THE BHAMATI: CATUSSUTRITHE
BHAMATI OF VACASPATI
ON
SANKARA’S BRAHMASUTRABHASYA
(CATUSSOTRI)
EDITED WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
BY
8, 8. SURYANARAYANA SASTRI
Reader in Philosophy
AND
C. KUNHAN RAJA
Reader in Sanskrit, Madras University
WITH A FOREWORD BY
Sm 8. RADHAKRISHNAN
THEOSOPHIOAL PUBLISHING HOUSE
ApYaR, Mapas, INDIA
1988FOREWORD
IT is a pleasure to know that Vacaspati’s Bhamatt
on the first four Sutras will now be available to
students of Indian Philosophy in an edition brought
out in the orthodox style, with a critical introduction,
Sanskrit text, English translation and notes. All
those interested in Indian Philosophy will be deeply
grateful to Mr. S. S. Suryanarayana Sastri and
Dr. C. Kunhan Raja of the Philosophy and the Sanskrit
Departments of the Madras University for bringing
out this very useful work. While Sankara’s Bhasya
is fairly well known among students of Indian Thought,
the later thinkers are practically neglected. Vacaspati
presents one great section of Advaita Vedanta and
his Bhamati is second in importance only to Sankara’s
Bhasya. :
The Introduction, besides dealing with the date
of the work and its place in the Advaita tradition,
gives a clear and careful account of the central ideas
of the Bhamatt: the authoritativeness of scripture andvi
its compatibility with reason, the nature of Avidya and
its seat, release—ultimate and relative—and Brahman
and Isvara, among others. There are side reflections
on similar views in Western Thought which are always
interesting. The work will not only add to the
reputation of its authors but also help to popularise
Vacaspati’s views on Advaita Vedanta.
Andhra University, Waltair 8. R.
5th May, 1933CONTENTS
PAGE
Foreword : . . . 5 v
Introduction . . . . . ix
Detailed Table of Contents . . . liti
Text and Translation:
Superimposition : . . a 1
Desire to Know : . : 63
Definition . . . . . 119
Scripture-source . 7 : a 137
Harmony . : : : . 145
Notes . e . . . 247
Additional Notes : . . 297
List of Abbreviations . : 7 » 313
Corrections . . . . - 315INTRODUCTION
I, DATE AND DOMICILE OF VACASPATI
ON the strength of a reference in the Nydyasictnibandha,
it is now generally admitted that Acarya Vacaspati
Misra belongs to the period round about A.D. 841-842
(898 Vikrama Era)! The last verse of the Bhamatt
refers to a king Nrga.? While it is held by some that
this king has not yet been identified, others ° believe
him to have been a king of Mithila, a predecessor of
Nanyadeva, who reigned about 1019 Vikrama Era, z.e.,
A.D, 962; it is said that this predecessor is named in
some inscriptions as Kiratadhipati, and Kirdtas are well
known to be those who had human vehicles. It is in
any case certain that there should have been a good
interval between him and Udayana (A.D. 984) who
wrote the Nydyavartikatatparyattkiparisuddhi, as a sub-
commentary on Vacaspati’s Nydyavartikatatparyatika.
'See Das Gupta, History of Indian Philosophy, II, 107.
* Nares’vara yaccarita-‘nukSram icchanti kartum na ca parayanti
tasmin mahipe mahaniya-kirtau s'rimannrge ‘kari may4 nibandhah.
See also p. 481, under II, i, 33.
*See Mm. Dr. Ganganath Jha, Sanskrit Introduction to his
edition of the Sankhyatattvakaumudi. “ Ntga” means “ one who
has a human vehicle,” and kirdtas are well known to be such. The
same writer gives many reasons, some fanciful, for holding that
Vicaspati was a native of Mithila,x
That our author belonged to somewhere in Behar
or Bengal would appear to be evident from the repeated
reference to mustard oil. It has also been said that in
what corresponds to ancient Mithila there is a city
called Bhama (Bhdmatt) and a tank of the same name.
It may be interesting to note a story current in
pandit-tradition about the name “ Bhamati”. In those
days (as even today in parts of Upper India), it would
appear to have been customary to hold learned
discussions on such occasions as marriages. VAcaspati,
who listened to such a discussion on the occasion of
his own marriage, was so struck by the vagaries of
dialecticians that he resolved straightaway to devote
himself to the task of setting forth authoritative
expositions of all the darsanas. So great was his zeal,
so mighty the task and such the patient and tireless
devotion of his wife that the couple had grown old
. before V&caspati could write finis to his labours. Then
alone did V&caspati realise the magnitude both of his
neglect of his wife and of his wife's self-sacrifice ; and
as a tardy measure of reparation, he gave her name to
the last and greatest of his works, so that she could
live on perpetually in the Bhimati, though not in the
bodies of children born of her. The story is so pic-
turesque, so typical of the scholar’s neglect and the true
scholarly recompense, that it deserves to be true.
TI. Works
The works of Vacaspati are enumerated in the
concluding verses of the Bhamatt. They are as follows:a
the Nydyakanika (a commentary on Mandana’s Vidhi-
viveka), the Brahmatattvasamiksa (a commentary on
Mandana’s Brahmasiddhi), the Tattvabindu (a discussion
of language in its relation to meaning), the Nyaya-
vartikatatparyatika (a commentary on Udyotakara’s
Nydyavartika), the Nyayasictnibandha (perhaps written
as a supplement to the Tatparyattka), the Sankhyatatt-
vakaumudt (a commentary on Tsvara Krsna’s Sankhya-
karika), the Tattvavatsaradt (a commentary on Vy4sa’s
Yogabhasya) and the Bhamatt (a2 commentary on
Sankara’s Sartrakamimamsabhagya).’
The Bhamati has itself been commented on by
several other works. The most notable of these is the
Vedantakalpataru by Amalananda (13th Century A.D.).
This work in turn formed the subject of two commen-
taries, the Parimala of Appayya Diksita (16th Century
A.D.) and Abhoga of Laksminrsimha (17th Century A.D.),
The Abhoga is written in the light of the Parimala
and sometimes criticises it. Other commentaries on the
Bhamati are (1) the Bhamattvyakhya or the Rjupra-
kasika by Srirahganatha otherwise known as Akhand-
ananda?; (2) the Bhamatttilaka*; (3) and the
Bhamativilasa.'
‘All the works have been published with the exception of the
Brahmatattvasamtkga, not even a manuscript of which has been
found so far.
? This kas been published in part at Calcutta by Mahamahé-
padbyaya N. S. Anantakrsna Séstri.
3Manuscripts of this work are found in the Government
Oriental Library, Madras.
i" Mentioned by Das Gupta, History of Indian Philosophy,xii
IH, RELATIONS TO OTHER WRITERS
The name of the Bhamatt is identified with one
of two main streams of S&hkara interpretation.
Vacaspati owes the major part of what is distinctive
in his teaching to Mandana’s Brahmasiddhi. But as
the ‘views starting with Padmapdda are known as the
tenets of the Vivarana-prasthana, the views that
started with Mandana passed current as the tenets of
the Bhamati-prasthana. Vacaspati draws largely on
the Brahmasiddhi, and sometimes on the Paficapadika,
wherever necessary or possible. Striking verbal
resemblances to the former work are indicated in the
notes ; a few of the resemblances to the Paficapadika are
noted here: bhasyam prasannagambhiram ; (ahankara as)
idam-anidam-rapam; mithya-s‘abdo ‘pahnava-vacanah ;
sariram eva sarirakam sfarirake bhavah sarirako
jivah; bhikgu-bhayan na sthalyé anadhisrayanam ; so
‘yam s&nti-karmani vetalo’dayah; anvaya possible
even without reference to asti-kriyaé as in rajfio’yam
purugah."
'The references are to pages 1, 18, 4, 40, 63, 91, and 97 of the
Paftcapadika (Vizianagaram Sanskrit Series). The statements on
pp. 63 and 91 of the Parcapadika are well-known proverbial
expressions ; what is striking is the use of them by both writers
in the same context. The interested student will easily find the
corresponding pages of the Bhamatt. Some of the criticiem in the
Bhamatt would seem to be expressly directed against the
doctrines of tbe Paicapadika; see the Kalpataru on I, iii, 17
(p. 298) and on I, ii, 26 (p. 264). We owe this reference to
Mr. T. R. Chintamani (Journal of Oriental Ri h, Mi
Ya. Hip) mtal Researc fadras,xiii
IV. SRUTI AS PRAMANA
For Vacaspati, as for all adherents of any orthodox
school of Indian Philosophy, Revealed Scripture (Sruti)
is the final authority in matters of the Spirit. The
Spirit (or Intelligence, Consciousness, the Universal
Self, Brahman) is that whereby knowledge is possible ;
it is itself knowledge. It cannot, without losing its
self-hood, become an object of knowledge. Itis manifest,
since but for its manifestation the whole world would
be blind. But it is not manifested by another, since
that would lead only to an infinite series of the blind
leading the blind. It is self-luminous and self-manifest.
Perception, which would have no value but for the mani-
festation of the self-luminous intelligence in and through
it, could not have that intelligence itself for its object.
Much less can inference make that its sphere, since it is
dependent on concomitances between the perceived.
Brahman can be known only through intuition and
that only by gifted and disciplined souls, whose minds
have been purified by Scripture-ordained duties and
concentrated on the Scripture-taught reality. Such
minds will by first hearing of the only real, one
without a second, reflecting on it and refuting all
objections to the doctrine, contemplating the real
uninterruptedly for a long time and with faith, realise
Brahman. The supreme pramana is Scripture, though
it mav and indeed has to be helped by reasoning, as
an auxiliary, in order to remove the doubts that
assail the mind. Such reasoning, however, is strictly