Shastra Quiz 14

The statements in the Vedic scriptures describing the oneness of Brahman and the jīvas serve one or more of the following purposes:

• To distinguish both Brahman and the jīvas from inert matter by pointing to consciousness as their common quality.
• To show that the jīvas are integrated parts of Paramātmā.
• To teach that the jīvas are dependent on Paramātmā.
• To indicate that by becoming an unalloyed devotee, a jīva actualizes is ultimate potential, becoming in a sense as powerful as the Supreme Lord.
• To show that conditional life in the material world under the influence of a separatist view and ego is not the natural, healthy condition of the jīva.
• To show that the jīva, whether in conditioned life or in liberation, has no independence from God.
• To establish that Brahman is the only self-existent Reality.

In Harināmāmṛta vyākaraṇam, Śrī Jīva Goswami, and the commentator Śrī Hare Kṛṣṇa ācārya in his commentary called Bāla toṣaṇi tīkā, define the word ‘sūtra’ follows:

svalpākṣaramanalpārthaṁ viśuddhaṁ sarvatomukhaṁ viśeṣakathanāpekṣaṁ sūtraṁ sūtravido viduḥ

"Knowers of sūtras know a sūtra to be that which has a small number of letters but not a small meaning, clear, applicable everywhere, and which is meant to be precise and spoken."

Sūtras are of six types:

1. sañjā: the giving of a name is sañjā. For example, the sūtra tatrādau caturdaśa sarveśvaraḥ is a nāma-sañjā. [The first fourteen letters are named sarveśvara]

2. paribhāṣā: paribhāṣā is that which creates a rule where there is none. It’s nature is to create a rule in the absence of a rule. An example of paribhāṣā is: Pūrvaparayoḥ paravidhirbalavān– between a previous and a latter vidhi, the latter vidhi is more powerful.

3. vidhi: a vidhi is an instruction for performing a specific operation.

4. niyama: A niyama is that which narrows down from several possibilities.

5. adhikāra: an adhikāra is that which pervades the section that follows.

6. atideśa: An atideśa is an instruction of similarity with another.

Learn more: The Purpose of Vedanta Sutra

In Vedic culture, every undertaking begins with an invocation, technically called maṅgalācaraṇa. The purpose is to invoke the blessings of one’s worshipful deity for the removal of all obstacles to the completion of the work.

Maṅgalācaraṇa is of three types and may have one or more verses.

1. Namas-kriyātmaka, offering obeisances to one’s teacher(s) or worshipful deity, or to both.

2. Āśīr-vādātmaka, invoking Bhagavān’s blessings upon the work or upon the readers, or exclaiming simply “All glories to the Lord!”

3. Vastu-nirdeśātmaka, identifying the book’s primary subject.

Learn more: The Essence of Dharma

Learn more: Best of Hitopadesha (Part 2): The Four Goals of Life

Learn more: Indian Schools of Philosophy and Theology

In Sanskrit, words have three types of meaning, called primary (mukhya), indicated (lakṣaṇā) and suggested (vyañjanā).

This is very common knowledge for any Sanskrit scholar. So sometimes when a word is used it has its primary meaning and then it includes more than that.

Learn more: Interpretation of Yoga Sūtra

In Sanskrit linguistics, the integral relationship that words share with their meaning or reference is called vācya-vācaka-sambandha.

For instance, if we say the word "cup", then the word "cup" makes one think of the object "cup". So why does one think of the object "cup" when one hears the sound "cup"? Because there is a relationship between the sound and the object. This relationship is called vācya-vācaka.

It is important to understand that this vācya-vācaka relationship in the ordinary language is agreed upon by people at the time the language came into existence. For instance, when a cell phone came into existence we agreed to call it a mobile phone or cell phone or some word. This is called śakti or that there is some energy in the word.

In nyāya, this is called śakti-vād.

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