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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