Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 196

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[OCTOBER, 1933
(4) Who this author was, is made plain by the following verse which is found at the end of Sankara's commentary on GK.:
184
prajni-vaisákha-vedha-ksubhita-jalanidher veda-námno 'ntarastham bhútány álokya magnâny avirata-janana-graha-ghore samudre karunyad uddadharam tam idam amarair durlabham bhutahetor
yas tam pûjyabhipujyam parama-gurum amum pada-pâtair nato 'smi ||
"I bow and prostrate myself many times at the feet of my grand-teacher," that one who is adorable among the adorable, and who, seeing the world sinking in the ocean that is terrible with the crocodile of unceasing birth, out of compassion for it, extracted from the ocean named Veda, by churning it with the churning-stick of his discernment, this nectar (i.e., this work) which is unobtainable by gods."
We know from other sources 12 that this grand-teacher was Gaudapâda; and since the Veda, like the ocean, is fourfold (consisting, as it does, of the Rk, Yajus, Sâman and Atharvan), it is indicated in this stanza that its essence, too, which Gaudapada extracted, is a four-sectioned work. In other words, this stanza too indicates that Gauḍapâda was the author, not only of prakaranas II-IV, but of the Agama-prakarana also.
(5) The fact that Sankara regards the prose sentences and also the verses that comprise the Agama-prakarana as the work of Gauḍapada, is sufficient by itself to show that he did not regard them as śruti. This is made plain by the word prakarana also which he has used in the sentence vedantartha-sara-samgraha-bhútam idam prakarana-catustayam om-ity-etadaksaram-ity-ddy arabhyate which has been cited in (1) above. The significance of this word is well brought out in the following explanation13 given by Anandagiri: "The commentator explains his object with the words vedanta....Is the work that he is going to comment upon a sastra or a prakarana ? It is not the first; for it does not deal thoroughly with all the matters that appertain to the subject treated of. It deals with one matter only, and is therefore a prakaraṇa."
This discussion about sastra and prakarana and about the propriety of classifying the work in question under either of these two heads is very significant. It shows unmistakably that the work in question is written by a human author and is not a éruti text. Sruti texts are supreme and stand above all classification; and it would be regarded as sacrilege were one to examine a śruti text and declare in what particulars it satisfied, and in what other particulars it failed to satisfy, the definition of a sástra or prakarana ; 14 compare the maxim,
11 Or 'great teacher' parama-guru means 'grand-teacher' and also great teacher.'
13 Works like Vidyaranya's Sankara-dig-vijaya. According to these books, the line of succession is as follows:-Vyasa, Suka, Gaudapada, Govinda-bhagavat-påda, Sankara. Each was the immediate teacher of the one next mentioned, and the immediate disciple or pupil of the one previously mentioned. Gauda. pada was thus the immediate pupil of Suka, and the immediate teacher of Govinda-bhagavat-pâda. This succession-list seems to me to be dubious; the more so, since, according to the above-named work (5, 94 ff.), Govinda-bhagavat pâda is identical with Patanjali, author of the Mahábhárya; and hence I do not feel sure that Gaudapada was the grand teacher of Sankara. Prof. Winternitz, on the other hand, has observed (Geschichte der ind. Litteratur III, 430, n. 3) that 'the order of succession-Gaudapada, Govinda, Śankarais above suspicion.'
13 kim idam sastratvena vá prakaraṇatvena vá vydcikhydsitam nadyaḥ sastra-lakṣaṇábhávád asya aśástratvát eka-prayojanopanibaddham ateşártha-pratipadakam hi édstram | atra ca mokṣa-lakṣaṇaika-prayojanavative'pi našeṣartha-pratipddakatvam na dvitiyaḥ prakarana lakṣandbhávád ity déankydha vedanteti | éástram vedanta-sabdárthaḥ tasyartho 'dhikari-nirnaya-gurúpasadana padartha-dvaya-tadailya-virodha-parihara-sadhana-phalákhyaḥ | tatra sdro jiva-paraikyam | tasya samyag-grahaḥ samgrahaḥ samsaya-viparyásádipratibandha-vyuddsena tad-updyopadeso yasmin prakarane tat tatheti ydvat | tatha ca édstraikadesa-sambaddham sástra-káryantare sthitam idas prakaramatvena vydihydium istam nirguna-vastu-mátra-pratipádakatvát | tat-pratipadana-sakṣepasya ca káryantara todi prakaranatva-lakṣaṇasya cátra sampurnatvád ity arthaḥ
14 Nor is it necessary that one should first explain one's reasons in setting forth to write a commentary on a fruti text. As explained by Sayana at great length in the introduction to his commentary on the Bgveda-samhild, it is the duty of every deija (twice-born one) to learn the Veda with its meaning; and hence one needs no apology for writing a commentary on the Veda.