Panchapadika Vivaranam of Prakasatma Yati

400 Pages·1997·15.4 MB·English

by  P.S. Sastri,

PANCHAPADIKA VIVARANAM
OF
PRAKASATMA YATI
Rendered into English
by
Prof. P.S. SASTRI
MA., M.Litt, Ph.D., D.Litt
Publishers by :
SADHANA GRANTHA MANDIR TENALI
-
First Publication: 1997
CopiesPrinted : 1000
Copy-right : a) Translator
b) Sadhana Grantha Afflandaii,
Tenali.
Isvara Ashadham
300/-
Price Rs.
:
Printed at :
Kamala Art Printers,
TE NA LI.
fi
This book I
|
Panchapadika Vivaranam
| g
was printed and published
| |
| withthe financial assistance given by |
g Sri Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, |
| Tirupati. g
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ReplytoPrabhakara 181
Ahankaranubhava 190
BimbaPratibimbavada 214
Illustrations 230
TheoryofPerception 237
Vijnanavada 249
Advaitin'sReply 259
Vedantinspeaks 282
Immediacyand Mediacy 290
Immediacyoftheself 293
Adhyasa 328
PrayojanaBhashya 341
PramanyaVicara 359
Mahavakyaaparokshya Prayojakatvam 3.4
Jivanmukti 371
SagunuBrahmopasana 374
Mumukshoh Pravritti 377
VidhiVicara 378
Statementofanother objection 384
Reply
386
A Word from Sadhana Grantha Mandali
SadhanaGrantha Mandaliwasfoundedat Tenali
in 1945.Manyeminentscholarshave enrichedthe Mandali
withtheirvalublecontributionsonReligionandPhilosophy.
Manymorehave financed the publications. One of the
aimsoftheInstitutionwastobringaboutthe major works
ofSri Sankara Bhagavatpada. Westartedwiththe minor
workaattributedto Sri Sankara. So far sixteen volumes
oftheseworkewere published in Telugu with translation
andcommentary. We havealsopublished ten volumesof
the teachingsofthelateSjiChandrasekharendra Saraswati
ofKamchiKamakotiPitha.
Workslike SaundaryaLahari, Siva Sutra Vartika,
ChaitaDya Charitamrita, Indian systems of philosophy,
Matrika Cakraviveka, Biography of Sri Sankara, Muka
Panchasati, someworks ofSadasivaBrahmendra andothers
werepublishedinTelugu. InMantraSastrawe broughtout
Amnaya Mandara, Sudarsana Katpa, SriKalpa, Maha-
ganapathi Kalpa, Dattatreyakalpa, Hayagreeva Kalpa,
DakshinaMurthy Kalpa, ChandiSapta Sati, Vanadurga
MahavidyaPanchasati, Pratyangira, Manyusukta, Sarva-
devata Pratishtha, Homasata chandi, PratishthaMandara
andothersinTelugu script during the last52years.
The latest is the present work Pancha Padika
VivaranamofPrakasatma Yati rendered intoEnglishby
Sri Potukuchi Subrahmanya Sastri, retired Professor of
English, UniversityofNagpur. This monumetalwork is
amajorlandmarkintheevolutionofAdvaitaVedanta.
Weinvoketheblessingsofthedivineonall authors.
Tenan, (Bufusu Suryaprakasa Sasiri)
20—7-1997 Founder SadhanaGranthaMandali.
:
PREFACE.
Sri Sankara's commentary onthe VedantaSutras
ofBadarayanais a monumental work. Known as Sari-
raka Mimansa Bhashya, the commentary introduced
theconceptofAdhyasawhichisofthegreatestsignificance
in metaphysics. Thispavedthe wayfor the classification
of the Upanishadic passages.
Relational God and Supra-relational Absolutewere
introduced. Empirical and ultimate degrees of' Reality-
camenext. The Upanishads:arenot dogmaticutterances..
Theypresent the recorded statements ofthe spiritualex-
periences oftheancient wisemen. Nagarjuna*s neyartha
andnitartha, samvritisatya (empiricaltruth)and parmar-
tha.satya (absolute truth) have different termsinAdvaita
Vedanta. Vasubandha's TriSvabhava Nirdesa intro-
duceda thirddegreeoftruth. Itis the pratibhasikasatya
(transient truth) duringthe erroneouscognitionofAdvaita
Vedanta.
After Sri Sankarathere came Bhaskarawho expoun-
dedthe theory of Bheda-abheda (Identity in difference).
Thetheory wasthere carrier.
Padmapadawas saidto bethe direct disciple ofSri
Sankara. This is debatable. His PanchapadiSca isa
commentary on Sri Sankara'scommentary onthefirstfour
sutras ofBadarayana.
Soon afterthese arose divergent developmentsin 1
metaphysis ofAdvaitaVedanta (non-dualisticAbsolutism).
Vachaspati Misrawhowrotehis Nyaya Suci IMibandha
in841A. D., wrote a commentary calledBhamati on
SriSankara'scommentary. With this starts the Bhamati
school. Itstartswithanempirical baseand developsinto
Absolutism. This grants many concessions. It allows
karmas orrighteous activities, multiplicity ofselves, em-
phasizes on nididhyasana (contemplation), and many
others. Itismoreelectie.
OnPadmapada's Panchapadika Prakasatmanwrote
anelaboratecommentary named Vivaranam. Thisis the
startingpointofthe Vivarana ^school in AdvaitaVedanta.
This provides the metaphysical basis and exposition of
Advaita. It offers an ontological and epistemological
basis, admitting that inthe^final analysis epistemology
offersonlyabloodless ballet of categories, Perception,
inferenceandimplication areacceptedas empiricallyvalid
meansofknowledge. The emphasis isonsound, hearing
(sravana). It leads to the apprehension of Reality as
Experience^
Thedialecticfollowed byPrakasatmanisnotspiral as
inHegel. It is likeBradley's dialectic,like Nagarjuna's
catushkoti,likethe Socraticdialectic.
Prakasatman criticises Bhamati, Bheda abheda and
Vijnanavada. His exposition of erroneous cognition
(Khyati)issuperb. The major opponentsare thephilo-
sophersofVijnana veda like Dinnaga and Dharmakirti.
WhileSriSankara foughta successful battle against the
thinkers ofthe Sankya system of Philosophy (dualism),
PragksatmandestroyedtheVijnanavadasystemofBuddhist
philosophy. Atthe sametimeheassimilated some ofthe
importantelementsfromthat school.
TheVivaranaof*Prakasaiman isahardnut. Manyof
ourProfessorsof IndianPhilosophyhavenottoucheditso
far. Itistimetheireyesare opened tothegoldenmineof
Vivarana, Indianphilosophycannotbebrushedaside.
WerenderedthefirstVarnakaofthistextintoEnglish
in 1957. Since then it underwent many revisions. We
aregratefulto Sri Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanam forthe
financial assistancegiven. We are gratefulto SriBulusu
Surya Prakasa Sastri under the patronage of whose
SADHANA GRANDHA MANDALI this isbeing publi-
shed. Wewishmore and more students and teachersof
IndianPhilosophy delve deeperanddeeper into thegolden
mines preservedbyourancientthinkers.
Tenali, P. S. SASTRI
20-7-1997* (Potukuchi Subrahmanya Sastri)
PANCHAPADIKA V1VARANAM
Thefirstverse ofthe Pancapaadika offersthe anthor's
obeisancetohis deity inaccordance with the traditional,
convention,sothatthe intendedworkmight be completed
safely andspreadfarand wide.Italsosuggestsbriefly the
finalimportofthewhotecommentarytobe oneof (abso-
lute) identitybetweenthe'selfandtheAbsolute.Theknow-
ledge ofthisidentityisarrivedatfromacloseenquiry into
the meanings of the terms subject (=tvam) and object
(=rtau).All thetruths or conclusions thatare arrivedat
lateron, are withinthe framework ofthisidentity.
Thefirstverseisfully substantiated (orsupported)by
theauthor's offering addresed to god andhispreceptor.
Thisin itselfiscapableofbringing into fruitionthe result
desiredbyhrm. Yetwith hisspeech, mind andbody, the
authoroffershisobesiance to his preceptors in the next
threeversessothatthelistenerstoomight realize thesame
result.
Thefifthverse setsforththeauthor's objective incom
posingthePanchapadika.
Objection : Sankara's Commentary shouldnot be
commenteduponsinte itcannotbeconsideredtobeacom-
mentaryinthestrict sense of theterm. Where the meaning
ofanaphorism is explained (or described) in words or
sentencesthatare dependent on the aphorism and where
theexplanationsare elaborately discussed, therealoonewe
havearealcommentary. Letus applythis definitiontothe
very first sltra- "athato brahma jijnasa". Inorder that
therecanbe purushapravritti we haveto presumeherethe•
word'Kartavyaa'.(ThisisagainsttheBhaamatischoolwhich
2 Panchapadika
rejectsa 'Vidhithereandacceptsonlyan'anuvaada'bycom-
pleting the expresion with 'bhavati'. Jijnaasaa conesin
between an incomplete and a complete knowledge;ie,it
implies the investigation or enquiry that comes aftera
preliminarycognition. Sothesutrawouldread- One who
has the csaadhanacatushtaya'mustundertake(=Kartavyaa)
the enquiry(= Vihaara) into Bramajnana. Ihuswearrive
atthe conclusionthatBrhmajnana is the meansfor libera,
tionofaspecificadhikari.Fromthe contextitwouldappear
that this enquiry isinto thevedaanta vakyas. Hence, one
who has the'sadhana catushtaya' mustundertakejthe enq-
uiry intothe vedanta vakyasso that he might have the
Brahmajnanawhichisthemeans.'ofliberation. Thisisthe
meaning weapprehend fron the first aphorism. Now
the 'adhyasabhaasya' of Sankara doesnotexplain even
remotelythemeaningof thisaphorism;andhenceitshould
not be commented upon.
Reply : To answerthis objection, Padmapada states
thatthispartofthecommentary explainsthe'Vishaya' and
'prayojana' whichareimpliedbythemeaningofihe ahpori
sin. Thatpartofthecommentary endingwith"Loka vya-
vaharah" hasitsfull meaningonlywhenread withthenext
fewsentencesending with"Vedaantaaa rabhyante".These
two parts togetherexplainthat the 'Tishaya' and 'Prayoj'
an ofthis systemareimpliedinthefirstaphorism.
Objection : Howis itthenthatwehave then two
Bhashyas propoundingthe 'Vishaya' and the 'prayojana' ?
The last sentencealoneisgivingoutthe 'Vishaya' and'pra-
yofana'; andwhatthenisthepurposeof the earlierpart?
Ifboththeseparto are giving only the subjectmatterand
purpose, whereis 'adhyaasa' propounded? Ifthese parts