37 most important of his work is the
Brahmasūtrabhāșya which is his commentary on Badarārānya’s Brahmasūtra. It remains an influential commentary even today
86
b. The Śa
ṁ
kara sub-commentary vivarņa on the Yogasūtra
.
The original Sanskrit text of this sub-commentary on the commentary by Vyāsa, was published in
1952 in the Madras Government Oriental Series
87
based on a single surviving manuscript. The authenticity of this text as written by
Śa
ṁ
kara is based on close textual and conceptual analysis of the sub-commentary and comparison to
Śa
ṁ
kara ’s works which are well-attested. So for example, the
vivarana reflects
Śa ṁkara
’s view of perception that it is the atman pure consciousness and its self effulgent nature which makes possible the awareness of the contents of the mind. Also there are
terms in the vivarana that are characteristic of Śa
ṁ
kara – adhyāsa and adhyaropa superimposition which occur many times
88
For our purposes, we will take this vivarana to be a genuine work of Śa
ṁ
kara. Rukmani, however, refutes the two assumptions which we are making in this work: 1. this is a work by the same
Śa
ṁ
kara who has written other authenticated works such as Brahmasūtrabhāșya and 2. this is a work which is written by someone who belongs to the
Advaita Vedānta school .
89
A Brief Introduction to Advaita Vedānta: The non-dualism of Śa
ṁ
kara rejects the atomist view of the Nyāya-Vaisesika school and dualistic division of the world by Sā
ṁ
khya into a plurality of Selves and a . For our present
purpose we will, however, we will accept them for the analysis.
86
J. Fowler, Perspectives of Reality, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism, Sussex Academic Press, UK,
, 2003, p 242
87
T. Leggett, Samakara on the Yogasutra, A full translation of the newly discovered text, Motilal Banarasidas ,
New Delhi, 2006
88
T.Leggett, Samkara on the Yogasutra, p40
89
T Rukmani, Yogasutrabhāśya vivarana of Śa
ṁ
kara , 2001, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi. Rukmani argues that this cannot be the work of the same Samkara on her analysis of the Sanskrit text
construction, style and historical data during the relevant time.
38 unified and real world of matter
prakŗiti. Śa
ṁ
kara believed that unconscious matter cannot evolve in such a way to produce the phenomenal world. The Ultimate Reality is only one – Brahman –
strictly speaking Ad vaita or non-dual, without a second. Śa
ṁ
kara accepts the single identity of all things in the essence of Atman or pure Being thus locating his metaphysic as pure monism. Thus
behind all apparent plurality of the universe there is an underlying Reality which is Existence, Awareness and Bliss
90
The self in Advaita Vedānta: Avidyā gives rise to the apparent individuality which consists of a
physical body, a subtle body, and the causal body. The physical body consists of the five organs of action and the five organs of perception together with the vital breath. The subtle body has the
antakaraņah consisting of the mind, ego and intellect together with ahamkāra or sense of I-am-ness. Thus there is the Self which is the real Self which is never born nor dies and the not-Self which is the
apparent world of names and forms, including the individual self. When the true Self is not apprehended, there arises the not-Self through projection or superimposition. With this comes the
failure to discriminate Viveka between the Self and not-Self and then arises the misidentification
with the body, mind and intellect which in turn gives rise to the experience of suffering in the realm of sa
msāra the cycle of birth and death . The formless, infinite and indivisible one Reality remains despite
modifications in it. Reality then is something that ever is and that exists throughout all existence and persists in all things.
91
The individual empirical self which is ordinarily experienced is not the real Self because it is subject to change, finite and illusory when compared to the
Ātman. The latter is not involved in the experiences of the empirical self but is a passive observer of all that takes place, the ‘innermost
.
90
J Fowler, Perspectives of Reality, p244
91
Ibid.,p 262
39 nucleus of all cognition’
92
. Each individual jiva, according to Advaita Vedānta is a ‘reflection
pratibimba of the infinite Consciousness on the finite mirror of ignorance and compared to one of many reflections of the moon cast on different receptacles of water’
93
The jiva functions through the gross body and its organs of perception and action as well as the mind
manas, intellect buddhi, I-am-ness ahamkāra and memory. How this view of the self reflected in the
vivaraņa sub-commentary of Śa
ṁ
kara is described in the next section. .
c. The Vedānta interpretation of the Yogasūtra