Indian Antiquary Vol 53

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 91

APRIL, 1924 ]
BHARTR-PRAPANCA : AN OLD VEDANTIN
in his gloss refers the first of these to the Vytli-kára, and the other to B.66 In his glose on the corresponding passage in the Vartika, &$ he makes the Vylli-kdra's view the purva-paksa or prima facie view leading to B.'s interpretation. If it thus involves a reference to the view of the Vrtti-kdra, it follows that B. should have flourished after him.
This is perhaps the best place to allude to a point of some biographical interest touching B. He seems to have been a devotee of Agni-vaisvanarať8 and Surêsvara has more than once a gibe at him in reference to it.89 But it is not clear what exactly is the significance of this allusion. It may be that it refors to what was a noticeable feature of B.'s creed in life; for his doctrine, as we know, lays stress on the importance of Hiranya-garbha,-identifiable with Agnd, To_in the penultimate stage of a Vedantin's training. Further since Surêsvara pointedly draws attention to a vara or boon' received by B. through the prasáda or
grace' of Agno 11 we may also probably conclude that B. recognised in some form the doctrine of bhakti-a doctrine which does not find any considerable place in Sankara's Advaita.
vi.
The resemblance between the Samkhya and the doctrine of B. is noteworthy. There is, of course, this important distinction that while B.'. Vedanta is monistio and idealistic, the Samkhya is dualistic and realistio. Barring this distinction, there is a general similarity in the philosophic standpoint of the two. Both are theories of pariņáma, though in the Sankhya, it is the Prakyti that evolves, and here it is Brahman. In the process of evolution, according to both, the ultimate reality becomes differentiated into the manifold things of experience which are both identical with and different from it. The parallelism extends beyond this general standpoint to details albo
1. Though the conception of the antaryamin can have no place in atheistio samkhya, it has something more or less corresponding to it in the sister system of Yoga." The adksins of B. are practically the Purusas of the Sankhya and the avydkyta, its Prakrti. The sutra again may be identified with mahat's since, as buddhi, it is the pre-eminent element in the linga-larira, though for a complete equivalent of it we shall have to take along with it the eleven indriyas (devalds)4 and the five tanmatras. When the gross elements emerge from the last, we have the virdj-the visible vesture of the cosmic soul. This comparison, it will be noticed, breaks down in the case of two of the eight avasthas recognised by B., and only one out of the twenty-five principles known to the Sdnikhya. The lack of anything corresponding to jáli and pinda in the Sankhya system is significant. It has in all probability to be explained by the supposition that, while B.'s scheme includes not only the samasti-eroti but also the vyaati-srsti, the Sankhya concerns itself only with one of them. This deficiency
65 Soo Tiked on Br. Up. Bhaiya (p. 152).
66 p. 671, st. 1189. 67 The suggestion of T. M. Tripathi in his Introduction (p. xv) that B. is the Vrt-Idra is thus beside the mark. (See note 1 above.)
68 This is merely the personification of tejas-the first creation, Oh. Up.. VI, ii, 3. .bf., for example, Vartika, I, iv, 400, 700, 701, etc.
See Br. Up., I, i and ii, as also I, iv, 16. 71 See Vdrtika, p. 1104, st. 98, p. 1236, st. 136. Compare generally in this connection the speculations contained in the Agni-rahasya (Satapatha Br. X), wherein also oecure the name of Bandilya Associated from very early times with the doctrine of bhakti.
79 of. Vartika, p. 1286, st. 38.
79 The Mathara-urili, for instance, equates mahat with Hiranya-garbha. See under Kdrikd 22, Benares erlition.
74 Seo Sdrinkhya-pravacana-bhasya, II, 18.