[Advaita-l] Role of logic in the study of Advaita Vedanta

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Sat, 15 Sep 2018, Ryan Armstrong wrote:

> Namste Dear Jaidhar
> I must thank you for pointing this out.
> I have been told that I see everything "vyatireka" and should "balance" the
> view with some "anvayaa" in the approach.
> It seems that this is what you are picking up on.
> Rather than criticism, I shall view this are "helpful advice"
> To qualify the statement with "solely" is certainly judgmental...
> 
> The intention was more to suggest a shift in focus...
>

My response was mainly to Shreenivasa Murthy who has a habit of making 
these kind of pronouncements and then not engaging.  To the extent that he 
has received "brickbats" as he calls them, it is for that reason alone.

The investigation of pramanas or means of valid knowledge and padarthas or 
essential constituents of reality was chiefly 
pursued in the Nyaya and Vaisheshika darshanas. (By the 13th century or so 
they had merged and been partially replaced by the Navya or "neo" Nyaya.) 
Vedanta rejects many of their metaphysical conclusions but accepts their 
framework for reasoning about padarthas and pramanas.  This view is 
exemplified by a popular introductory manual of Navya-Nyaya called Tarka 
Samgraha by Mahamahopadhyaya Annam Bhatta who lived in Andhra Pradesh in 
the 17th century.  He refers to himself as a descendent of "the Advaita 
Acharya Raghava Somayaji."  He also wrote a commentary on his own work 
called Dipika. At the end of his work, he has a short aside on the 
place of such subjects in the pursuit of liberation.

It starts padArthasya GYAnasya paramaM prayojanaM mokshaH "The ultimate 
purpose of the Padartha Shastra [i.e. Nyaya] is Moksha."  He goes on to 
quote the important text from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, AtmAvA.are 
dR^iShTavyA shrotavya mantavyo nidhidhyAsitavyaH "The Atma my dear 
[Maitreyi who is told this by Yajanavalkya] is to be heard of, 
contemplated upon, and realized."  According to Annam Bhatt, manana is 
shrutyupAdita tarka "Shruti-based logic."  It is the bridge between merely 
hearing of Advaitic concepts and putting them into practice.

Yes there are some people who can immediately grasp these concepts and use 
them but most will need help.  Anytime you have two or more people you 
need formal protocols to communicate to prevent errors and 
misunderstanding.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>