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

[Krishnaprakasha Bolumbu]

Pranamam

The claim that “Adhyasa Bhashya arose primarily as a pro-Vedic response to
Buddhist and Jaina critiques, thereby helping displace much of those
philosophies from India” is both partial and historically inaccurate. As
Subbu ji has rightly observed, the Adhyasa Bhashya is not about refuting
external schools but about addressing the ignorance of Brahman — the truth
of the individual self — and revealing the solution inherent in that
understanding. It is directed at the very root of bondage itself, a problem
that all darshanas, including Buddhism, seek to diagnose and resolve in
their own ways. While the Buddhists may have employed similar methods of
analysis, Shankara reclaims that intellectual and experiential ground to
restore Brahman as the ultimate, non-negatable reality. Far from being a
mere “response,” Shankara’s Adhyasa Bhashya reclaims the very language of
inquiry and re-centers it upon the Vedic vision of *satyam jnanam anantam
brahma* — truth, knowledge, and infinity as one indivisible essence.

KP