system propounds a new theory by which the Brahman is
Spota which is a factor that creates the meaning of
sentences, apart from the letters, the words formed by
them, and the sentences formed by words. A section of
them says that the so called Spota which is the
Brahman itself is seen as this universe. That is the
universe is an appearance of this Spota, that is, the
Brahman. 
        
It appears that this grammarians were a confuse lot.
The confusion arose because they were helping the
different religious leaders in correctly understanding
the Vedic syntax. In the process they evolved their
own theory and added to the confusion of concepts.
        
SwAmi Desikan points out that the Lord had to step in
to save the sAttvik persons from being caught in this
mess of conflicting theories, in order that they
progress towards attaining Him ultimately.
        
With this, we come to the end of the eleventh favour
conferred by the Lord on the evolving jIvas. 

(To continue)
dAsan
Anbil S.SrInivAsan
------- 
      



      
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