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modern scholar to emphasize this important discussion: ''As regards the esoteric doctrine [of the higher (para) Brahman] . . . there is found at the end of his work a passage in which his consciousness of its inner necessary connections comes out as clearly as possible, and which [is] a compendium in nuce of Sankara's Metaphysics . . . "
46 His translation of Sankara's comment on UMS IV.3.1447 divides it into six parts: i. an initial statement about the manner of liberation through knowledge of Brahman; ii. the esoteric cosmology; iii. the esoteric psychology; iv. the esoteric morality; v. the esoteric eschatology; vi. the esoteric theology. |
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His claim, that here at last we find a statement of Advaita doctrine in a positive form and not imbedded entirely within the "exoteric" truth of commentary, deserves serious consideration. But I suggest that as a systematization, UMS IV.3.14 is but one more instance of the effort to define as precisely as possible how texts lead us to Brahman, and to identify the rules governing this approach. The distinction between Brahman as provisional (apara)and as higher (para) is not in itself liberative knowledge nor is it liable to external scrutiny as to its truth. It is true in the Text, about the Text, wherein alone liberative knowledge resides; if we engage the Text properly, liberative, higher knowledge does then become possible. |
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Let us consider several aspects of the whole adhikarana and sutra 14 within it. Like UMS I.1.12-19, UMS IV.3.7-14 is an instance of Sankara's decision to read the Text "against itself." The journey that the deceased takes after death is the topic of a discussion couched in terms of the statement, "The one who is not human takes them to Brahman;"48 at issue is the identity of that "Brahman" which is the destination. |
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The adhikarana reads most naturally if we take 7-11 as a purvapaksa presented in the name of Badari (7): his view is that the post-mortem journey of the soul can be only a movement toward the provisional Brahman. 12-14 then represent Jaimini's siddhanta (12): the destination of this journey is nothing but the higher Brahman itself. |
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Sankara turns the argument around, to make Badari's position the siddhanta: in a provisional form Brahman can be a |
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