I noticed with amusement that Dr.Subbaramaiya could not go beyond the first stanza of Dakshinamurthy stotra even after several weeks. In fact ,we Umesha’s sishyas, made a joke in lighter vein that the vicara group was in analysis paralysis. The bitter sweet irony that turned out was that I could not personally move beyond the first couplet even after 40 years !
What does the lines “विश्वं दर्पणदृश्यमाननगरीतुल्यं निजान्तर्गतं |पश्यन्नात्मनि मायया बहिरिवोद्भूतं यथा निद्रया” really mean ? The universe is but a clear reflection
we see inside with mind as mirror
Like the wonderful dream that Maya projects
of external world to our internal self
These two lines of Shankara summarizes the Vedas, Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, and all the Bhashyas written by all scholars till now and those yet to be written. It is cognitive psychology, metaphysics and Vedanta philosophy all rolled into one. That Dr.Subbaramaiya managed to tell it all in brief 1400 pages demonstrates his erudition.
Brahama Sutra’s (2.3.50) terse statement -आभास एव च (“And it is only a reflection”) started the game. If the individual souls are but reflections of Ishwara , what about the universe? Is the universe an independent entity or a product of individual soul’s imagination? What is the Universe that Shankara talks about in the verse विश्वं दर्पणदृश्यमाननगरीतुल्यं निजान्तर्गतं.. ? While Shankara left it at general level that everything is a reflection and projection of Maya, Shrimad Anantha Theertha took it to completely another level. To counter the Mithyavaada ( Philosophy of Euphemism) of Shankara he developed Tatva Vaada ( philosophy of Realism) in which everything was graded reflection of Shri Hari in an organized hierarchy.
But what is astounding is that with a single line command that I should attend Shri Subbaramaiya’s satsanga, jyeshta Mahasanniddhan triggered a chain of events. It resulted in my getting to learn nyAya shahstra by observing others practice it and contemplating deep on it.
Jyeshta Mahasannidhanam’s nyAya skills were demonstrated to me in a totally bewildering episode. He was pure Rational, Logical and Inquisitive guru at that moment. Once I was closeted with him and couple of scholars discussing some knotty issues. Acharya always made me sit through whenever I went.I would sit timidly, tongue tied and totally silent. During that sitting, the scholars appeared troubled by logical arguments put forth by Tatvavaada Dwaitha scholars on nature of Vishnu.
Many Maadhwas believe that Vishnu has a form, in as much as he can’t be limited by it; he is full of infinite kalyana guna; He lives in a physical place vaikunta , resting on Adisesha snake, floating on ocean of milk; he is always served by his divine consort Shree. When jivas get liberated they go to Moksha and reside with Vishnu for ever enjoying bliss as per their yogyate.
On the contrary, Shankara had postulated an abstract Brahman that has no shape , no attribute; and all jivas lose individual identity on liberation only to merge with Brahman. Then there is no place called Vaikunta. Zilch.
The scholars were naturally troubled by the contrast and were perhaps unable to defend their position to their own students, let alone Tatva Vaadins. They were seeking guidance and clarity from jyeshta mahasannidhanam. He tried initially to explain the standard way by quoting profusely from Shankara, but it was only met with more doubts and questions. He then delivered the shocker.“ If you want to restrict Vishnu with a rUpa , try to answer this : Is there Vishnu between the four arms ? If he does not exist between arms , he is not omnipresent. On the contrary, if he is present in the gaps between arms, where does his form start and end ? What is the purpose of positing a form when presence transcends it?”. The scholars went silent.
“Let us look at the Vaikunta defintion”, he continued. He got a bit naughty and asked, “Vishnu must find it very uncomfortable to rest on a snake , shouldn’t he? If he was really floating on milk don’t you think ants will be biting him?”. He gave a ringing laughter. “ As for Tatva Vaada position on this please read Shrimad Ananda Theertha’s works carefully”. He gave me a side glance.It was a clear demonstration of Gotama Akshapada’s Nyaya darshana-a sixteen pointed weapon to unravel truth using the power of sheer logic.
“प्रमाण प्रमेय संशय प्रयोजन दृष्टान्त सिद्धान्त अवयव तर्क निर्णय वाद जल्प हेतु आभास वितण्डा छल जाति निग्रह स्थानानाम् तत्त्व ज्ञानानात निःश्रेयस अधिगमः |दुःख जन्मान प्रवृत्ति दोष मिथ्या ज्ञानानां उत्तर उत्तर आपये तत्-अनन्तर -अपायात् अपवर्गः”
While these statements of Acharya remained theoretical and directional for decades, they came to life and meaning as I was researching Shrimad Ananda Theertha’s works. In his Maha Bharata Tatparya Nirnaya Madhwaacharya writes - “असत्यः स्वगतो भेदो विष्णो न अन्यदसत्यकं….” - there is no truth in any difference between attributes, limbs of Vishnu..”
को हि तो वेदितुं शक्तो यो न स्यात् तद्विधोपरः …तद्विधश्र्चापरो नास्ति तस्मात् तं वेद स्वयं
Who else can know Narayana than himself ; none equal to him and so only he can know himself
Contrary to the popular notion of Vaikunta, Shrimad Ananda Theertha creates a hierarchy of Moksha anubhava with liberated jIvas having a non material body and only those with highest gnAna reaching Ksheerasaagara . He writes in his Brahma Sutra Bhashya, ‘in moksha liberated jiVa enjoy the bliss in a body made of intelligence & bliss; only those with highest jnAna reach the milky ocean’.
‘यता संकल्पभोगस्चा छिदानन्द सरीरणः’
‘केचित्सत्ये महाज्ञाना गच्छान्ति क्षीरसागरम्’
As I continued to think about this for years, it struck me that Naryana reclines on Adi Sesha. Doesn’t it mean the ‘original residue’? What is this ‘original residue’?
So, if Vishnu , the Purusha & Laksmi the Maya prakruti are negated what remains is unmanifest Narayana. Figuratively speaking we have Vishnu & Lakshmi resting on Adi sesha snake. Ksheera sagara is the all encompassing universe. Makes perfect sense. So even in Shrimad Ananda Theertha’s schema Moksha is not a physical place after all.
Coming back to Sringeri days, I had a more impactful taste of nyAya shahstra that evening. The situation was tense. It was the Tarka Shastra class jyeshta Mahasannidhanam was conducting for sanyasis. All of a sudden there erupted an open confrontation between him and his successor designate Bharati Theertha.
I quietly tiptoed into the class room. Jyeshta Mahasannidhanam was sitting in a corner with books laid down on the Shanbogara desk.The sanyasi students sitting respectfully aside - Shri Bharati Theertha was there as a student and not as successor designate. As directed by Acharya I was sitting there too. They were all conversing in pure Sanskrit and so I could hardly understand what was going on. Acharya’s personal attendant had informed me that some nyAya class was scheduled. Though I can’t recall the topic exactly, it was perhaps on Advaitha Siddhi. This treatise by Shri Madhusudana Saraswathi was a line by line rebuttal of Shri Vyasa Raja Theertha’s nyAmruta.
Shri Bharati Theertha is known to be formidable in Tarka Shastra with nyAya, vyAkarana, nirukta, as his forte.He was perhaps a tArkeeka right from the young age. He kept on interrupting Acharya all the time and suddenly jyeshta Mahasannidhanam flared up in Kannada. He point back asked Bharati Theertha if he wanted to learn or argue; if his focus was only on argument he was coming in the way of other sanyasis from learning. Acharya had no problems doing tarka endlessly but after the class was over. He was responsible for all the sanyasis , he pointed out.
Every one burst into laughter and Bharathi Theertha apologetically quietened down. It was an apt demonstration of definition of Vada by Gotama Rishi
विमृश्य पक्षप्रति-पक्षाभ्यां, अर्थ-अवधारणं, निर्णयः,
प्रमाण-तर्क साधन-उपलम्भः, सिद्दान्त-अविरुद्दः पञ्च अवयव उपपन्नः
पक्ष-प्रति -पक्ष परिग्रहो “वादः"
Settlement means cautious confirmation of the objective after - investigating both sides; the dialectics, deciding, criticism, discussions of means of validation-with these five subdivisions of analysis, but without losing focus on doctrine .
Shri Bharathi Theertha stands today the tallest and most qualified tArkeeka. Shri SatyAtama Theertharu of UttarAdhi Muttt is emerging as the foremost tArkEka among the Tatva Vaadins . It is a treat to hear these nyAya giants lead Vakyartha Ghosti with scholars from both sides duking it out. We are indeed the lucky generation to be able to drink the nectar from them.
Shri Bharati Theertha examining students:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8-_dyeU4WY&t=157s.
Shri Satyatma Theertahru leading vakyartha :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVgjBuLWfa0
While this immersion into nyAya Shastra was going on, yet another darshana was engulfing me without my even being aware of. KaNada Rishi’s Vaishehsika theory was luring in the background. I was always fascinated by Quantum theory and Cosmology from a young age. I spent disproportionate amount of time in Matscience institute ,bothering doyens like Alladi Ramakrishnan , George Sudarshan and others. Interestingly, it was Quantum theory that brought me and Umesha together. Umesha had attended one of my lectures on matter wave theory of Louis de Broglie and challenged me if he was a DC generator !
QM also brought me into contact with another brilliant junior in the engineering college , Sundar Sundararajan. He was like a cannon ball, high energy, blazing bright, shattering all opposition in debates. He also became a member of Umesha’s satsang and quickly rose in ranks. Umesha was so impressed with him. My situation was not very good - caught between blazing brilliant senior Umesha and Cannon Ball junior Sundar. It was very hard keeping pace with rapid-fire debates when these two were present. I just absorbed whatever I could.Dr Subbaramaiya’s Satsang gave me an opportunity to mingle with professors from IISc and IITs. They were a bunch of PhDs and they talked science and Shastra simultaneously. It was so fascinating to hear them talk. They kept mentioning the name kaNada (कणाद) and I had no clue who he was. When I asked Umesha about it, he stunned me by saying he was perhaps the original discoverer of atomism theory and he even postulated how the atoms and forces interact leading to complex matter.
Umesha’s statement gave me a nudge and I started a very long inquiry of Vaisheshika. I kept reading and discussed with experts. When I stumbled upon kaNAda’s vaiseshika sutra book , I was excited.
His definition of dharma itself was so universal
यतो अभ्युदय निश्रेयस् सिद्दि: स धर्मः ( that which elevates and delivers supreme bliss is dharma).
When he said “matter, characteristics and interactions produce the supreme bliss” , I was intrigued.धर्म विशेष प्रसूताद द्रव्य गुण कर्म सामान्य विशेषमवायानाम् पदार्थानां साधर्म्य वैधर्माभ्यां तत्व ज्ञानान निश्रेयसं.
As he kept explaining his model further, I went ecstatic द्रव्य गुण कर्मणां द्रव्यं कारणं सामान्यं : Matter is the common cause for matter, characteristics and forces.
तथा गुणः So does Characteristicsसंयोग विभागवेगानां कर्म समानं : Impulsive combination and split up of matter generates forces.
Connecting the dots I could see that he was laying foundations for the Feynman diagrams.
The way he was extrapolating the material science analysis and taking it to ultimate bliss, without unduly connecting with theology was mind blowing.
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