Vedanta Philosophy Described By Bhavya In His Madhyamaka Hrdaya

Author(s): V V Gokhale
Publisher: V V Gokhale

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V. V. GOKHALE
(Now), if he is beyond the three spheres of Existence, how could he be the “Maker (karty)”? And being so distant, whose Lord is he? The answer is, that inspite of his distant abode, he is all-pervading, as described below:
(4) bhūtam bhavat bhavişyac ca sarvam puruşa işyate /
so 'ntar bahis ca dūre ca so 'ntike sa ca karmakrt16 // Whatever is past, present or future, it is all regarded as the Person (puruşa). He is within and without, far and near; and he is the Doer.
T: Whatever, like a man etc., has gone by (atīta), whatever is now in view (pratyutpanna) and whatever is to come hereafter (āgāmi) - "all this' is possessed and sanctified (adhişthita) by him, i.e., he pervades all the three spheres of existence. Because, the zenith is his head, the nadir his base,17 the sky his abdominal cavity,18 the quarters his hands, the planets and constellations his pores of hair, the mountains his chest, the mountain-range his bone, the streams the network of his arteries, and the forests his hair and nails. His back is the celestial world and his forehead is Brahmā. (Religious) merit and demerit are his two eyebrows. The knitting of his eyebrows is the Lord of Death. The sun and the moon are his two eyes.19 His breathing out and breathing in are the wind. The hillocks20 are his teeth. His tongue is the Goddess of Speech. The syllable: om and the exclamation: vaşața1 are his two lips. The opening and closing of his eyelids is the Time; his left side the woman and his right side the man.22 The 'Lokāloka'-mountain-range (dividing the visible
gotravibhäga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra (Patna, 1950), II. 29: acintyam nityam ca dhruvam atha śivam śāśvatam atha / praśāntam ca vyāpi vyapagatavikalpam gaganavat// asaktam sarvatrāpratighaparuşasparśavigatam na drśyam nå grāhyam śubham api ca buddhatvam amalam // 16 Cf. Rg-Veda X. 90. 2: purușa evedam sarvam yad bhūtam yac ca bhavyam = SU. 3. 15 (The v.1.: evaitat for evedam, found in Kamalaśīla's comm. on Sāntaraksita's Tattvasamgraha, p. 76 (Baroda, 1926) has already been pointed out by H. Nakamura in his article “A note on Pre-Sankara Philosophy", Proceedings of the Okurayama Or. Res. Institute, Vol. 1, p. 3 (Yokohama, 1954); also v.1. bhāvyam for bhavyam (ibid.). Further cf. Iu. 1. 5. BG. 13. 15. 17 Cf. MahāU. 5. 156: urdhvam sirah pindamayam adhaḥ pādamayam tathā / pārsvayor hastasamsthānam madhye codaradharmiņam. 18 T. Ito. ba = udara; v.1. stoho is inexplicable. 18 Cf. MuU. 2. 1. 4: cakşuși candrasüryau. 30 T.: ri.bran (Sic. ri.phran or ri.brag?) 31 T.: ba.sa.tha.shes.bya.baḥi. yi.ge.ni.chu.gñiso, where I take "chu" to be a mistake for "mchu" (lip). (This has now been confirmed by Sde. dge edition) 2 Cf. BU. 4. 2. 2-3 etc.