[Advaita-l] Adhyaropa - Apavāda in the Bh.Gita 2nd chapter

[V Subrahmanian]

Please read this sentence in the post:

Here is the verse in the 2nd chapter for the Bhashya commences in the
Bh.Gita:

as // Here is the verse in the 2nd chapter of the  Bh.Gita://

regards
subbu


On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 1:50 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Here is the verse in the 2nd chapter for which the Bhashya commences in
> the Bh.Gita:
>
> न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
> न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ १२ ॥
>
>  Certainly, it is not a fact that I did not exist at any time; nor you,
> nor these rulers of men. And surely it is not that we shall all cease to
> exist after this.
>
> Shankara comments here: 'The use of plural here by Bhagavan is on the
> basis of bodily plurality and not on the Atmic plurality.
>
> This is an extremely significant Vedantic doctrinal point to which
> Shankara is drawing our attention: the Atman is only one across all bodies.
>
> Krishna proves this in the subsequent instructions:
>
> अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि *येन सर्वमिदं ततम्* ।
> विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ॥ १७ ॥ 2.17
>
> But know That to be indestructible by which* all this is pervaded*. None
> can bring about the destruction of this Immutable.
>
> अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
> नित्यः* सर्वगतः* स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २४ ॥ 2.24
>
> It cannot be cut, it cannot be burnt, cannot be moistened, and surely
> cannot be dried up. *It is eternal, omnipresent*, stationary, unmoving
> and changeless.
>
> Krishna teaches that though the bodies perish, the Atman never does. The
> Atman is all-pervading. This all-pervading feature of the Atman negates
> (apavāda) the plural used in verse 2.12. There, the plural based on the
> bodies was justified but the truth is that the Atman is one alone. Since
> there can't be multiple all-pervading Atmans, the Vedantic doctrinal point
> Shankara highlighted in 2.12 is upheld by Bhagavan, who states twice that
> the Atman is all-pervading.
>
> The adhyāropa of many beings existing (based on the many bodies) is
> negated, apavāda, by clarifying that one all-pervading Atman alone exists.
>
> We see Veda Vyasa doing this in many other places across his works. Here
> is a very glaring example:
>
> **Krishna says to his father Vasudeva:**
>
> अहं यूयमसावार्य इमे च द्वारकौकसः
> सर्वेऽप्येवं यदुश्रेष्ठ विमृग्याः सचराचरम् २३
>
> We must examine the notions of 'myself, you, these people, the people of
> Dwaraka - the entire animate and inanimate world'
>
>
> *आत्मा ह्येकः स्वयंज्योतिर्नित्योऽन्यो निर्गुणो गुणैःआत्मसृष्टैस्तत्कृतेषु
> भूतेषु बहुधेयते २४*
> खं वायुर्ज्योतिरापो भूस्तत्कृतेषु यथाशयम्
> आविस्तिरोऽल्पभूर्येको नानात्वं यात्यसावपि २५
>
> *The Self is one, self-luminous. Eternal. Different from non-Self. Without
> attributes*. This is the declaration of Brahma eva satyam. It appears as
> many due to imagined qualities. Just as the five elements manifest in their
> effects like pots etc., and disappear during dissolution, Brahman, through
> imagined qualities, experiences the worldly states like birth and death in
> bodies which are its effects. This is mere appearance.
>
> Vasudeva became freed from the* delusion of the multiplicity* of Atman:
>
> श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणम्/स्कन्धः १०/उत्तरार्धः/अध्यायः ८५
>
> https://sa.wikisource.org/s/j55
>
> श्रीशुक उवाच
>
> एवं भगवता राजन्वसुदेव उदाहृतः
>
> श्रुत्वा विनष्टनानाधीस्तूष्णीं प्रीतमना अभूत् २६
>
> Thus, O King Parikshit, having been instructed/taught by the son Krishna,
> the father Vasudeva, hearing this, abandoned the notion of diversity and
> became peaceful.
> Read more on this here from the Bhagavatam and Vishnu Puranam:
> https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2025/06/29/nanatva-manyness-is-bhrama-bhagavatam/
>
> The Bhagavatam says that Bhishma at the time of giving up his body became
> freed from bheda-moha.
>
> Thus the Adhyāropa-apavāda nyāya is demonstrated in the 2nd chapter of the
> Bh.Gita. Another such instance in the Gita itself is in the 13th chapter,
> verses 13 and 14, where Shankara cites that maxim in the Bhashyam.
>
> Read about this maxim, which is akin to the Shākha chandra and Sthula
> Arundhati nyayas here:
>
>
> https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aa-listed-in-books-of-maxims-cc.pdf
>
>
> Om Tat Sat
>
>
>
>
>
>
>