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the pillar: may he be manifest uninterruptedly in the lotus of my heart! |
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In verses 10-12 of his introduction Amalananda plays on the title of his commentary, the Vedantakalpataru"the wish-fulfilling tree of Vedanta"in order to suggest how commentary liberates, thereby illustrating vividly the integral relationship among the power that gives life, the tradition, and his own work: |
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10. At whose rising the buds designated the various works and their meanings open in lucid explanations; in whom the world's blind infatuation is removed; whose splendor illuminates the highest heaven with the lofty stars as its divine lights; the moon whose light is joy, the teacher of knowledgeto that one I render obeisance! |
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11. Vacaspati rendered completely secure the orthodox path; he is victorious, the teacher of the lords of the wise, a demon to adversaries vanquished by his reasoning. |
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12. Growing from the Veda, this tree's shoots are made of reason, its investigations form many branches, its countless leaves are of good complexion, its opening blossoms are the realization of the highest Brahman; it gives the fruit of immortality, ready to be plucked by hand; it is the lord of all lords and humans; it is the wish-fulfilling tree which spreads out and skillfully banishes the heat arising due to the sun, this world. |
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Advaita is a generous, fruitful tree, growing luxuriously with each act of commentary in each generation; rooted in the reality of Brahman and cultivated in the rich soil of the upanisads, the Uttara Mimamsa Sutras and the Bhasya of Sankara, the tradition flourishes and is increasingly fruitful in each successive commentary. |
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This emphasis on organic growth strikingly reverses a typical attitude toward commentaries: commentaries are not signs of the decay or decline of the original genius of a tradition, its reduction to words, mere scholasticism; they are the blossoming and fruition of that original genius. The "later" is the fruition, the brilliance, of the "earlier," not its deterioration. The later |
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