Is Bhartrhari an Advaitin? (3)

The legitimacy of the scholastic debate in the contemporary period, in my opinion, may largely be based upon the context in which the genesis of Advaita Vedänta has conceived the metaphysical position of the grammarians through reading Sankara and the post-Sankara traditions in its textual situatedness. It is indeed pivotal to trace back the conceptual genesis of the doctrine of eternal verbum as conceived in the ‘tradition-texts’ of the Advaita school of thought. As early as in 400 CE, Gauòapada, in his Agamaprakaranya portion of Karika on Mandukya Upanisad – one of the early Upaniñad-s, explains the significance of Pranava or OM-kara. Pranava, as Gaudapada insists, is the sound which directly connotes Brahman itself identical with the Self.  Praëava is inclusive of all sounds and the OM-kara Sabda is the substratum of all existence. Gaudapada sketches the components of OM with four matra-s A, U, M and the assimilative syllable OM. The fourth syllable which is Pranava itself is spoken as the amatra – soundless anusvara known as Bindu. [§§ 174-175, T.M.P.Mahadevan; 1960]. Sankara in his commentary to the Karika, mentions that this Pranava that is the name of all names and the formless form, is known in two aspects, Para and apara, unmanifested and manifested form of same Reality. Mandana Misra, a post-Sankara Advaitin, in his Brahma Siddhi [Brahma Kanda]  refers to Chandogya Sruti [II.xxiii.3] to insist  that OM is all comprehensive principle and all pervasive is the underlining principle of all realities. Vacaspati Misra [9^th CE], the founder of Bhamati school of Advaita Vedanta, in his Tattvasamiksa, a commentary on Brahma Siddhi, endorses the concept of Pranava – the Sabda Brahman as the absolute ontological reality; as accepted by Sankapani’s Vyakhya, Citsukha’s Abhiprayaprakasika, änandapürëamuni’s Bhavasuddhi  in the Advaita tradition [§.2, N.S.Ananthakrishna Sastri;  1964].

14^th Century Advaitin, Vidyaranya revitalizes the doctrine of Pranava and its triadic meta-cosmic ontology of Sonic reality in his Dipika upon Nrsimha Uttara Tapini. Explicating the Advaitic stand on the triadic Sonic reality he contends that the impartite Sound is conceived in four fragments like vaikhari, madhyama, pasyanti and para. A-kara, U-kara, Ma-kara together forms Pranava; likewise vaikhari, madhyama, pasyanti forms the para which is OM-kara. Also that A-kara etc., corresponds to fourfold, bija, bindu, nada and sakti respectively. A-kara, one that is perceived directly, is the gross form of OM-kara which is Virat. Vaikhari is the gross state of sound and hence it is directly perceived and is functional aspect of sound ie., the Kriya sakti. Before the gross form manifestation, it is associated with mind, which is presided by the Icca sakti – the madhyamä indicating Hiranyagarbha who presides over the mind and its states. Madhyamä is the middle space between vaikhariand pasyanti like the U between A and Ma-karas. The pasyanti that is manifested by the Ma-kara is presided by the power of knowledge ie., the Jnana Sakti [§.76. Nrsimha Uttara Tapini Dipika; Anandasrama Press, Varanasi; 1929].