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> The words "nirGuna" and "Ananda" sound contradictory in the following
> Adavaitic cliche statements.
>
> (1) "nirGuna Brahman is the Supreme Reality"
> ^^^^^^^
> (2) "Brahman is Sat-Cit-Ananda"
> ^^^^^^
>
> Could someone explain with quotations from the Sruti ?
The fact that brahman is nirguNa is supported by shruti at many places. Some
instances are:
yato vAcho nivartante | aprApya manasA saha | (taittirIya upanishhad)
[ From which words turn back, (which words do) not reach with the mind. ]
eko devaH sarva bhUteshhu gUDhaH ... | (shvetAshvatara upanishhad VI.?)
... sAxI chetA kevalo nirguNashcha ||
[The one deva hidden in all beings, ...
... the witness, the one who is conscious, the one, and without attributes ]
The ultimate conclusion of vedAnta is that there is no birth or death, i.e.,
ajAti vAda as expounded in the gauDapAda kArikA-s. gauDapAda shows using shruti
(mainly mANDukya and the bR^ihadAraNyaka upanishhad-s) and reasoning why ajAti
vAda is the truth. Then the question arises: what about the empirical reality
which one perceives?
advaita explains that the empirical reality is due to mAyA, which is
anirvachanIyam (un-definable). Discussions about this can be found in detail in
gauDapAda kArikA, chapter II and the mAnasollAsa, chapter VIII (I think). For
any illusion a substratum is required and it can be shown by both reasoning and
shruti that the substratum has to be conscious. Further, knowledge of brahman
confers moxa, which is bliss from the cycle of births and deaths arising due to
desire and aversion.
Hence brahman which is beyond all opposites including sat-asat etc is described
as sat-chit-Ananda. For a detailed discussion on this see shrI
sha.nkarAchArya's bhAshhya on the taittirIya upanishhad for the statement:
satyam GYAnam anantaM brahma | (II.?)
The so called contemplation of the nirguNa brahman is possible only for a GYAni.
The shruti also says that he who knows brahman becomes brahman. The rest
involve some amount of saguNa, whether they contemplate on an idol, chakra-s or
whatever. shruti realizes this and provides solutions. For eg, in the kaivalya
upanishhad the nirguNa characteristics of brahman, viz, arUpam etc are stated.
Then the upanishhad states:
umAsahAyaM parameshvaraM prabhuM trilochanaM nIlakaNThaM prashAntam.h |
dhyAtvA munirgachchhati bhUtayoniM samasta sAxiM tamasaH parastAt.h || (I.?)
[ with Uma, the greatest Lord, ruler, three-eyed, blue-necked, serene:
Having contemplated Him, the muni goes to the source of the world, the
witness of everything, beyond darkness ]
shrI sha.nkarAnanda (10-11 century AD) in his commentary to this upanishhad
states that the advanced sAdhaka can grasp the true nature of brahman once it
is told to him. I.e., a single statement like `tattvamasi' from a realized guru
is sufficient for him. For the rest, contemplation on saguNa brahman as
described above is prescribed.
Ramakrishnan.
PS: I am sorry I couldn't provide exact verse numbers. These should be easy to
find anyway!
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