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RE: My dream is coming true: regarding gita: thanks to SMS Chari

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Krishna K • April 2, 2002 


-----Original Message-----
From: Krishna Kashyap [mailto:kkalale1@san.rr.com]
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 4:23 AM

The content of this book is very unique. For example in the 
12th chapter you
can find the question of arjuna: evam satata yukta ye bhaktastvam
paryupasate echapyaksharam avayaktam tesham ke yogavittamah" - here the
question is about who is better - the person who meditates on 
sri Krishna or
Akshara?  what is this akshara? - it is nirguna bramhan as per
Shankaracharya and Prabhupada, it is Lakshmi as per Madhvacharya. It is
jeevan as per Ramanujacharya. why this difference of opinion?. who knows
12th chapter or gita correctly? How come Prabhupada, who is supposed to
follow Madhvacharya uses a sort of non-madhva bent here? how does
Ramanujacharya derive the jeeva meaning here? how can that position be
supported?. I am sure these issues will not matter to a person 

******
Dear Sri Krishna Kashyap and the list,

Since the book from Sri Chari is yet to be published (I enquired about it in B'lore), I thought of asking a question on the point made above, here on the list itself.

Given their respective systems, the interpretations of Sri Shankara and Sri Madhvacharya are understandable. For Shankara, given the saguNa and nirguNa dichotomy, his interpretation of Arjuna's question on those terms is understandable. For Madhvacharya, Arjuna's question should involve a Being, different from Krishna, whose worship is also moxa-giving. He quotes certain shAkhAs of Samaveda to show the scriptural basis (that worship of Lakshmi is said to yield moxa) and hence the relevance of Arjuna's question.

Since I don't know Sri Ramanuja's system well, interpretation in terms of Jiva is puzzling. Actually, I checked up his bhAShya (available online at http://www.gitasupersite.org and the English Translation by Swami Gambhirananda) on this verse and the subsequent verses for answers to the questions I had:

1. Arjuna is asking about "upASana". Nowhere does one see or read 'upAsana of the Jiva'.

2. Which scriptures refer to Jiva as 'axara'? Sri Ramanuja quotes some, while commenting on 12.4, but ends all of them with "iti axaravidyAyAM tu axarashabdanirdishTaM paraM eva brahma, bhUtayonidvAd.h eva".

3. Krishna says that those worshipping the 'axara' upAsana will reach Him only, but with great difficulty. Now, all through the Gita, a jIva's status has been indicated as an absolutely dependent being, as just an agent (nimitta mAtraM bhava savyasAchi; in the earlier chapter itself). Following that, if Arjuna asks a question regarding of which of Jiva upAsana vs Ishvara upAsana is better, it would be unnecessary and redundant. Moreover, what exactly constitues the 'upAsana' of Jiva?

4. Krishna refers to the axara as 'sarvatraga', which IMO cannot be applied to Jiva. Sri Ramanuja explains Jiva as 'sarvatraga' because it is present in all the bodies. Now, it is not one Jiva that is present in all the bodies, but different Jivas. In such a case, how is this interpretation valid?

These are very basic questions, which must have been thought of and answered by the commentaries on the bhAShya (Are there any? in print? I don't know the literary tradition of Sri Ramanuja and his followers well; hence these questions!)

As regards Prabhupaada's claim of affinity to Madhva, it is questionable. I have read the "BG As it is" and the latter's BhAshya and Tatparya on some verses; at times, one even wonders whether the former actually knows or has read the latter.

Regards,
Krishna


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