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age an a-Textual, selective and thematic rewriting of the Text in terms of major ideas. |
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In this section I examine the construction of padas. First, I examine "connection," (samgati) as the primary means of the construction of unity in the Text, the search for the appropriate right connection among adhikaranas, and then point to the learned, "textured" reasoning (nyaya)that develops from an understanding of the whole Text; finally, by way of illustration I analyze two pada topics, "coordination" (upasamhara),practiced in UMS III.3, and "harmonization" (samanvaya),practiced in UMS I.1.12-3.43,
30 to show how they contribute to the construction of the Text primarily as modes of the organization of texts, and not as themes imposed upon them or in replacement of them. |
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a. Samgati: the Connections within a Pada |
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The justification of padas is achieved in part through commentarial efforts to identify themes which distinguish one pada from another, but more importantly by the internal construction of each pada by the identification of the connections among its adhikaranas. The Advaitins, like the Mimamsakas before them, conceived of each pada as an ordered series of adhikaranas which follow from one another, though in an order that defies simple description: the series of connections, and each part of it, are known by the word "connection" (samgati). |
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As beginners gain skill in Advaita by working through a series of adhikaranas, the more the better, they are not left merely with disconnected increments of Advaita learning. Rather, they are then positioned to begin to imitate the commentators by looking for the connections among any two or more adhikaranas, and thereby learning the textual, intellectual, rhetorical connections which justify any given sequence of two or more. |
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The ascertainment of such connections is a difficult task which requires a prior understanding of the rules which govern each adhikaranai.e., not just its siddhanta, but also the principles and guidelines for its formulation with its particular objections, counter-propositions, solutions. No single line of thought can be found and followed through an entire pada, since none proceeds simply according to a simple, compellingly clear theme. |
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