MANDUKYA UPANISHAD with GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA: 22 - Swami Advayananda.

 

Chinmaya Mission:What is the purpose of Knowledge?

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Thursday 04, Apr 2024. 06:00.

MANDUKYA UPANISHAD 

GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA

Agama Prakarana – “The Scriptural Treatise”

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PART 1: Agama Prakarana (Mantras-29.)

THE SYLLABLES OF “OM”

Upanishad Section 3: 

PRELIMINARIES: 

Karika Section 4.1:   

MANTRAM - 4.4: Vedantic Arguments Used 

Post-22.

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Mantram - 4.4: Vedantic Arguments Used:

1 Bhootam na jaayate kinchit, = “The pre-existent cannot ever again pass into birth”; 

2 abhootam na eva jaayate; = “Nor can the non-existent ever come into existence”; 

3 vivadantah advayaah hi evam, = Quarrelling thus, they are indeed Non-dualists, 

4 ajaatim khyaapayanti te. = as (unconsciously) they support “non-creation”! 

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1.

 The Sankhyans Counter the Naiyayikas: The original cause, which must necessarily 

be birthless, cannot take birth again in another form. (This is the same argument which the 

Vedantins have used in Chapter 3 to present the theory of the “Birthless” Brahman.)

2.

 The Naiyayikas Counter the Sankhyas:  How can a thing which has no existence in 

itself, ever bring anything into effect? (Again, this is what the Vedantins say to the same 

theory of the Shoonya Vadins.)

3.

 This is round one of the dispute! Such disputes have no end. The two sides adhere 

to their respective viewpoints as if their very life is being threathened. They fight tooth and 

nail over such matters, using Vedanta as a crutch to support their shaky stances. 

4.

 As has been mentioned above, the Vedantins would have answered in the above 

manner to both these proposed theories. But they do not have to say a word, because their 

opponents are using them on their behalf. The Vedantins can just watch the entertainment 

and nod their heads. Unconsciously, the two parties use the Vedantic view to run down 

each other. So, in the end, Vedanta alone wins, without having delivered a single blow! 

This is presented dramatically for a deliberate reason: an attitude here, not the fact of a dispute. 

What is that attitude?

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Next

Mantram - 4.5: The Vedantic Approach 

Continued

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