sAmAnAdhikaraNyam/intros and table

Srikrishna Ghadiyaram srikrishna_ghadiyaram at YAHOO.COM
Thu Oct 31 18:20:51 CST 2002


Hari Om !!

On Sun, 11 Aug 2002 00:19:14 -0700, ken knight <hilken_98 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>> Namaste all,
>
>Sorry to take up space but this seemed to be the best
>option. I am posting the monograph of Dr Ganapathy
>with footnotes.

In this article the author, while explaining the jAti-vyakti
samAnAdhikaranya, writes:

"Words which are placed in the coordinate relation as
in the expression ‘this cow’ refer to one and the same
object. Though the connotations of the words are
different — the word ‘this’ refers to the particular
(vyakti), and the word ‘cow’ refers to the universal
(jAti), they nevertheless refer to one and the same
object. This type of coordinate relation between jAti
and vyakti is known as JAti-vyakti-sAmAnAdhikaraNya.


But this type of coordinate relation cannot be adopted
in interpreting the mahAvAkyas, for jAti-vyakti
relation is applicable only to insentient objects.
Both jAti and vyakti are insentient. But IShvara and
jIva are sentient. Hence the mahAvAkyas cannot be
interpreted by this type of coordinate relation. "

How is the second paragraph justified ? Comparing his reason with the
example of 'this cow', how can we say 'cow' to be 'insentient' (though cow
is a generic noun of a species)?

Om Namo Narayanaya !!

Srikrishna
>From ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG Fri Nov  1 01:36:02 2002
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From: "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at BRAINCELLS.COM>
Subject: Re: Kalasamuddesha or reckoning of tim
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Gregory Goode wrote:

> Thanks for this informative list of the time-periods!  How was the
> equivalency arrived at between, say, the small amounts of time (a vedha,
> an aNu, etc.) and the corresponding number of seconds?  All based on the
> lunar calendar and subdivisions?
>

The ghadi was the smallest unit I was sure of so I just worked backwards
from there.  The typical time-measuring device in ancient India was the
water clock which was probably not capable of better than sub-minute
accuracy at best.  However it is possible to get more accurate measurement
by rational numbers.  For example the length of the year is given in
jyotisha books as 1577917500 / 4320000 which comes out to 365.25868
days which is slightly over the correct number, 365.25636, but more
accurate than the Gregorian calendar.

Also note the calendar presented here is more accurately called
luni-solar.  Although the days and months are based on lunar cycles,
additions and subtractions are made to keep them in sync with the solar
year.

Venkatraman Chandrasekaran wrote:

>  Thanks for posting this. I find a discrepancy though..
>
>12 months of the Devas = 1 year of the Devas (= 360 human years)
>This is the reckoning of time for Brahma.
>12,000 years of the Devas =  1 day of Brahma (432,000,000 human years)
>
>  As per above assumptions, 1 day of Brahma should be 4,320,000 human
> yearsand not 432 million yrs.

Yes sorry that was an error on my part.  (I guess all those zeros made me
dizzy :)  That means all the subsequent numbers are off by a factor of a
100.  The corrected numbers are:

30 days of Brahma = 1 month of Brahma (129,600,000 human years)
12 months of Brahma = 1 year of Brahma (1,555,200,000 human years)
25 years of Brahma = 1 kalpa (38,880,000,000 human years)
2 kalpas = 1 parardha (77,760,000,000 human years) [6]
2 parardhas = 100 years of Brahma
            = the lifespan of Brahma (155,520,000,000 human years)

Thanks for the correction.

Ravi Chandrashekhara wrote:

> Regarding on-line panchanga, I think it would be
> wonderful idea and to make it relavent to the USA time
> zones.  In addition, hopefully produce it for both
> types of calenders lunar and solar with explanations.

I have some big plans for this but the first task is to get the basic
calculations correct.  The only good book I've found with algorithmic
descriptions is "Calendrical Calculations" by N. Dershowitz and E.
Rheingold.  It covers most of the worlds major calendars and has chapters
on two types of Hindu Calendar.  However the authors are mathematicians
not Sanskritists and they've had to rely on secondary sources which means
there are differences between their descriptions and how our calendars
actually work.  This means I've had to go to sources like Suryasiddhanta
and Aryabhatiyam which are not easy reading.

> From what I've read (unfortunately English
> translations only) Bhagavata Puraana keeps accurate
> chronology where as the other puraanas tend to "skip
> around chronologically"

I don't know about that.  The puranic texts I've read all pretty much seem
to follow the same system.  But  I have not studied the subject in detail.

> Another point, regarding questions pertaining to
> dharma is it possible for the Advaita discussion group
> to pass some questions to the presiding
> Shankaracharyas.

If you want to organize something like that go right ahead.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/



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