Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c8.s1.2

c8.s1.2

Even within the fold of Advaitins, Śaṅkara is countered by the theorists who hold the Jñānakarmasamuccayavāda (theory of synthesis between knowledge and action). Śaṅkara at least concedes to it as a possibility in his *bhāṣya* on *Kaṭhopaniṣad* (1.17). But then he firmly refutes the synthesis between action and knowledge as his final verdict in his *bhāṣya* on *Taittirīya Upaniṣad* (I.11.4). On the very first aphorism of *Brahmasūtra*, Śaṅkarācārya in his *bhāṣya* raises the question of the non-essentiality of *dharma-jijñāsā* (inquiry in *dharma*) and asserts that it is not a prerequisite for pursuing inquiry into the Ultimate Reality or *Brahman*. *Brahma-jijñāsā* can be acquired even before the acquisition of *dharma*; and that nothing remains to be done after the acquisition of the true knowledge of *Brahman* is the beauty of the Advaita system.¹