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Anekānta and Problem of Meaning
१७१
Advaita-vedānta
In my article 'Badarāyana and the Doctrine of Anekanta," I have discussed in details the anekantic basis of Bādarayana's philosophy. Here I may point out that his flexible usage of the primary and secondary meanings while interpreting upanişadic passages and there by reconciling even cotradictory philosophical views is one more dimension of his anekantic philosophy. In the Brahmasūtra he uses the terms mukhya, pradhāna etc. for denoting the primary meaning while terms such as Bhākta, Gauņa or Gauņi', arthavāda 10 in the sense of sencondary ineaning. Thus, for example, in a sūtra 701970971TTET FIAT 5TTÈTI#19 a gta alfacala 11 he contends that the mention of these words (birth and death) with relation to moving and stationary bodies is in a primary sense while it is to be taken in a secondary sense with referenee to the individual souls in habitating them. The very idea that meaning of a particular statement may either be primary or secondary according to the intention of the author as well as the context indicates its indeterminate or relative nature. We may cite one more example. In the aphorism T hara 2, Badarāyaṇa says, “If it be argued that the “seeing" is in a secondary sense, we say, not so, owing to the use of the word self.” The sānkhya wants to ascribe seeing" figuratively to the insentinent pradhāna which is referred to by the word Existence and supposed to be the primardial cause of universe. Bādarāyaṇa objects it by discarding the secondary meaning of "seeing" in favour of primary meaning and thereby he asserts that not pradhāna (i.e. praksti) but Brahman is the cause of universe.
From Bādarāyaṇa when we come to Sankara we find that Sankara uses the concept of primary and secondary meanings enormusly and exuberantly while interpreting the aphorisms of the Brahmasūtra. For secondary meaning he employs the following terms or forms :
yma1318, yurgare', quare 15, qfafa 18, gufaaral, status, norca 19, 17011:0, atut4897121, torria, tarafa3, oala24, H774,25 or #, 3941728, atqatft**?, 3971783f728, 374€429, JOTBO, semafa), 55277127082, tafq*f6789, 3512-60734, 7127faca fafe, 95, fara36, Beratzxf9a37, 141733 etc. while in the context of the primary meaning the terms or forms occurring are :-48939, 7e47a40, E7141, HET-1924, getrete itt9fa43 etc. For example, Sankara while commenting on the aphorism
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