Wednesday, August 19, 2020

'aprAkritatvam' - Laghuchandrikaa on the Advaitasiddhi

'aprAkritatvam'  -  Laghuchandrikaa on the Advaitasiddhi

In the 2nd Pariccheda of the Advaitasiddhi occurs the section on 'the negation of any default form for Brahman':  ब्रह्मणो निराकारत्वोपपत्तिः
अत एव–"अरूपोऽप्राकृतश्च" इति स्मृत्यैवारूपश्रुतिगत्युक्तेः नारूपमित्यनेन रूपमात्रनिषेध इति–निरस्तम्: स्मृतेरुपास्यपरत्वेन ज्ञेयब्रह्मप्रतिपादकायाः श्रुतेः सङ्कोचे कारणाभावात्  

The siddikara responds to a smriti passage 'arUpo aprAkRiteshca'.  The passage corresponds to the page 744  printed book of the Ananthakrishna Sastry edition.  The Laghuchandrika says what constitutes 'aprAkritatvam and rarUpatvam': 
तथा चाप्राकृतपदेन प्राकृतविलक्षणमायोपाधिकत्वेनारूपपदेन च रूपसामान्यशून्यत्वेन उपास्यत्वमुक्तस्मृत्या लभ्यत इति बोध्यम् |

By the word 'aprAkrita' in the cited passage a form that is distinct from prAkrita and is mAyopaadhika.  By the word 'arUpaH', what is meant is a complete absence of the very category called rUpa.  This passage means that such a Brahman is upAsya, meant for meditating. 
Thus, the meaning of aprAkrita is: it is not of prakriti, that is, a general sequential product of prakriti through the pancha bhuta transformation but something attributed by the association of mAyA.  
Anyone with a different/improved understanding is welcome with the suggestion.

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