[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Adhyasa Bhashya - Reflections On Scope And Relevance

[V Subrahmanian]

In fact all the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita start with the claim,
pratijnaa, of stating the problem underlying bandha and offering the
solution. Even the Brahmasutra commences this way: the statement of
ignorance about Brahman which is the truth of the jiva, and the solution.

Mundaka, Chandogya: explicit initial declaration of 'eka vijnanena sarva
vijnanam.' Again, the statement of avidya. One can do this for the rest.

The Bh.Gita starts with shoka moha and going forward, the solution.

So, it's all solving the human problem.  Shankaracharya says that most
explicitly and convincingly in the Adhyasa document. No need for
Upanishadic quotes at that point.

Regards
subbu




On Sun, 26 Oct, 2025, 2:24 am Vikram Jagannathan, <vikkyjagan at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Namaskaram,
>
> A vidwan of another sampradhayam once questioned the scope and relevance
> of Adhyasa Bhashya. Some of the questions are:
>
>    - What is the need for Adhyasa Bhashya as a prelude to the
>    Brahma-Sutras?
>    - Why doesn’t Adhyasa Bhashya include even a single scriptural
>    reference if it is meant to preface the highest Brahma-Sutras, which
>    systematize the Upanishads?
>    - The logical explanation offered is that Swami Sankaracharya’s
>    Advaita Vedanta as a whole - and Adhyasa Bhashya in particular - arose
>    primarily as a pro-Vedic response to Buddhist and Jaina critiques, thereby
>    helping displace much of those philosophies from India; and that, it is
>    claimed, is the full scope of Advaita Siddhanta.
>    - The implication then drawn is that Advaita Vedanta was not intended
>    to faithfully elucidate the deepest, highest aspects of Vedanta; rather,
>    that task was later taken up by other great acharyas of the Vedanta
>    sampradhayam, who built upon a “cleaned-up” foundation set by Swami
>    Sankaracharya.
>
>
> Here is an attempt to clarify the scope and relevance of Adhyasa Bhashya,
> and to show that its intent and purpose are significantly more expansive
> than the narrow focus and scope suggested by the above questions and
> implications.
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/adhyasa-bhashya-reflections-on-scope-and-relevance
>
> The article is merely a systematic reflection of my current understanding.
> I humbly request respected members to critically review it and kindly share
> feedback on its efficacy and shortcomings.
>
> Dhanyosmi!
>
> prostrations,
> Vikram
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "advaitin" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to advaitin+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAM7AOLf0Nq%2BXgaC%2BOjfj5rLv9V1njqMzA%2Bfi4816bnmie2xmEg%40mail.gmail.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAM7AOLf0Nq%2BXgaC%2BOjfj5rLv9V1njqMzA%2Bfi4816bnmie2xmEg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
> .
>