[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Re: Interesting comment by Udayanacharya

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Feb 20, 2024 at 4:12 PM Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Bhaskar ji,
>
>
> However, the point remains that an eminent ancient tArkika holds that
> advaita is the veda-naya and jaganmithyAtva is not a concept borrowed from
> Buddhism, rather it is revealed in the Vedas themselves.
>
> Kind regards,
> Venkatraghavan
>

Yes, the point is well stated. That an eminent ancient Naiyayika has said
this is what matters. In the book 'Sridakshinamurtistotram Vol 1, page 614
- 615 we have the topic 'Nyaya Vaisheshika' under the sub topic 'Other
schools pointers to Brahmavidya'.  Excerpts from that book are copied here:


(b) Nyaya and Vaiseshika

Since, just as in the case of the Sankhyas etc, even according to the
schools of Nyaya, Vaišesika etc., liberation results from knowledge, and
from the standpoint of the liberated, the world characterised as non-Self
does not exist apart from the individual, they too must necessarily admit,
like the Sankhyas etc, the non-duality of Self and the illusory nature of
the world. Liberation being coveted as more beneficial than the positions
of Brahma, Indra etc, greatest happiness is in liberation though not
explicitly stated as such They speak of the non-existence of knowledge as
well in liberation, in this sense that there is no knowledge whatsoever of
anything that is different from Atman like the mind, senses, body, objects
etc, of the world. Consciousness that is Atman is absolutely nirvikalpaka
1.c., It has no objective characteristics and hence there is no knowledge
categorised as a quality in their system That liberation ensues from right
knowledge which dispels the illusory knowledge is expressed by their own
sutras
तत्त्वज्ञानान्निःश्रेयसाधिगम । दुःखजन्मप्रवृत्तिदोष मिथ्याज्ञानानामुत्त-
रोत्तरापाये तदनन्तरापायादपवर्गः । ( 1-1-2)
[Liberation results from the removal of the illusory knowledge, which in
turn, results in the successive removal of defects (like attachment,
repulsion etc.,), activity, birth and misery.]




*Śri Udayanācārya, the great logician, when dealing with the Buddhist
logicians points out the discrepancy in their sunyavada by such statements
as-न ग्रामेदवधूय धियोऽस्ति वृत्तिः ।तद्वाधके बलिनि वेदनये जयश्रीः || *

[Without an external object, there can be no knowledge relating to it
Thumping victory crowns only the impregnable Vedantic set-up which alone
shows that the external world is sublated only on the dawn of the knowledge
of the Substratum.] and -



*प्रविश वाऽनिर्वचनीयख्यातिकुक्षिम् तिष्ठ वा मतिकर्दममपहाय ।[Enter the fold
of the anırvacaniyakhyati of the Vedantins or remain quiet by cleansing
your mind of your untenable speculations.]*

That his anxiety is particularly in saving people from atheism and in
providing the ground for taking eventually to the Vedantic discipline, is
made clear by the above statements as also by the statement— किमार्द्र
कवणिजो वहित्रचिन्तया १ [What has a ginger-trader to do with a sea-going
vessel ?] when comparing his own system with Vedanta.* Even the great
logicians Gangeśopādhyāya and Raghunathabhaṭṭācārya *have made clear in the
invocations respectively in their compositions that their sole purport is
in Brahman of the Vedanta, which, though by Itself transcends the three
gunas, appears to be associated with them because of upadhi and which is
secondless, impartite Bliss and Consciousness-

गुणातीतोऽपीशस्त्रिगुणसचिव: । and अखण्डानन्द वोधाय पूर्णाय परमात्मने ||

Likewise, that the purport of* Annambhatta, the author of the
Tarkasangrahadipikā* is also in Vedanta, is indicated by his choice of the*
Mahāvākya ‘That thou art' to exemplify the Jahadajahallakṣaṇā* and his
concluding statement in the Dipika that the purpose of the Tarkasangraha is
in aiding manana i.e., contemplation on what is learnt from Śruti i.e.,
śravana, as per the Śruti- आत्मा वा अरे द्रष्टव्यः श्रोतव्यो
मन्तव्यो निदिध्यासितव्यः ।
(Br. U. 2-4-5)

It is worth studying the other pages in that book where similar views of
eminent authors of* other darshanas *on Vedanta are cited.  The book can be
accessed here:
https://archive.org/details/SridaksinamurtistotramVolIByD.S.Subbaramaiya

Read from page 611 onwards.

warm regards
subbu