(This is a new series of English Commentary on Tattva Sankhyana by Shri Gururaj Bhandarkar from Mysore)
TATTVA SANKHYANA तत्त्व सांख्याना
Opening Verse of Tattva Sankhyana (TS):
He then goes on to answer the objection-
"The objection is answered thus- Invocation has of course been performed by the Lord of all six opulences (Shrimadh Acharya), because there is possibility of performing it mentally."
Apart from this, he gives another justification that we can't say that there is no invocation at all in the Tattva Sankhyana-
Shrimadh Ananda Tirtha Bhagavatpadacharyaru's compassion has given us this divine opportunity to study and understand his Tattva Sankhyana, along with the Teeka of Shrimath Teekakrithpadaru and the Tippani of Shrimadh Raghavendra Gurusarvabhowmaru, as per our abilities.
* The broadest classification of realities:-
While there is only one entity under the Swatantra category, the Aswatantra category has several levels of classification.
It is essential to know the precise "textbook" definitions of the terms, Tattva, Swatantra and Aswatantra.
Shri Teekacharya defines these three terms in his commentary as follows-
The definitions of Swatantra and Aswatantra.
Shri Madhwesharpanamastu
TATTVA SANKHYANA तत्त्व सांख्याना
The Enumeration and Categorization of Realities
Shrimadh Ananda Tirtha Bhagavatpadacharyaru's compassion has given us this divine opportunity to study and understand his Tattva Sankhyana, along with the Teeka of Shrimath Teekakrithpadaru and the Tippani of Shrimadh Raghavendra Gurusarvabhowmaru, as per our abilities.
Opening Verse of Tattva Sankhyana (TS):
1) स्वतन्त्रमस्वतन्त्रं च द्विविधं तत्त्वमिष्यते।
स्वतन्त्रो भगवान् विष्णुः भावाभावौ द्विधेतरत्।।
"Reality is broadly classified into two categories namely Self-Dependent and Dependent. Self-Dependent is Lord Vishnu and that which is other than the self-dependent entity is classified as Bhava (Existent) and Abhava (Non-existent)".
Why is there no invocation in Tattva Sankhyana?-
Mangalacharana (Invocation) is a fundamental aspect of any work. Authors invoke the Lord before getting into the subject matter of the work so that their work is successfully completed without any obstacle, the tenets are successfully conveyed to the audience, the effort of the author becomes fruitful I.e. the Lord is pleased ("sa mangalasyaiva saphalatvat" says Shri Vyasarajaru) and that the tradition of performing invocation at the beginning which is laid down by Lord Veda Vyasa himself is respected. However when we speak of Lord Veda Vyasa and Shrimadh Ananda Tirtharu, they have no obstacles whatsoever nor the fear that their work might be incomplete. Yet, both of them perform invocation in the beginning so that the disciples follow their lead and mandatorily invoke the Lord in the beginning. They do it also with the intention that the readers of their works are freed from obstacles and study them completely with proper understanding. However, in the Tattva Sankhyana, we see that there is no seperate invocation.
Shri Teekarayaru discusses this by first explaining the objection:
Why hasn't Shrimadh Acharya performed mangalacharana in the beginning? We can't say that an invocation is futile, because all realised ones do perform it as a rule.
He then goes on to answer the objection-
"उच्यते। अनुष्ठितमेव भगवता मङ्गलम्, मानसिकादेरपि तस्य सम्भवात्।"
- Teekarayaru gives the first justification here. He says that Shrimadh Acharya has performed the invocation mentally. An invocation can be done in three ways- by words, by actions and by thoughts (vachanika, kayika, manasika). Doing it by words is the popular way which we see as an invocatory verse in the work. Doing it by action refers to prostration before the Lord before starting the work. The third one i.e. doing mentally is where the virtues of the Lord and his forms are remembered and meditated upon before starting the work. Shrimadh Acharya has done that.
-Make note of the point that Teekarayaru is calling Acharya by the name "Bhagavan" again. By doing so, he wants to highlight the fact Acharya is a Lord of all the six opulent attributes (Aishwarya, Veerya, Yashas, Shri, Jnana and Vairagya) and thus doesn't need an invocation for himself.
Now, we get a doubt. How does Teekacharya know that Shrimadh Acharya has performed mental invocation? Has he seen it? How can anyone read the other's mind? Even if we take it for granted that Teekacharya knows the mind of Acharya, how can he give it as a logical justification? Well, he answers this crisply saying that he is not doing any guesswork here but is saying it based on reasoning-
"परमास्तिकत्वादनुमीयते"।
"This is inferred because Shrimadh Acharya is a supreme theist".
- Thus, the statement that Shrimadh Acharya has performed mental invocation is not based on any mind reading or guess work but is based on Anumana Pramana (Inference). This inference is done based on the fact that Shrimadh Acharya is "parama aastika" (A complete, supreme theist - one who has complete shraddha in God and the Vedas). When even an ordinary theist performs invocation, wouldn't Shrimadh Acharya who is a flawless devotee of the Lord and the greatest among theists perform it? (That too given the fact that he has done it in most of his other works.)
Thus we can infer that he has done it mentally.
Apart from this, he gives another justification that we can't say that there is no invocation at all in the Tattva Sankhyana-
"यच्चायं स्वातन्त्र्यादिविशिष्टस्य विष्णोरादित एव सङ्कीर्तनं करोति किं ततोsन्यन्मङ्गलं नाम?
अन्यपरमपि तद्भक्त्याsनुष्ठितं स्वभावात् सम्पादयत्येवाखिलमङ्गलानीति"।।
"Also, Lord Vishnu is glorified with adjectives such as 'self-dependent'. Can there be a better invocation?! As those words are used with the fullest and the greatest devotion, all the meritorious fruits of an invocation are obtained".
The first verse of the Tattva Sankhyana describes Vishnu as Swatantra(self-dependent). This Swatantrya is the most fundamental definition of God. Without God being a self-dependent entity, neither can he be Ananta Guna Poorna( one who has infinite virtues) nor Sarva Dosha Doora (one who is flawless). Thus Swatantrya is a virtue that is the basis for all other virtues in God and is the very definition of the concept called 'God'. The only entity who has it is Vishnu. Thus Vishnu is the Supreme Brahman. As Shrimadh Acharya is explaining Vishnu to be "Swatantra" and is calling him "Bhagavan", it is established that a comprehensive invocation has been done by him in the opening verse of the Tattva Sankhyana.
-As Tattva Sankhyana is a foundational work to the doctrine of Tattvavada, Acharya wants us to remember Vishnu's self-dependence and Lordship over the universe, before anything else. He is highlighting the fact that irrespective of how many virtues of the Lord we meditate upon, the virtue of his Swatantrya should always be deep rooted in our minds. Thus he must have chosen not to put any other invocation before this auspicious and the most essential concept of God's self-dependence.
The Anubandha Chatushtaya of Tattva Sankhyana-
Anubandha Chatushtaya are the four parameters that decide whether a work is eligible to be studied by us. They are Vishaya(Subject), Adhikari(the one who is eligible to study the work), Prayojana (the benefit of reading the work) and Sambandha(the relation between these three factors). For example a book which has the "Crow's teeth" as it's vishaya would have no prayojana and therefore no adhikari. Thus we need to define the Anubandha Chatushtaya of Tattva Sankhyana before we start studying it. Shri Raghavendra Swami in his Bhavadeepa shows the Vishaya and Prayojana of this work through the words of Teekacharya himself. (Refer the Teeka part that was quoted in the last post).
1. Vishaya- The Lord is the primary subject of the work and the universe of sentients and insentients that is under his control is the secondary subject.
2. Prayojana- Liberation is the benefit obtained by studying this work as it gives the knowledge of God. (Refer last post for details as to how an understanding of the universe is essential to know God).
The Adhikari and Sambandha have to be understood based on the Vishaya and Prayojana. For example, those eligible for moksha are adhikaris to this work (Whether every sajjana can directly study Tattva Sankhyana irrespective of gender and Varna is a topic to be dealt seperately). There is proper Sambandha for this work inasmuch as the Adhikari of this work is given his Prayojana(moksha) by the Vishaya (the Lord).
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Shrimadh Ananda Tirtha Bhagavatpadacharyaru's compassion has given us this divine opportunity to study and understand his Tattva Sankhyana, along with the Teeka of Shrimath Teekakrithpadaru and the Tippani of Shrimadh Raghavendra Gurusarvabhowmaru, as per our abilities.
* The broadest classification of realities:-
"स्वतन्त्रमस्वतन्त्रं च द्विविधं तत्त्वमिष्यते।"
"Reality is broadly classified into two categories namely Swatantra (self-dependent) and Aswatantra (dependent) ."While there is only one entity under the Swatantra category, the Aswatantra category has several levels of classification.
It is essential to know the precise "textbook" definitions of the terms, Tattva, Swatantra and Aswatantra.
Shri Teekacharya defines these three terms in his commentary as follows-
1) तत्त्वम् अनारोपितम्। प्रमितिविषयः इति यावत्।
"Tattva is that which is non-superimposed. It is an object for right cognition."
In other words, that which is a result of illusion is not a Tattva. For example, a rope is indeed a Tattva, a reality. But if someone superimposes a snake on the rope due to illusion, that snake is not a Tattva. The snake is not actually present but is a result of the observer's misapprehension. If the observer keenly verifies his apprehension under better lighting conditions, he realises that there is no snake over there. This realisation is called "baadha jnana" . Such products of faulty perceptions which are sublated when there is baadha jnana, do not qualify to be called a Tattva. On the other hand, those objects which are never subject to baadha jnana because their perception is itself obtained through flawless cognition, are called Tattvas. For example, the snake superimposed on the rope is sublated but the rope is never sublated. Thus the rope is a Tattva while the snake is an aaropa/bhranti/bhrama. All classifications that are given in this work are thus realities which are known through right, flawless cognition.
The definitions of Swatantra and Aswatantra.
2) स्वरूप प्रमिति प्रवृत्ति लक्षण सत्तात्रैविध्ये परानपेक्षं स्वतन्त्रम्।
"That which doesn't depend on others for the three aspects of existence namely it's natural form, non-sublative traits and the ability to produce an action is Swatantra".
- Satta (Existence) is defined in three ways.
i)The very form (Svarupa) of an object is defined as Satta.
ii) If something exists, it ought to have its own attributes like size, volume, mass etc. These traits are never subject to baadha jnana. Such traits which are known through right cognition (Pramiti) are the second way of defining existence of any object.
iii) Everything that exists produces an action which has an effect of its own (Pravrutti). This ability called Pravrutti is the third definition of existence.
God is self-dependent (Swatantra) because his Svarupa-Pramiti-Pravrutti, collectively called Satta, aren't derived from any other source but are his very own. They don't require anyone or anything else to support their presence.
The Supreme Bahman has infinite forms, infinite attributes and infinite ability to act. No one can stop him from doing what he does neither does he wait for anyone's permission to set Prakriti, Kaala etc. into action during creations. He does it on his own. Thus, the definition of Brahman as the one who gives srushti-stithi-laya-niyamana-jnana-ajnana-bandha-moksha to the entire universe stands as the best illustration of show that his Satta is totally independent.
3) परापेक्षम् अस्वन्त्रम् ।।
"That which depends on others for these is Aswatantra."
Now, everything else apart from Brahman is Aswatantra, as it's Satta is derived from the Satta of Brahman. The reason why Prakriti, Kaala, Jivas etc. exist is that God exists! The three aspects of existence that these entities have are dependent on God. For example, in Maha Pralaya, all the abilities of all entities are suspended. Prakriti doesn't bind, jivas don't act or know, time doesn't cause transformations! But as soon as the Lord wishes to create, the traits of all these entities manifest and they produce different actions.
In the next post, we will be knowing as to why is it to be accepted in the first place that there is a Tattva and why should only one Tattva be accepted as independent.
Also, some other subtle aspects in the words of Shrimadh Acharya that Teekacharya with his razor sharp analytical skills points out and helps us understand the heart of Bhagavatpadacharyaru will be discussed.
Shri Madhwesharpanamastu
