Did Bhaskara accept Brahman as Nirgunam?

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V Subrahmanian

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Aug 14, 2019, 2:27:47 PM8/14/19
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Bhaskara who is admitted to have lived during the times of Shankara, propounded the bhedaabheda doctrine. I would like to know if Brahman of his doctrine is nirgunam like that of Shankara.  

There is a pdf of his bhashya available. But there is no searchable version, as I know. Also, is there any list of the citations from shruti/smriti made in his bhashya?

Any pointers to the above are welcome.

Thanks and warm regards
subrahmanian.v    

V Subrahmanian

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Aug 14, 2019, 10:39:32 PM8/14/19
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I would add this to my earlier post:

Are there any books on 'Bhaskara's philosophy'? either in English, Hindi or Sanskrit that gives a fairly good view of tenets of his doctrine?

Thanks.
subrahmanian.v

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Madhav Deshpande

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Aug 14, 2019, 11:45:08 PM8/14/19
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Dear Shri Subrahmanian,

     I found this short article on Bhāskara by Daniel H. H. Ingalls.  May be of interest to you.  Best,

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


Ingalls-Daniel-H-H-Bhāskara the Vedāntin.pdf

V Subrahmanian

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Aug 15, 2019, 6:45:30 AM8/15/19
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On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 9:15 AM Madhav Deshpande <mmd...@umich.edu> wrote:
Dear Shri Subrahmanian,

     I found this short article on Bhāskara by Daniel H. H. Ingalls.  May be of interest to you.  Best,

Thank you for sharing this article which is very interesting.  I read through the same and gained many insights into the philosophy of Bhaskara.  I could not, however, decipher Bhaskara's view of Brahman, as to whether it is saguna or nirguna.    In the Br.su.bhashya  3.2.11, Bhaskara mentions nirguna brahma:

image.png

To me the context of this word does not appear to be in the purvapaksha; it is a statement made while elucidating the Bheda-abheda doctrine of Bhaskara.  If there are any other indicators in any other study of Bhaskara where his idea of Brahman as nirguna or saguna, one could perhaps make a more firm conclusion.

warm regards,
subrahmanian.v 
 

V Subrahmanian

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Aug 15, 2019, 8:28:02 AM8/15/19
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Upon a search, here   https://books.google.co.in/books?id=ErMRGiNcxJIC&pg=PA280&lpg=PA280&dq=bhaskara+nirguna+brahman&source=bl&ots=dCemBszkvc&sig=ACfU3U0lRBdb-OoQNuyY-QfBt4Cc9wZVKQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwierMz07YTkAhVFK48KHUmgCjYQ6AEwEHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=bhaskara%20nirguna%20brahman&f=false

the book Global History of Philosophy: The period of scholasticism By John C. Plott, James Michael Dolin, Russell E. Hatton, on page  280 'But for Bhaskara, Brahman is always to be interpreted as Saguna Brahman...' and on p 283 we see for Bhaskara 'Brahman is never free from the three gunas....'    A book of ...Sinha is cited by the author/s.

This gives me the idea that Bhaskara did not accept Brahman to be nirguna. 

warm regards
subrahmanian.v

Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan

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Aug 15, 2019, 11:03:30 AM8/15/19
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Subbu-ji,

Please consult The Philosophy Of Bhedabheda, by P.N.Srinivasachari published by the Adyar library. It has some of his citations, but scattered through the book. 


Ramakrishnan

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V Subrahmanian

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Aug 15, 2019, 2:16:33 PM8/15/19
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On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 8:33 PM Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan <b.ra...@gmail.com> wrote:
Subbu-ji,

Please consult The Philosophy Of Bhedabheda, by P.N.Srinivasachari published by the Adyar library. It has some of his citations, but scattered through the book. 


Thanks for the link. I shall try to understand the system from the author's presentation.

regards
subrahmanian.v   




Krishna Kashyap

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Aug 15, 2019, 2:37:44 PM8/15/19
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This book from PN Srinisvasachari is a good one. It is an indepth assessment of Bhaskara's position.  Bhaskara rejects "nirguna brahman". For him Brahman is always saguna.
though it may be nirAkAra.
see some excepts from this book:
image.png


image.png




image.png
Best Regards,

Krishna Kashyap




On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 8:33 PM Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan <b.ra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ravindranath B S

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Aug 16, 2019, 12:10:23 AM8/16/19
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Sir,

            Why we need to depend on the earlier writing with so many confusions, is it so difficult to the present day scholars to qualify that Brahman is nirguna or saguna,

 

Regards,

B S Ravindranath

 

 

From: Krishna Kashyap
Sent: 16 August 2019 00:07
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Did Bhaskara accept Brahman as Nirgunam?

 

This book from PN Srinisvasachari is a good one. It is an indepth assessment of Bhaskara's position.  Bhaskara rejects "nirguna brahman". For him Brahman is always saguna.

though it may be nirAkAra.

see some excepts from this book:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Krishna Kashyap

 

 

 

 

On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 8:33 PM Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan <b.ra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Subbu-ji,

 

Please consult The Philosophy Of Bhedabheda, by P.N.Srinivasachari published by the Adyar library. It has some of his citations, but scattered through the book. 

 

 

Ramakrishnan

 

On Wed, Aug 14, 2019 at 2:27 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Bhaskara who is admitted to have lived during the times of Shankara, propounded the bhedaabheda doctrine. I would like to know if Brahman of his doctrine is nirgunam like that of Shankara.  

 

There is a pdf of his bhashya available. But there is no searchable version, as I know. Also, is there any list of the citations from shruti/smriti made in his bhashya?

 

Any pointers to the above are welcome.

 

Thanks and warm regards

subrahmanian.v    

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Krishna Kashyap

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Aug 16, 2019, 12:40:40 AM8/16/19
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Namaskar,

There are different schools of thought. We cannot deny that. Hence each school of thought has a different view on this concept of Nirguna.

If you totally accept and believe in Advaita, Brahman is Nirguna. There is no doubt about that. Other schools of thought bitterly argue against this view. It is a job of the reader to figure things out and get a strong conviction one way or the other.
There are even schools that are atheistic. They deny anything permanent. It depends on what a reader accepts and comes to terms with.



Best Regards,

Krishna Kashyap




Krishna Kashyap

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Aug 16, 2019, 12:41:39 AM8/16/19
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Namaskar,

In my prior email when I mentioned Advaita, I meant "shankaracharya"' school of Advaita.
Best Regards,

Krishna Kashyap



V Subrahmanian

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Aug 16, 2019, 12:52:34 AM8/16/19
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On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 9:40 AM Ravindranath B S <ravi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Sir,

            Why we need to depend on the earlier writing with so many confusions, is it so difficult to the present day scholars to qualify that Brahman is nirguna or saguna,


The original question sought to know the view of Bhaskara on the nature of Brahman. Since his works are not very common, a look into books that discuss his philosophy in good detail is the way to get the answer to the question. Hence the quest. Now that is answered.   

 

Regards,

B S Ravindranath

 

 


Venkatesh Murthy

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Aug 16, 2019, 4:13:01 AM8/16/19
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Namaste

Why Bhakara's philosophy is not popular today with no followers?
Answer - 'it may be because the tenets of his system were more subtly elaborated in succeeding centuries by the Visistadvaita in South India and by the Saiva systems in Kashmir'
From paper sent by Professor Deshapande.

Visistadvaita Philosophy has borrowed heavily from Bhaskara. Satyatva of world and accepting Parinama Vaada are important points in common. 

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Regards
 
-Venkatesh

Ravindranath B S

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Aug 16, 2019, 1:01:53 PM8/16/19
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Sir,

            Why we need to depend on the earlier writing with so many confusions, is it so difficult to the present day scholars to qualify that Brahman is nirguna or saguna,

 

Regards,

B S Ravindranath

 

 

From: Krishna Kashyap
Sent: 16 August 2019 00:07
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Did Bhaskara accept Brahman as Nirgunam?

 

This book from PN Srinisvasachari is a good one. It is an indepth assessment of Bhaskara's position.  Bhaskara rejects "nirguna brahman". For him Brahman is always saguna.

though it may be nirAkAra.

see some excepts from this book:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Krishna Kashyap

 

 

 

 

On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 8:33 PM Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan <b.ra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Subbu-ji,

 

Please consult The Philosophy Of Bhedabheda, by P.N.Srinivasachari published by the Adyar library. It has some of his citations, but scattered through the book. 

 

 

Ramakrishnan

 

On Wed, Aug 14, 2019 at 2:27 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Bhaskara who is admitted to have lived during the times of Shankara, propounded the bhedaabheda doctrine. I would like to know if Brahman of his doctrine is nirgunam like that of Shankara.  

 

There is a pdf of his bhashya available. But there is no searchable version, as I know. Also, is there any list of the citations from shruti/smriti made in his bhashya?

 

Any pointers to the above are welcome.

 

Thanks and warm regards

subrahmanian.v    

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Nagaraj Paturi

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Aug 16, 2019, 1:34:16 PM8/16/19
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The objective of the discussion is not to know for ourselves whether Brahman is Saguna or Nnirguna. 

The objective of the thread initiating post itself  is to know the views of a particular thinker with regard to whether Brahman is Saguna or Nirguna. 



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Nagaraj Paturi
 
Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.


Director,  Inter-Gurukula-University Centre for Indic Knowledge Systems. 
BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies
 
FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
 
(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )
 
 
 
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