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Re: What is Maayavaadam (Advaita)? (fwd)
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To: srh@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu (SRH Editor)
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Subject: Re: What is Maayavaadam (Advaita)? (fwd)
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From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <rbalasub@ecn.purdue.edu>
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Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 22:42:10 -0500 (EST)
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In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.91.960213221524.14088B-100000@rbhatnagar> from "SRH Editor" at Feb 13, 96 10:15:42 pm
susarla.krishna@studentserver1.swmed.edu (Hari Krishna Susarla) wrote:
>This is an excerpt from _Teachings of Lord Chaitanya_ by Srila Prabhupada=
>Copyright, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Used with permission.
> In the Siva purANa the Supreme Lord says:
>
>dvAparAdau yuge bhUtvA
> kalayA mAnuSAadiSu
>svAgamaiH kalpitais tvaM ca
> janAn mad-vimukhAn kuru
>
> "In the beginning of the dvApara-yuga, directed by My orders, man=
>y
>>sages will bewilder the people in general by mAyAvAdI philosophy."=20
>
I made a mistake in saying that Prabhupada was talking tripe about evidence
from the Shiva puraana. I apologize for making such a statement without
actually seeing what Prabhupada said. I should have said
"Prabhupada was talking utter tripe and patently twisting verses
to suit his convenience".
1. There is an organ approximately 1-2inches below the top of the forehead. It's
called the eye. Usually there are two eyes, except in the case of Shiva who is
supposed to have three. If one opens them (advisable when one is awake) and
reads the samskrita verse and the translation one will notice a BIIIIIG
inconsistency. The translation of the verse introduces mayavada nonchalantly
with no regard for truth. The interpretation is somewhat correct if you leave
out the "in general by mayavada philosophy". If you don't believe me ask Shrisha
Rao who is a Maadhvaa (I think) and who seems to be well versed in the samskrit.
2. I remember that I quoted something from the Chandogya Upanishad and you took
me to task for not being scholarly since I left out the exact verse number. Let
me enlighten you. The Satharudra samhita (which describes the avataaras of
Shiva) is about 25 times larger than the Chandogya U*. I guess Prabhupada is
not scholarly enough for you.
3. Even a person with a meagre knowledge of history will know that Shankara was
born somewhere in 700-800AD(, exact date unknown). Similarly a person with even
a modicum of knowledge of the Yuga system will know that this date falls in the
Kali and not Dvapara Yuga. Thus, anyone can see the above verse can in NO WAY
refer to Shankara. I would suppose Prabhupada had atleast some knowledge of
yugas and so on. The only conclusion I can come to is Prabhupada was trying to
twist facts (euphemism for outright lying).
4. I once gave the location of the Sivasahasranama and verses where Krishna
worshiped Shiva in the Paadma puraana. The only comment you could come up was
that it was probably spurious (without even checking). I'll tell you now: This
mayavada verse from the Paadma puraana was probably introduced by some guy in
the Gaudiya line. If he were as ignorant as Prabhupada about history, it's no
surprise. He must have been under the delusion that Shankara was the main force
in defeating the Buddhists.
>Thus according to
>mAyAvAdI philosophy, the Lord is a product of this material nature, and
>the living entity is in the lowest stage of ignorance. That is the sum
>and substance of mAyAvAdI philosophy.=20
Prabhupada strikes again with his ignorance of the Advaita philosophy. I urge
readers of srh to read Upadeshasahasri (my favorite), Vivekachudamani or
Vicharasangraham (my other favorite).
>For example, in the SvetASvatara upaniShad it is
>stated that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin of everythin
> that He has multiple potencies. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is
>transcendental to the cosmic manifestation. He is he origin of all
>religion, the supreme deliverer and the possessor of all opulences. The
>Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is just like the sun, profusely
>distributes His energies while situated beyond the cloud of this material
>cosmic manifestation. He is the master of masters and He is the Supreme
>of the supremes. He is known as the greatest Lord, the Per sonality of
>Godhead. His energies and potencies are multiple and variously
>distributed. It is also stated that viSNu is the Supreme and that saintl=
>y
>persons are always anxious to see His lotus feet (Rg veda 1.22.20). In
>the aitareya upaniShad it is als o stated that the cosmic manifestation
>came about when the Lord glanced over material nature (1.1.1-2). This is
>also verified by the praSna upaniShad (6.3).=20
I urge the readers of srh to notice a strange fact here. There are no verse
numbers given for the reference from the Svetaasvataara Upani*, but numbers are
given for the other references. Fortunately, I am well acquainted with the
Svetaasvataara Upanishad. Let me give some verses from it. The readers will
understand why Prabhupada deliberately left out the verse numbers from the
Svetaasvataara U*. I especially want to please the scholars in our midst and
hence give the exact reference numbers.
yo yonim yonim adhitishthati eko yasmin idam sam ca vicaiti sarvam
tam iisanam varadam devam idayam nicayyenmaam santim atyantam eti
"The one who rules every single source, in whom all this dissolves (at the end)
and comes together (at the beginning of creation), who is the lord, the
bestower of blessing, the adorable God, by discerning Him one goes forever to
this peace".
yo devaanaam prabhavas chodbhavas ca, vishvadhipo rudro maharshih
Hiranyagarbham pashyata jayamaanam, sa no buddhyaa shubhaya samyunakthu
"He who is the source and origin of all Gods, the ruler of all, Rudra, the
greatest seer, who beheld the golden germ when he was born, may He endow us
with clear understanding". (IV.11 and IV.12)
Further,
sarvanana siro grivah sarva bhuta guhasayah.
sarva vyaapi sa bhagavaan tasmaat sarva gatas shivah.
"He who is the in the faces, heads and neck of all, who dwells in the cave (of
the heart) of all beings, who is all pervading, He is the Lord and therefore
the omnipresent Shiva". (III.11)
Actually one should read the whole Upanishad to see it's beauty and how it
praises Shiva as the ultimate truth.
Historically, this Upanishad is supposed to be the starting point for later
Saiva-Siddhanta philosophy (Shiva Visishtaadvaita).
[rest of the article from Prahbupada's book which has been written with a logic
of epsilon (on a scale of 0 to 10), where epsilon is arbitrarily close to zero,
summarily deleted]
In short Prabhupada's article
1. patently misinterprets verses.
2. leaves out exact reference details whenever there is a possibility of
contradicting him by actually seeing the verse and the context.
3. displays a massive ignorance of the Advaita system.
4. utterly illogical and lacks any sort of coherence.
Ramakrishnan.
--
Sitting quietly doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
http://yake.ecn.purdue.edu/~rbalasub/
