Indian Philosophy v2.c26.s9: Bhartṛhari
Indian Philosophy v2.c26.s9
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Bhartṛhari
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Another predecessor of Śaṃkara, whose views were akin to his, is Bhartṛhari, the famous logician and grammarian.³ According to Max Müller,⁴ he died about A.D. 650. His great philosophical work is Vākyapadī, which is more or less Buddhist in its tendencies. I-Tsing relates that Bhartṛhari became several times a Buddhist monk and as often lapsed. His teachings are not inconsistent with this story. His insistence on the phenomenality of the world and detachment from things is strongly Buddhist in tone. “ All things are attended with fear to men; detachment alone is safe.”⁵ The world, with all its distinctions, is imagined (kālpanikam). Things of the world are soulless (nairātmya), though words give them individuality. Bhartṛhari is, however, unlike the Buddhists when he posits the reality of Brahman and views the whole world as a vivarta, or a phenomenon based upon it. He identifies Brahman with speech. “ Brahman without beginning or end, which is the eternal essence of speech, is changed into the form of things like the evolution of the world.”⁶ “ The eternal word, which is called sphoṭa, and does not consist of parts, is indeed Brahman."'¹ The ambiguity of the Greek term "logos," which means both reason and word, points to the affinity of the Divine reason and the Divine word.
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³ Dr. Winternitz doubts the identity of Bhartṛhari, the poet, with Bhartṛhari, the logician and grammarian. Perhaps in this the learned doctor is a little over-cautious.
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⁴ S.S., p. 90.
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⁵ Sarvaṃ vastu bhayānvitam bhuvi nṛṇām, vairāgyam evābhayam.
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⁶ Anādinidhanam brahma śabdatattvaṃ yad akṣaram Vivartate 'rthabhāvena prakriyā jagato yathā.
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¹ Sphoṭākhyo niravayavo nityaśabdo brahmaiveti. (S.D.S., p. 140.)
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BHARTṚPAPAÑCA
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In his commentary on the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad,² Śaṃkara refers to the dvaitādvaita (or bhedābheda) of Bhartṛpapañca, according to which Brahman is, at once, one and dual. The causal Brahman is different from the effect Brahman, though identical with the latter, when the world returns into the original Brahman. Śaṃkara observes that two contradictory attributes, duality and non-duality, cannot both be true of the same subject. An identity in difference is possible with regard to phenomenal objects, but not with regard to the noumenon. Duality may be true for the individual encased in the upādhis, but it disappears when he is freed from them.
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² S.B., Bṛh. Up., v. 1. See also Sureśvara’s Vārttika on Bṛh. Up. and Ānandajñāna’s gloss on it.
Cites (2)
- Vākyapadīya — Bhartṛhari (grammarian), Sanskrit
- Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad — Sanskrit