Panchapadika and Prapanchasara-vivaranam of Bhagavan Padmapadacharya

[V Subrahmanian]

A great post by Shri Natraj Maneshinde:

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Panchapadika and Prapanchasara-vivaranam of Bhagavan Padmapadacharya

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Bhagavatpada Adi Shankaracharya, along with the Prasthana-traya bhashyas, has also authored/complied a great work on Mantra-shastra called ‘Prapanchasara tantra’. This is said to be a summarized compilation of an agamik text called Parpanchagama.

Prapanchasara of Bhagavatpada has been commented upon by his dear disciple Shri Padmapadacharya under the name ‘Vivarana’. Shri Raghava Bhatt ji, in his commentary on Sharada Tilaka, quotes from Prapanchasara and the tika of Padmapadacharya on multiple instances and also acknowledges their respective authorship.

To my great amazement, Shri Subrahmanian Vaidyanathanji pointed out a striking similarity in the usage of words between the Vivarana tika of Padmapadacharya and Panchapadika, which is the commentary of Padmapadacharya on the Sutra-bhashya of Bhagavatpada.

During the life time of Bhagavatpada himself, he was considered as an Avatara-purusha by his disciples. This is suggested in the Vartika of Shri Sureshvaracharya, Panchapadika of Shri Padmapadacharya and Totakashtaka of Shri Totakacharya. Interestingly, even in Prapanchasara vivaranam, Padmapadacharya reverentially says that Bhagavatpada is an Avatara-purusha.

Here are the passages from Panchapadika and Prapanchasara-vivaranam.

Panchapadika:

तस्मात् ब्रह्मविदामेकपुण्डरीकस्य *लोकानुग्रहैकरसतया* सम्यग्ज्ञानप्रवर्तनप्रयोजन *कृतशरीरपरिग्रहस्य भगवतो* भाष्यकारस्य मतमागमयितव्यम् ॥

[ Thus, the foremost among Knowers of Brahman, with the intent to benefit the world, Bhagavan Bhashyakara has assumed this body with a view to disseminate the right knowledge. No doubt his doctrine is based on the Veda.]

Prapanchasara vivaranam :

इह खलु *लोकानुग्रहैकरसतया कृतशरीरपरिग्रहो भगवान् शङ्कराचार्यः* अपरोक्षीकृतपरदेवतात्मतत्त्वः परमां विभूतिकाष्ठां प्राप्तःस्वयमेकाकिसम्पदा लज्जमानो दुःखीकृतजनकारुण्याक्रान्तमानसश्च सन् तदनुग्रहाय समस्तागमसारसंग्रहप्रपञ्चागमसाररूपं ग्रंथं चिकीर्षुः

[ Bhagavan Shankaracharya, who has assumed a human body with the intent to benefit the world, after having realized the Paradevata-atma tattva, was tormented due to the sufferings of the common people. Wanting to grace such men, he has composed this work which summarizes the Prapanchagama, which in turn is the essence of all agamas]

Please note the strikingly similar usage of the words in both the works -

लोकानुग्रहैकरसतया सम्यग्ज्ञानप्रवर्तनप्रयोजन कृतशरीरपरिग्रहस्य भगवतो भाष्यकारस्य

(पञ्पादिका)

लोकानुग्रहैकरसतया कृतशरीरपरिग्रहो भगवान् शङ्कराचार्यः

(प्रपञ्चसार विवरण)

The avatarahood of Bhagavatpada is clearly suggested in almost same words. This corroborates the fact that the author of both the works is same and thus buttresses Padmapadacharya’s authorship of the Vivarana on Prapanchasara.

Om Tat Sat

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms

Hare Krishna

 

While there is absolutely no doubt that for us, the advaitins, shankara bhagavatpAda is 'avatAra purusha'.  But some of the prakaraNa-s in his name is still suspicious even among traditional advaita scholars.  And the work prapanchasAra is one of those works.  Prof. SKR, then the head of kalpataru saMshOdhana Kendra at Sringeri Bangalore mutt was of the opinion that this work is purely tAntrik based work and the authorship of this work is doubted and can be debated like in lalita trishati bhAshya (though it has been commented by Kanchi paramaachaarya). And this has been justified based on shankara's commentary on geeta 9-25 and 17-4 where bhAshyakAra rejected tAntrik approach and the worship of vinAyaka, saptamAtruka-s and so on as tAmasi!! prapanchasAra in particular he says antagonistic to the spirit of vedAnta.  And it has not been taken as seriously as PTB in the traditional circle for the vyAkhyAna-s on bhAshya and most of the time ignored.  And he continues to observe that the authorship of the gloss on prapanchasAra by padmapAda is as doubtful as the authorship of the original work.  Though I donot have any personal conclusions on these issues I just thought of sharing these standing arguments against popular belief with regard to authorship of prapanchasAra and vivaraNa on it by  panchapAdika author is still existing without any credible conclusions.  As a matter of fact the authorship of paNchapAdika (commentary on vedAnta sUtra bhAshya) itself not conclusively proved that it is indeed the work by padmapaada, the direct disciple of PTB bhAshyakaara according to some including Sri SSS.

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

 

Bhaskar YR

 

[sunil bhattacharjya]

Dear Bhaskarji,

You wrote

And this has been justified based on shankara's commentary on geeta 9-25 and 17-4 where bhAshyakAra rejected tAntrik approach and the worship of vinAyaka, saptamAtruka-s and so on as tAmasi!! prapanchasAra in particular he says antagonistic to the spirit of vedAnta.

Adi Shankara did not write bhashya on the Bhagavad Gita. It was Abhinava shankara of the Kanch Kamakoti math, who wrote the Bhagavad Gita Bhashya, for contesting the Bhaskara's (of 8th century AD) book of the Bhagavad Gita. After Abhinava Shankara contested Bhashkara's work, the second half of Bhaskara's  book (containing the chapter 10 to chapter 18), vanished or rather was withdrawn unceremoniously.

My 2 cents

skb

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