MANDUKYA UPANISHAD with GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA: 39 - Swami Advayananda.

==============================================================================================

Wednesday 27, November 2024, 06:15.
MANDUKYA UPANISHAD 
GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA
Agama Prakarana – “The Scriptural Treatise”

===============================================================================================

GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA:  PART 4/4:   
ALAATA-SHANTI PRAKARANA (100 mantras): 
Quenching the Firebrand:
The SANKHYANS Refuted:
Karika Section 4.3:   
Mantras - 14-23 (10 No.) 
Mantram - 4.23: Cause & Effect are Birthless  
Post-39.

==============================================================================================

REALISTS vs. IDEALISTS  
Karika Section 4.4: Mantras - 24-29 (6 No.) 

===============================================================================================

WE NOW ENTER A new topic of debate. There is a serious conflict of opinion between adherents of the following two schools of thought: the Realists, who believe in the solid reality of external objects (the world); and the Idealists, who believe that all objects  are merely ideas in the mind and, therefore, have no reality of their own. 

The Realists also go by the name Bahyartha Vadins, “believers in external reality”. 

They are also called Materialists. 

The Idealists also go by the name Vijnana Vadins, “believers in internal reality”. 

Unofficially, they are called Kshanika Vadins, or “believers in momentary existence”. 

[The word ‘Idealists’ has nothing to do with holding an ideal in life. It should have been ‘Idea-ists’ due to the belief in ideas, just as Realists is due to belief in the reality of the world. But Idea-ists is clumsy to pronounce and has evolved into ‘Idealists’, which matches ‘Realists’, its main opposition.] 

The following section is a debate between these two philosophical parties. It kicks off with the Realists introducing themselves to the Idealists . . .

====================================================================================================

Mantram 4.24:  The View of the Realists: 

1. 

Prajnapteh sanimittatvam, = “Subjective knowledge has objects as its cause”; 

2.

anyathaa dvaya naashatah; = without objects, duality would be annihilated. 

3.

sankleshasya upalabdheh cha, = Moreover, because of the experience of pain, 

4 

Paratantra astitaa mataa. = the existence of external objects has to be accepted. 

========================================================================================

Why are external objects considered to be real? There are two reasons: 

i) We are able to KNOW them through our instruments of knowledge; and 

ii) We EXPERIENCE their influence on us in the form of sorrows, pain, happiness, etc. 

The Basis of the Realists’ View:

1-2. The Realist is addressing this argument to the Idealist: The perception of sound, sight, taste, etc, depends on the sense objects. Without them, there would be no sensory knowledge, and that means no knowledge of the world around us. How would you like to live in a world without any knowledge of it? You may call your food false, but remember it is what is keeping you alive! We cannot undervalue the knowledge of the world of objects. 

Pure knowledge by itself is mere illumination of consciousness. Without variety of experiences, this illumination cannot produce any knowledge. It is the variety of the objects that bring with it the knowledge of colour, taste, sound, etc. It is like a clear crystal which communicates nothing unless it is in association with objects surrounding it. 

3-4. The second reason is then put forward: If the objects were truly false as you say, then how is it that we experience pain, joy, sorrows, etc., upon encountering them? For example, if I place my hand on a hot plate, the heat will certainly burn it. It is the same if I am careless while using a knife and I cut myself. So, of what use is it to call the objects  unreal? If the object were really only a thought in our mind, then there will not be any pain felt by encountering these objects. Mere knowledge of pain is not actual pain.

*****

Next 

Mantram - 4.25: The Idealists – i) Subjective Knowledge 

Continued

=======================================================================================