[Advaita-l] shankara in bruhadAraNyaka on 'saNyAsa'

[Pranipata]

Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at ...> writes:

>   But in bruhadAraNyaka bhAshya, at two places shankara
> explicitly says ONLY brahmaNa-s have the adhikAra to take saNyAsa and
> kshatriya & vysya-s donot have adhikAra to take pArivrAjya saNyAsa.  Here
> are those two instances :
>
> (a)  brahmaNAnAM eva adhikArO vyutthAne atO brahMaNa grahaNaM  (br.up.
> bhAshya 3-5-1).
>
> (b)  na hi kshatriya vyshyayOH pArivrAjya pratipattirasti (concluding
> remarks at br.up. bhAshya 4-5-15)
>
> I heard that sureshwara in his vArtika says all the three varNa-s have
> adhikAra to take saNyAsa.
>
> Kindly clarify how traditional vyAkhyAnakAra-s / AchArya-s would reconcile
> this seemingly contradictory statements??
>
>
Hari Om Shri Bhaskarji, Pranaams!

The interpretation of AcAryaji w.r.t. mantra portion etaM vai tamAtmAnam 
viditvA ..  tiShThAset.(Br. 3.5.1) is:-

yasmAt pUrve brAhmaNAH tam etam AtmAnam viditvA sarvasmAt 
sAdhana-phala-svarUpAt eShaNA-lakShaNAd vyutthAya bhikShAcaryaM caranti sma, 
tasmAt adyatve api brAhmaNaH pANDityaM(AtmavignyAnaM AcAryataH Agamatashca) 
nirvidya(niHsheShaM viditvA) bAlyena(gnyAnabala-bhAvena  sthAtum icchhet.

He also declares:

w.r.t. first half, the vyutthAnam is vidhitsitam i.e. 
AtmasvarUpa-vaiparityasvabhAvatvAt vyutthAnam vidhi vAkyam eva.  Whereas 
bhaikshacaryam caranti sma is not as it is aprayojakam and is a 
sheSha-pratipatti karma.

The word brAhmana in first place denotes Brahmins of yore and the second one 
the brahmavit.

The entire teaching of upaniShad/vedAnta is guiding towards AtmavidyA and 
here shrutimAta is compassionately guiding the sAdhaka away from 
Atma-viruddhA-lakShaNa-viShaya by instructing vyutthAnam.

This is the consideration for vArtikakAra to declare that here  the prakrta 
vishaya is gnAna and hence AcArya's  meaning of brAhmaNa in the second place 
i.e. brahmavit alone hold good and since this is not for fixing up the 
adhikAratva for sannyAsa the first meaning Brahmins do not hold good and 
hence this injunction i.e. eShaNAbhyo vyutthAya gnyAnabalabhAvena 
sthAtumicchhet includes kshatriya and vaishyas also.

There is no contradiction between vArtikakAra and AcAryaji.
When sannyAsa as a ashrama and its adhikAritva are taken up, which is 
independent of AtmavidyA, may be the meaning of Brahmins for brAhmaNas hold 
good.

In Shri Guru Smriti,
Br. Pranipata Chaitanya