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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00120 Jul 2006

 
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Sruthi texts quoted to prove that Brahman is nirvisesha examined.
1.'Sadheva soumya idham agra aseeth, ekameva adhvitheeyam.'(Chan.6-2-
1) Before , my dear, this was 'sat' only , one only without a second. 
This is taken as implying that the 'sat' , brahman is alone real , 
denying the existence of anything else other than Brahman. But 
Ramanuja gives a different interpretation.
The context in which this sentence is found contains the promissory 
statement about  that knowledge, by which everything else will be 
known, ekavijAnena sarvavijnAnam, because the father asks the son 
whether he has learnt that, by knowing which everything else becomes 
known. Therefore the word 'Sat' denotes Brahman, the material and 
efficient cause of the world, who is omniscient and omnipotent, whose 
will never fails, who is within everything and supports everything 
and possesses innumerable auspicious qualities, 'EkavijnAnEna 
sarvavijnanaprathipadhanamukhenasacchabdavAchyasya Parasya brahmaNah 
jagadhupAdhAnathvam jagannimitthathvam sarvajnatha 
sarvashakthiyogahsathyasankalpathvam sarvAntharathvam sarvAdhArathvam 
sarvaniyamanam ithyAdhyaneka kalyANa guNa visishtathAm 
krthsnasyajagathah thadhatmakatham cha prathipAdhya 
evambhoothabrahmAthmakasthvamasi  ithi svEthakethum prathi upadhesAya 
pravrtthathvAth prakaraNasya.' The Import of the sentence is to show 
to Svethakethu, the son by the father that  Brahman dsescribed as 
such is the innerself of all by the statement 'thatthvamasi, that 
thou art.' 
2.'Sathyam jnAnam anantham brahma.' Brahman is existence, knowledge 
and infinity. This is explained by advaitin that sathya etc are not 
attributes because Brahman is attributeless consciousness. He says 
that the different epithets mean the same entity and not its 
different attributes. Satyam differentiates Brahman from all that is 
unreal,jnAnam from ignorance and anantham from all that is finite.
Ramanuja refutes this explanation. By the rule of sAmAnADHikaraNya 
set out by the grammarian PANini 'bhinnapravrtthi nimitthAnAm 
sabdhAnAmEkasminnarTHE vrtthih sAmAnADHi karaNyam' which means that 
when different words of different connotations are placed in 
apposition to denote the same entity it is coordination, 
sAmAnADHikaraNya.For instance in the sentence 'syamO yuvA 
devadattah,' the words syama, dark and yuva, young both denote one 
entity Devadattha who is having these attributes. Similarly the words 
satyam etc denote the attributes of Brahman, which is savisEsha only 
and not nirvisEsha, as claimed by the advaitin.The argument that many 
adjectives will make the entity qualified to appear as many is not 
correct. Only when the attributes are inconsistent with one another 
as in the sentence ' brokenhorned, hornless and full horned is the 
ox ' it indicates more than one animal because the attributes cannot 
be found in one ox.
Advaitin says that the text 'ekameva advitheeyam' cannot suffer a 
second even in the form of an attribute because Brhaman is changeless 
being sathyam, pure existence, which can have no attribute. Hence 
other texts such as 'satyam jnAnanm anantham brahma' should be 
interpreted to mean only a nirvisEsha vasthu, attributeless entity. 
Otherwise other texts defining brahman as 'nirguNam, niranjanam' etc 
will not be meaningful.
Ramanuja replies that the word adhvitheeyam only implies that there 
is no  material cause other  than Brahman. That Brahman has unique 
power, being both the material and efficient cause is denoted by the 
text 'thadhaikshatha bahu syAm prajAyEya, thatthEjO asrjatha, it 
willed to become many and created fire.' Sadheva sowmya idham agra 
Aseeth EkamEva' dentes that there can be no material cause other than 
Brahman  and the word 'adhitheeyam' shows that it is the efficient 
cause as well.(note: material cause is upAdhAna KAraNam , like the 
mud in the creation of pot and efficient cause is the nimittha 
kAranam like the potter.) 
It cannot be argued that this interpretation will conflict with the 
texts denying attributes to brahman such as 'nirguNam , nishkalam, 
nishkriyam, shAntham etc. , says Ramanuja,  because these deny only 
the undesirable attitudes, as found in the world of beings,in 
Brahman. Therfore there is no conflict between the saguNa and nirguNa 
texts so that neither of them need be ignored. Even the texts that 
describe Brahman as  jnAna, state jnaNa as his svarupa. He is both 
jnAthA, knower and jnAnasvarupa. Ramanuja quotes the texts such 
as 'yah sarvajnah sarvavith,' (Mund.1-1-10) who knows everything and 
about everything, ' na thasya kAryam karaNam cha vidhyathE na 
thatsamschAbhyadDHikascha dhrsyathE parAscha shakthirviviDHaiva 
srooyathE svAbhavikee jnanabalakriya cha,' (Svet.6-8.) He has neither 
a body nor any organ; there is no one superior or equal to Him;  His 
power is supreme and many and His knowledge, power and action is 
spontaneous. 
There is evidence in the sruthi itself that Brahman is free from 
undesirable qualities and possesses auspicious qualities, says 
Ramanuja. 'Esha AthmA apahathapApma vijarO vimrthyuh vishOkO 
vijiGhathso apipAsah sathyakamah sathya sankalpah,'(Chan.8-1-5) AtmA 
is free from karma,old age,death,sorrow,hunger and thirst; He has 
infallible desire and unfailing will.' Thus sruthi itself shows that 
there is no conflict between nirguNa and saguNa texts. 
The texts like 'bheeshAsmAth vAthah pavathE,'(Tait.anand.8) the wind 
blows out of fear from Him,(because He is the ruler of the elements) 
show his divine attributes and  describe the bliss of brahman, 
brahmananda, experienced in mukthi, 'thE ye satham,' begin from the 
wordly joy and mutiplies hundredfold each kind of bliss in different 
worlds to indicate the extreme joy of Brahman and emphasises the 
infinite nature of the auspicious qualitiesof Brahman by 'yathO vAchO 
nivarthanthE aprApya manasA saha Anandam brahmanO vidvAn,' he who 
knows the bliss of Brahman from where all speech turn away witout 
reaching it along with the mind.That Brahman has attributes is also 
known from the texts like 'so asnuthe sarvAn kAmAn saha brahmaNA 
vipascithA,' he realises all his wishes along with the omniscient 
Brahman. Ramanuja interprets the word kamAh as desire for the 
kalyAnagunAh which are enjoyed in mukthi along with Brahman implying 
that one has to meditate  on the auspicious attrributes of Brahman. 
  
 















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