prapanchopashamam explained in karika bhashya 2.35

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V Subrahmanian

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May 13, 2025, 5:39:37 AM5/13/25
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In the Mandukyopanishad, 7th mantra, occurs the term: prapanchopashamam. In this bhashya, Shankara explains that term as:

प्रपञ्चोपशममिति जाग्रदादिस्थानधर्माभाव उच्यते । (In Turiya Brahman, there is the absence of the domain of the three states of waking etc.)  In the Gaudapada Karika 2.35 Bhashya, Shankara says the following for the term:

वीतरागभयक्रोधैर्मुनिभिर्वेदपारगैः ।
निर्विकल्पो ह्ययं दृष्टः प्रपञ्चोपशमोऽद्वयः ॥ ३५ ॥


प्रपञ्चोपशमः, प्रपञ्चो द्वैतभेदविस्तारः, तस्योपशमोऽभावो यस्मिन् , स आत्मा प्रपञ्चोपशमः,

prapancha = the expansive differentiated duality. This is not there in Turiya. 

regards

subbu

Bhaskar YR

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May 13, 2025, 6:24:54 AM5/13/25
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वीतरागभयक्रोधैर्मुनिभिर्वेदपारगैः 
निर्विकल्पो ह्ययं दृष्टः प्रपञ्चोपशमोऽद्वयः ३५

 

 

प्रपञ्चोपशमः, प्रपञ्चो द्वैतभेदविस्तारः, तस्योपशमोऽभावो यस्मिन् , आत्मा प्रपञ्चोपशमः,

 

prapancha = the expansive differentiated duality. This is not there in Turiya. 

 

praNAms

Hare Krishna

 

He is nirvikalpa because he is free from veeta, raaga bhaya krOdha how ??  because he is not seeing the snake (avidyA srushti) in rope, his drushti is yathArtha drushti, bhUma drushti, he has sublimated all differences of (dvandva) of the world in HIM.  He is prapanchOpashama.  He is nirvikalpa one who is without imagination of duality.  Most of the post shankara vedAntins link this to the experience of nirvikalpa samAdhi as it is talking about prapanchOpashamanaM. So as per them one should retire to seclusive place, suppress his thoughts make his mind in an inert state and experience the absolute absence of prapancha.  It simply means he does not have anyone / anything different from him This absence of second is maNgalaM /auspicious / shiva and all imaginations (avidyA Kalpita prapancha) are inauspicious because they create veeta, raaga bhaya, krOdha like ‘snake’ seen in rope.  One should always remember that the literal annihilation of stUla bhautika prapancha is possible only by Ishwara and it will happen at the time of mahA pralaya and not at the dawn of Samyak jnAna.  So prapanchOpashamanaM needs to be understood dvaita bAdhita Samyak buddhi where one see nothing but himself. 

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

V Subrahmanian

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May 13, 2025, 6:40:45 AM5/13/25
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Even those who talk of nirvikalpa samadhi do not say that the sthula bhautika prapancha is annihilated.  They only say that during that samadhi, the sthula sukshma karana prapancha is not experienced and when out of samadhi, it is bAdhita (due to samyak jnana) but anuvritti of bAdhita prapancha is there.   

Gaudapada himself, in the Advaita prakarana, has discussed at length samadhi and the obstacles to samadhi and their remedy.  

regards
subbu

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

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Bhaskar YR

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May 13, 2025, 7:14:38 AM5/13/25
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praNAms

Hare Krishna

 

Even those who talk of nirvikalpa samadhi do not say that the sthula bhautika prapancha is annihilated. 

 

  • But they definitely insist the literal experience of total absence of prapancha to get the ‘practical experience of advaita’ don’t they!!??  As per them the theoretical knowledge of non-duality should be experienced in practical experience of NS…Hence even some Jagadguru-s say to experience the practical Advaita jnAna I entered NS from such and such time to such and such time and came back to world.  Etc.

 

They only say that during that samadhi, the sthula sukshma karana prapancha is not experienced and when out of samadhi, it is bAdhita (due to samyak jnana) but anuvritti of bAdhita prapancha is there.   

 

Ø     So prapanchOpashamanaM does not mean prapanch will vanish in thin air after the dawn of jnAna.  avidyA srushti goes and Ishwara srushti would continue and in this sense jagat is brahmAbhinna. 

 

Gaudapada himself, in the Advaita prakarana, has discussed at length samadhi and the obstacles to samadhi and their remedy.  

 

Ø     There are various meanings to the word samAdhi it is not necessarily patanjali’s asaMprajnAta samAdhi or later vyAkhyAnakAra-s nirvikalpa samAdhi in ashtanga yOga sense. 

 

V Subrahmanian

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May 13, 2025, 12:35:36 PM5/13/25
to A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta, adva...@googlegroups.com, Bhaskar YR
On Tue, May 13, 2025 at 4:44 PM Bhaskar YR via Advaita-l <adva...@lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
praNAms
Hare Krishna

Even those who talk of nirvikalpa samadhi do not say that the sthula bhautika prapancha is annihilated.


  *   But they definitely insist the literal experience of total absence of prapancha to get the ‘practical experience of advaita’ don’t they!!??  As per them the theoretical knowledge of non-duality should be experienced in practical experience of NS…Hence even some Jagadguru-s say to experience the practical Advaita jnAna I entered NS from such and such time to such and such time and came back to world.  Etc.

In the Mandukya kārikā 2.32 bhāṣya Shankara says:

न हि मनोविकल्पनाया रज्जुसर्पादिलक्षणाया रज्ज्वां प्रलय उत्पत्तिर्वा ; न च मनसि रज्जुसर्पस्योत्पत्तिः प्रलयो वा, न चोभयतो वा । तथा मानसत्वाविशेषाद्द्वैतस्य । न हि नियते मनसि सुषुप्ते वा द्वैतं गृह्यते ; अतो मनोविकल्पनामात्रं द्वैतमिति सिद्धम् ।

// There is no origination and destruction of the rope-snake (which is just a mental concoction) in the rope. Nor is there its origination and destruction in the mind. Even so, dvaita (dvaita prapancha) is non-different from the mind. For, in the mind controlled (by meditation) or during deep sleep one does not experience dvaita (dvaita prapancha). Therefore it stands established that dvaita (dvaita prapancha) is only a mental concoction.

Thus, in the above Bhashya Shankara accepts a state: niyata manas, that is, samaahita chitta, in other words, samadhi, the world is not cognized. This implies that Shankara accepts that Advaita is cognized in such a state.   

They only say that during that samadhi, the sthula sukshma karana prapancha is not experienced and when out of samadhi, it is bAdhita (due to samyak jnana) but anuvritti of bAdhita prapancha is there.


Ø     So prapanchOpashamanaM does not mean prapanch will vanish in thin air after the dawn of jnAna.  avidyA srushti goes and Ishwara srushti would continue and in this sense jagat is brahmAbhinna.

Gaudapada himself, in the Advaita prakarana, has discussed at length samadhi and the obstacles to samadhi and their remedy.


Ø     There are various meanings to the word samAdhi it is not necessarily patanjali’s asaMprajnAta samAdhi or later vyAkhyAnakAra-s nirvikalpa samAdhi in ashtanga yOga sense.

No one can give any other meaning for Shankara/Gaudapada usage of the word samadhi, other than the popular meaning the term has. 

श्रीमद्भगवद्गीताभाष्यम्द्वितीयोऽध्यायःश्लोक ५३ - भाष्यम्

………यदि यस्मिन् काले स्थास्यति स्थिरीभूता भविष्यति निश्चला विक्षेपचलनवर्जिता सती समाधौ, समाधीयते चित्तमस्मिन्निति समाधिः आत्मा, तस्मिन् आत्मनि इत्येतत् । अचला तत्रापि………  

Here, Shankara happily accepts a time, kaala, when such samadhi is had, when the mind is sthira, free of vikshepa, nishchala. 

माण्डूक्योपनिषद्भाष्यम्कारिका - भाष्यम्

……… समाधिः समाधिनिमित्तप्रज्ञावगम्यत्वात् ; समाधीयते अस्मिन्निति वा समाधिः ।  

Atman is called samadhi here, because, Shankara explains, since the Atma jnanam happens in samadhi. 

regards
subbu

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar
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Kuntimaddi Sadananda

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May 14, 2025, 7:55:20 AM5/14/25
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PraNAms

From my understanding. Samadhi involves realization or recognition of oneness that pervades the plurality. That happens when one's mind is pure and contemplates on the oneness that supports the apparent plurality. 

विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि |
शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिता: समदर्शिन: || 5-18||
vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śhuni chaiva śhva-pāke cha paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśhinaḥ
 
Hari Om!
Sada








On Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 07:27:36 AM EDT, Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <adva...@lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:


> श्रीमद्भगवद्गीताभाष्यम्द्वितीयोऽध्यायःश्लोक ५३ - भाष्यम्………*यदि यस्मिन्
> काले स्थास्यति स्थिरीभूता भविष्यति निश्चला विक्षेपचलनवर्जिता सती समाधौ,*

> समाधीयते चित्तमस्मिन्निति समाधिः आत्मा, तस्मिन् आत्मनि इत्येतत् । अचला
> तत्रापि………
>
> Here, Shankara happily accepts a time, kaala, when such samadhi is had,
> when the mind is sthira, free of vikshepa, nishchala.
>
> माण्डूक्योपनिषद्भाष्यम्कारिका - भाष्यम्
> ………* समाधिः समाधिनिमित्तप्रज्ञावगम्यत्वात् ;* समाधीयते अस्मिन्निति वा

> समाधिः ।
>
> Atman is called samadhi here, because, Shankara explains, since the Atma
> jnanam happens in samadhi.



Namaste Subbu ji
Saying that atma jnanam happens in Samadhi will invite objections but
समाधिनिमित्तप्रज्ञावगम्यत्वात् is *not denied* by bhAShyakaara although it
may not be his preferred meaning in this context viz., even if we grant

समाधीयते अस्मिन्निति वा
समाधिः is his preferred meaning.

It is sometimes strange to see that the word Samadhi is regarded as
objectionable.

Some students without understanding the word, Samadhi in the vedantic
context, make a straw man argument about samadhi and dismiss their is.
Imagined idea about vedantic use of the word samadhi. though this word
Samadhi has appropriately been reconciled without compromising on Shravanam
as the Pramanam ) At the same time, the rather vague and strange word
called “intuition” of reality is regarded as acceptable.

There is no mention of any “intuition” in PTB AFAIK.

Om
Raghav
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