Gaudapada
Encyclopedia
Gaudapada (Also referred as Shri Gaudapadacharya) was a very early guru
in the tradition
of Advaita Vedanta
school of Hindu philosophy
. He is traditionally said to have been the grand-guru of the great teacher Adi Shankara
, one of the most important figures in Hindu philosophy and also believed to be the founder of Shri Gaudapadacharya Math
Verse
among Smarthas
provides the list of the early teachers of the Vedanta
in their order,
From this verse we can understand that, first teacher being Lord Narayana
himeself and line of descent from father to son up-to Sri Shuka Acharya. From Lord Narayana
to Sri Shuka Acharya the line of succession is known as Vamsarsi-parampara and from Sri Gaudapadcharya starts the descent of Sanyasins and known as Manava-gurusampradaya.
To bifurcate Acharyas according to the Yuga
:
A) In Satya or Krata Yuga
B) In Treta Yuga
C) In Dvapara Yuga
D) In Kali Yuga
Gaudapada was the author of the Mandukya Karika, which is a treatise in verse form on the Mandukya Upanishad
, one of the shortest but most profound Upanishads, or mystical Vedas
, consisting of just 13 prose sentences. Gaudapada brings out the subtle meanings locked in these mantras through his work.
The Gaudapadiya Karika is divided into four chapters. The first chapter - Agama, or Agama Prakarana
- explains the text of the Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapada shows that Advaita is supported by the shruti
and reason
. The second chapter - Vaitathya Prakarana - is concerned primarily with rationally proving the unreality of the phenomenal world characterized by its duality and opposition, on the cessation of which non-duality is attained. Lest by a similar process of arguments reality itself should be negated, the third chapter - Adavaita Prakarana - establishes non-duality and the fourth chapter - Alatasanti Prakarana - quite distinct from the other chapters with its Mahayana Buddhist
style of dialectic explains the relativity of our phenomenal experience and establishes the Atman
or soul as the only reality underlying the phenomenal existence.
. He shows the deepest respect for the Buddha
whom he salutes repeatedly, and quotes freely from Vaasubandhu
and Nagarjuna
.
or the doctrine of no-origination, is the fundamental doctrine of Gaudapada. From the absolute standpoint origination is an impossibility. The various theories of creation - that it is the expansion of God or it is the will of God or it is for God's enjoyment or it is an illusion like a dream or it proceeds from time - are all rejected by Gaudapada. Creation is the very nature of God. It is his inherent nature which simply emanates and flows from him. But even this is only an appearance for in truth there's no creation at all. For those well versed in the Vedanta
the world is like a city of Gandharva
s - an illusion. Viewed from the absolute there's neither birth nor death, neither appearance nor disappearance, neither production nor destruction, neither bondage nor liberation. There's none who works for freedom nor is there any who is liberated - this is the highest truth. The wise know that there's neither unity nor plurality - the world is neither one nor many. Just as a piece of rope is mistaken for a snake, the Atman is mistaken as this diverse world. Duality is an appearance and the non-dual Atman is the real truth.
Causality taught in the Upanishads is only to enable us to understand the supreme truth of no-origination. The world is not different from the self and the self is not different from Atman and Atman is not different from Brahman
. That the non-dual absolute appears as the diverse world is only an illusion. If it really became diverse then the immortal would become mortal. The dualists who seek to prove the origination of the unborn, by that very enterprise try to make the immortal, mortal. Ultimate nature can never change - the immortal can never become mortal and vice versa. Gaudapada quotes from the Upanishads : "There's no plurality here"; "The Lord through his powers appears to be many"; "those who are attached to creation or production or origination go to utter darkness"; "the unborn is never reborn, for who can produce him?".
Ajativada can be proved by reasoning too. How can that which already exists be born again? Neither can the non-existent be born. To produce a particular effect, a cause must have a particular energy. Else everything could be produced out of everything. But this energy can belong neither to that which is existent nor to that which is non-existent nor to that which is both nor to that which is neither. If we're unable to find the effect in the beginning or end, it cannot exist in the middle either. Since we're unable to prove antecedence and consequence, how can we establish a cause?
Causality is impossible as neither the existent nor the non-existent can be produced either by the existent or the non-existent.
That's the reason the Buddhas have clarified the doctrine of no-origination. To say that samsara
is without beginning and has an end is as absurd as saying that nirvana
has a beginning but no end.
Gaudapada says that it is only the dualists espousing theories on creation, who quarrel amongst themselves. We non-dualists - the upholders of Ajaativaada have no reason to quarrel, because even these dualists when taken collectively only proclaim no-origination.
The similarity between the views of Gaudapada and Nagarjuna
cannot be missed. Gaudapada himself acknowledges this when he says, "There are some (shunyavadins) who uphold non-dualism (advayavada) and reject both the extreme views of being and non-being, of production and destruction and thus emphatically proclaim the doctrine of no-origination. We approve", says Gaudapada, "of the doctrine of no-origination proclaimed by them".
The external world has no existence independent of the consciousness, which perceives it. Mere perception and practical utility cannot prove the reality of the world. For even in dreams there is perception and practical utility - water in a dream can quench the thirst in a dream as much as real water can quench real thirst. The waking state is on par with the dream state and both are real within their own order. But from the ultimate standpoint both are unreal.
Cognition does not prove the reality of the object, for the object exists as an object only to the knowing subject. So the distinction between the subject and object is made within the field of consciousness itself.
The external world is unreal because it doesn't exist always - for in deep sleep we've no consciousness of it. It is also unreal because the relations which constitute it - space, time and causality - are themselves impossible conceptions and hence unreal. It is also unreal because it consists of objects and whatever is presented as an object is unreal. The world is also unreal because it is unthinkable either as existent or as non-existent. Just as a moving firebrand appears as straight or curved, so does consciousness in action appear as the subject and object. And just as an unmoving firebrand produces no illusion, so does firm knowledge produce no subject-object duality. The appearances of the firebrand are not produced by anything else and when the firebrand doesn't move, the appearances don't rest in anything else. Nor do the appearances enter into the firebrand or do they go out of it. They are mere appearances because they are essentially indescribable or unthinkable, neither real nor unreal, neither existent nor non-existent.
Reality is the pure Self - the ultimate subject, which is pure consciousness. But it is not the empirical self because that which has empirical existence cannot be ultimately real. The real is the consciousness, which is immanent in both the subject and the object and yet transcends them both. It transcends the trinity of the knower, known and knowledge. It has neither attachment nor connection nor relation to anything else. It is self-proved, self-existent, innate and uncaused. Even to say that it is the "unborn" is valid only from the empirical standpoint - for it is beyond the intellect.
The self-luminous Self by the power of its own illusion imagines itself by itself and it is this Self which cognizes the diversity of the world. Just like a rope, which is mistaken for a snake, the Self is mistaken to be the individual subjects, the mental states and external objects. And just as when the rope is known, the imagined snake vanishes, likewise when the non-dual Atman is realized, the duality of subject and object disappears. This is the established conclusion of the Vedaanta.
As vishva it has consciousness of the outside world and thus enjoys the gross. As taijasa it has consciousness of the mental states and enjoys the subtle. As praajna it is concentrated consciousness and enjoys the bliss of deep sleep. While vishva and taijaasa are both causes and effects, praajna is only the cause. But turiya is neither cause and effect. It is ishaana - all pervading, changeless, non dual, capable of removing all sorrows, the lord of all and one without a second. Praajna is a state where there're no objects - so it cannot even be called a subject. It knows nothing, neither itself nor others. Though praajna too is non-dual like Turiya, still there's the seed of ignorance present in deep sleep. But Turiya knows no sleep and being self luminous consciousness is all seeing. It transcends the positive wrong knowledge of the waking and dream state and the absence of knowledge in the deep sleep state. The non-dual Atman is realized when the individual self (jiva) is awakened from its beginning less ignorance. The Atman is unborn, dreamless, sleepless, motionless, where all the categories of the intellect are merged, where all duality ceases - there's neither going to nor coming from it. It is the Lord immanent in the universe abiding in the hearts of all. It is known by the sages who've known the essence of the Vedas and are free from fear, anger and attachment.
Atman is like space and the jivas are like space in jars. When the jar is destroyed the space in the jar merges into the open space. Likewise when ignorance is destroyed by right knowledge, the jivas merge into Atman. Spaces in jars may differ in form, function and name, but still there's no difference in space. Likewise though the jivas may differ in form, function and name, still there's no difference in Atman. Just like the space in the jar is neither the transformation nor a modification nor a part of the space, the jiva too is neither the transformation nor a modification nor a part of the Atman. All elements, subjective as well as objective, are by their nature calm from the beginning, unborn and merged in the absolute. They are so because they are nothing else than the Brahman itself, which is unborn.
Duality is the product of the intellect and when the intellect is transcended, duality disappears. What's left is pure consciousness, devoid of all thought determinations and imagination. It is not different from the knowable, which is only Brahman. It is the calm and eternal Light. It is a unique bliss, which transcends happiness and misery. It is indescribable, unborn, changeless and non-dual. It can be realized by the Buddhas only.
Quite like the Mahaayaanists who say that the Buddha due to his excellent skill, preached the truth in different ways depending on the aptitude of his disciples, Gaudapada too says that the merciful Veda teaches karma and upaasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while jnaana is taught to those of higher intellect.
of ultimate reality. His rational arguments prove the irrationality of experience. The experience of varied consciousness-states, for instance, proves that none of them can be considered to be real. How does one know a magician's rabbit from a 'real' one? And as the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu questioned: If I were asleep and dreamt I was a butterfly, and then awoke to find myself a man, how will I know if I was a butterfly dreaming I was a man or am a man dreaming I was a butterfly?' Also considered is the cosmological question: something can't come out of nothing; yet, experience looks for something beyond this something which is logically unattainable; therefore, the only truth is that all this experience is false and the only reality is non-dualism. However, Gaudapada's portrayal of maya
as real yet non-dual in his example of the firebrand tries to provide a cosmological answer. The empirical dimension cannot be totally avoided.
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
in the tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
of Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
school of Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy is divided into six schools of thought, or , which accept the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures. Three other schools do not accept the Vedas as authoritative...
. He is traditionally said to have been the grand-guru of the great teacher Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
, one of the most important figures in Hindu philosophy and also believed to be the founder of Shri Gaudapadacharya Math
Dates
There is some dispute about the date of Shankara, but the most probable date is in the 8th century CE, as per the evidence cited by scholars such as Bhandarkar, K. B. Pathak and Deussen. Gaudapada is said to have been the teacher of Govinda, who was the teacher of Shankara. Shankara himself affirms this and quotes and refers to Gaudapada as the teacher who knows the tradition of the Vedānta (sampradāya-vit). Therefore, Gaudapada must have lived and taught during the 7th century CE.Order of Acharyas
The following well known SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
Verse
Verse (poetry)
A verse is formally a single line in a metrical composition, e.g. poetry. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza....
among Smarthas
Smartism
Smarta Sampradaya is a liberal or nonsectarian denomination of the Vedic Hindu religion which accept all the major Hindu deities as forms of the one Brahman, in contrast to Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism, the other three major Hindu sects, which revere Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti,...
provides the list of the early teachers of the Vedanta
Vedanta
Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
in their order,
- NārāyanamVishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
Padmabhuvam Vasishtam shaktiæ ca tatputraæ ParāsharamParashara' is a Rigvedic Maharishi and author of many ancient Indian texts. Parāśara was the grandson of Vashista, the son of Śakti Maharṣi, and the father of Vyasa. There are several texts which give reference to Parāśara as an author/speaker...
ca | - VyāsamVyasaVyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
Shukam Gaudapāda Mahantam GovindamGovinda Bhagavatpada.Govinda Bhagavatpada was the Guru of the Advaita philosopher, Adi Shankara. We know little of his life and works, except that he is mentioned in all the traditional accounts as the teacher of Adi Shankara. He was the disciple of Gaudapada . He is mentioned in the first verse of Adi Shankara's...
Yogindram athasya shishyam | - Shri ShankarāchāryaAdi ShankaraAdi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
mathasya Padmapādam ca hastamalakam ca shishyam | - Tam trotakam vartika karamanyan asmad guru-nsantat-amanato ’smi ||
From this verse we can understand that, first teacher being Lord Narayana
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
himeself and line of descent from father to son up-to Sri Shuka Acharya. From Lord Narayana
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
to Sri Shuka Acharya the line of succession is known as Vamsarsi-parampara and from Sri Gaudapadcharya starts the descent of Sanyasins and known as Manava-gurusampradaya.
To bifurcate Acharyas according to the Yuga
Yuga
Yuga in Hindu philosophy is the name of an 'epoch' or 'era' within a cycle of four ages. These are the Satya Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga, and finally the Kali Yuga. According to Hindu cosmology, life in the universe is created, destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is...
:
A) In Satya or Krata Yuga
Satya Yuga
The Satya Yuga , also called Sat Yuga, Krta Yuga and Krita Yuga in Hinduism, is the "Yuga of Truth", when mankind is governed by gods, and every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and mankind will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme...
- 1) Lord NarayanaVishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
2) Lord SadashivaShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
and 3) Lord BrahmaBrahmaBrahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
.
B) In Treta Yuga
Treta Yuga
Treta Yuga is the second out of four yugas, or ages of mankind, in the religion of Hinduism, and follows the Satya Yuga of perfect morality and precedes the Dvapara Yuga. The most famous events in this yuga were Lord Vishnu's fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations as Vamana, Parashurama and...
- 1)Vasishta Maharishi 2)Shakti Maharishi and 3) Parashara MaharishiParashara' is a Rigvedic Maharishi and author of many ancient Indian texts. Parāśara was the grandson of Vashista, the son of Śakti Maharṣi, and the father of Vyasa. There are several texts which give reference to Parāśara as an author/speaker...
.
C) In Dvapara Yuga
Dvapara Yuga
Dvapara Yuga or Dwapara Yuga is the third out of four yugas, or ages, described in the scriptures of Hinduism. This yuga comes after Treta Yuga and is followed by Kali Yuga...
- 1) Veda VyasaVyasaVyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
and 2) Sri Shuka Acharya
D) In Kali Yuga
Kali Yuga
Kali Yuga is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. The other ages are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga...
- 1) Acharyas start with Sri Gaudapada Acharya and followed by Govinda BhagavatpadaGovinda Bhagavatpada.Govinda Bhagavatpada was the Guru of the Advaita philosopher, Adi Shankara. We know little of his life and works, except that he is mentioned in all the traditional accounts as the teacher of Adi Shankara. He was the disciple of Gaudapada . He is mentioned in the first verse of Adi Shankara's...
charya, Shri ShankarāchāryaAdi ShankaraAdi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
etc.
Mandukya Karika
The or the , also known as the is the earliest available systematic treatise on .Gaudapada was the author of the Mandukya Karika, which is a treatise in verse form on the Mandukya Upanishad
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad is the shortest of the Upanishads – the scriptures of Hindu Vedanta. It is in prose, consisting of twelve verses expounding the mystic syllable Aum, the three psychological states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, and the transcendent fourth state of illumination.This...
, one of the shortest but most profound Upanishads, or mystical Vedas
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
, consisting of just 13 prose sentences. Gaudapada brings out the subtle meanings locked in these mantras through his work.
The Gaudapadiya Karika is divided into four chapters. The first chapter - Agama, or Agama Prakarana
Āgama (Hinduism)
Agama means, in the Hindu context, "a traditional doctrine, or system which commands faith".In Hinduism, the Agamas are a collection of Sanskrit scriptures which are revered and followed by millions of Hindus.-Significance:...
- explains the text of the Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapada shows that Advaita is supported by the shruti
Sruti
' , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law...
and reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
. The second chapter - Vaitathya Prakarana - is concerned primarily with rationally proving the unreality of the phenomenal world characterized by its duality and opposition, on the cessation of which non-duality is attained. Lest by a similar process of arguments reality itself should be negated, the third chapter - Adavaita Prakarana - establishes non-duality and the fourth chapter - Alatasanti Prakarana - quite distinct from the other chapters with its Mahayana Buddhist
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
style of dialectic explains the relativity of our phenomenal experience and establishes the Atman
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
or soul as the only reality underlying the phenomenal existence.
Significance
Gaudapada is one of the most important figures in Indian philosophyIndian philosophy
India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to ancient times. According to Radhakrishnan, the earlier Upanisads constitute "...the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."...
. He shows the deepest respect for the Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
whom he salutes repeatedly, and quotes freely from Vaasubandhu
Vasubandhu
Vasubandhu was an Indian Buddhist monk, and along with his half-brother Asanga, one of the main founders of the Indian Yogācāra school. However, some scholars consider Vasubandhu to be two distinct people. Vasubandhu is one of the most influential figures in the entire history of Buddhism...
and Nagarjuna
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna was an important Buddhist teacher and philosopher. Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is credited with founding the Mādhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism...
.
Ajativada
AjativadaAjativada
The Sanskrit term Ajativada can be translated as "non-creation". Ajativada is one of several alternately-held creation theories in Advaita Vedanta philosophy. According to Advaita Vedanta, the world of appearances is considered an illusion, and not to "exist". The idea that the illusory world was...
or the doctrine of no-origination, is the fundamental doctrine of Gaudapada. From the absolute standpoint origination is an impossibility. The various theories of creation - that it is the expansion of God or it is the will of God or it is for God's enjoyment or it is an illusion like a dream or it proceeds from time - are all rejected by Gaudapada. Creation is the very nature of God. It is his inherent nature which simply emanates and flows from him. But even this is only an appearance for in truth there's no creation at all. For those well versed in the Vedanta
Vedanta
Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
the world is like a city of Gandharva
Gandharva
Gandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
s - an illusion. Viewed from the absolute there's neither birth nor death, neither appearance nor disappearance, neither production nor destruction, neither bondage nor liberation. There's none who works for freedom nor is there any who is liberated - this is the highest truth. The wise know that there's neither unity nor plurality - the world is neither one nor many. Just as a piece of rope is mistaken for a snake, the Atman is mistaken as this diverse world. Duality is an appearance and the non-dual Atman is the real truth.
Causality taught in the Upanishads is only to enable us to understand the supreme truth of no-origination. The world is not different from the self and the self is not different from Atman and Atman is not different from Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
. That the non-dual absolute appears as the diverse world is only an illusion. If it really became diverse then the immortal would become mortal. The dualists who seek to prove the origination of the unborn, by that very enterprise try to make the immortal, mortal. Ultimate nature can never change - the immortal can never become mortal and vice versa. Gaudapada quotes from the Upanishads : "There's no plurality here"; "The Lord through his powers appears to be many"; "those who are attached to creation or production or origination go to utter darkness"; "the unborn is never reborn, for who can produce him?".
Ajativada can be proved by reasoning too. How can that which already exists be born again? Neither can the non-existent be born. To produce a particular effect, a cause must have a particular energy. Else everything could be produced out of everything. But this energy can belong neither to that which is existent nor to that which is non-existent nor to that which is both nor to that which is neither. If we're unable to find the effect in the beginning or end, it cannot exist in the middle either. Since we're unable to prove antecedence and consequence, how can we establish a cause?
Causality is impossible as neither the existent nor the non-existent can be produced either by the existent or the non-existent.
That's the reason the Buddhas have clarified the doctrine of no-origination. To say that samsara
Samsara
thumb|right|200px|Traditional Tibetan painting or [[Thanka]] showing the [[wheel of life]] and realms of saṃsāraSaṅsāra or Saṃsāra , , literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Sikhism, and other...
is without beginning and has an end is as absurd as saying that nirvana
Nirvana
Nirvāṇa ; ) is a central concept in Indian religions. In sramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the Supreme being through moksha...
has a beginning but no end.
Gaudapada says that it is only the dualists espousing theories on creation, who quarrel amongst themselves. We non-dualists - the upholders of Ajaativaada have no reason to quarrel, because even these dualists when taken collectively only proclaim no-origination.
The similarity between the views of Gaudapada and Nagarjuna
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna was an important Buddhist teacher and philosopher. Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is credited with founding the Mādhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism...
cannot be missed. Gaudapada himself acknowledges this when he says, "There are some (shunyavadins) who uphold non-dualism (advayavada) and reject both the extreme views of being and non-being, of production and destruction and thus emphatically proclaim the doctrine of no-origination. We approve", says Gaudapada, "of the doctrine of no-origination proclaimed by them".
Reality
Gaudapada advances arguments similar to Vaasubandhu in an attempt to prove that the external world is unreal.The external world has no existence independent of the consciousness, which perceives it. Mere perception and practical utility cannot prove the reality of the world. For even in dreams there is perception and practical utility - water in a dream can quench the thirst in a dream as much as real water can quench real thirst. The waking state is on par with the dream state and both are real within their own order. But from the ultimate standpoint both are unreal.
Cognition does not prove the reality of the object, for the object exists as an object only to the knowing subject. So the distinction between the subject and object is made within the field of consciousness itself.
The external world is unreal because it doesn't exist always - for in deep sleep we've no consciousness of it. It is also unreal because the relations which constitute it - space, time and causality - are themselves impossible conceptions and hence unreal. It is also unreal because it consists of objects and whatever is presented as an object is unreal. The world is also unreal because it is unthinkable either as existent or as non-existent. Just as a moving firebrand appears as straight or curved, so does consciousness in action appear as the subject and object. And just as an unmoving firebrand produces no illusion, so does firm knowledge produce no subject-object duality. The appearances of the firebrand are not produced by anything else and when the firebrand doesn't move, the appearances don't rest in anything else. Nor do the appearances enter into the firebrand or do they go out of it. They are mere appearances because they are essentially indescribable or unthinkable, neither real nor unreal, neither existent nor non-existent.
Reality is the pure Self - the ultimate subject, which is pure consciousness. But it is not the empirical self because that which has empirical existence cannot be ultimately real. The real is the consciousness, which is immanent in both the subject and the object and yet transcends them both. It transcends the trinity of the knower, known and knowledge. It has neither attachment nor connection nor relation to anything else. It is self-proved, self-existent, innate and uncaused. Even to say that it is the "unborn" is valid only from the empirical standpoint - for it is beyond the intellect.
The self-luminous Self by the power of its own illusion imagines itself by itself and it is this Self which cognizes the diversity of the world. Just like a rope, which is mistaken for a snake, the Self is mistaken to be the individual subjects, the mental states and external objects. And just as when the rope is known, the imagined snake vanishes, likewise when the non-dual Atman is realized, the duality of subject and object disappears. This is the established conclusion of the Vedaanta.
Asparsha yoga
The non-dual absolute is to be directly realized by asparshayoga or pure knowledge. The absolute manifests itself in three forms : as vishva in jagrat or the waking state, as taijasa in svapna or the dream state and as praajna in sushupti or deep sleep. In reality it transcends all the three forms - it is the fourth state - Turiya.As vishva it has consciousness of the outside world and thus enjoys the gross. As taijasa it has consciousness of the mental states and enjoys the subtle. As praajna it is concentrated consciousness and enjoys the bliss of deep sleep. While vishva and taijaasa are both causes and effects, praajna is only the cause. But turiya is neither cause and effect. It is ishaana - all pervading, changeless, non dual, capable of removing all sorrows, the lord of all and one without a second. Praajna is a state where there're no objects - so it cannot even be called a subject. It knows nothing, neither itself nor others. Though praajna too is non-dual like Turiya, still there's the seed of ignorance present in deep sleep. But Turiya knows no sleep and being self luminous consciousness is all seeing. It transcends the positive wrong knowledge of the waking and dream state and the absence of knowledge in the deep sleep state. The non-dual Atman is realized when the individual self (jiva) is awakened from its beginning less ignorance. The Atman is unborn, dreamless, sleepless, motionless, where all the categories of the intellect are merged, where all duality ceases - there's neither going to nor coming from it. It is the Lord immanent in the universe abiding in the hearts of all. It is known by the sages who've known the essence of the Vedas and are free from fear, anger and attachment.
Atman is like space and the jivas are like space in jars. When the jar is destroyed the space in the jar merges into the open space. Likewise when ignorance is destroyed by right knowledge, the jivas merge into Atman. Spaces in jars may differ in form, function and name, but still there's no difference in space. Likewise though the jivas may differ in form, function and name, still there's no difference in Atman. Just like the space in the jar is neither the transformation nor a modification nor a part of the space, the jiva too is neither the transformation nor a modification nor a part of the Atman. All elements, subjective as well as objective, are by their nature calm from the beginning, unborn and merged in the absolute. They are so because they are nothing else than the Brahman itself, which is unborn.
Duality is the product of the intellect and when the intellect is transcended, duality disappears. What's left is pure consciousness, devoid of all thought determinations and imagination. It is not different from the knowable, which is only Brahman. It is the calm and eternal Light. It is a unique bliss, which transcends happiness and misery. It is indescribable, unborn, changeless and non-dual. It can be realized by the Buddhas only.
Quite like the Mahaayaanists who say that the Buddha due to his excellent skill, preached the truth in different ways depending on the aptitude of his disciples, Gaudapada too says that the merciful Veda teaches karma and upaasana to people of lower and middling intellect, while jnaana is taught to those of higher intellect.
Epistemics of Gaudapada
Gaudapada's karika on the Mandukya Upanisad is an example of the rational epistemicsEpistemics
Epistemics is a term coined in 1969 by Edinburgh University with the foundation of its School of Epistemics.Epistemics is to be distinguished from epistemology in that this is the philosophical theory of knowledge, whereas epistemics signifies the scientific study of knowledge...
of ultimate reality. His rational arguments prove the irrationality of experience. The experience of varied consciousness-states, for instance, proves that none of them can be considered to be real. How does one know a magician's rabbit from a 'real' one? And as the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu questioned: If I were asleep and dreamt I was a butterfly, and then awoke to find myself a man, how will I know if I was a butterfly dreaming I was a man or am a man dreaming I was a butterfly?' Also considered is the cosmological question: something can't come out of nothing; yet, experience looks for something beyond this something which is logically unattainable; therefore, the only truth is that all this experience is false and the only reality is non-dualism. However, Gaudapada's portrayal of maya
Maya (illusion)
Maya , in Indian religions, has multiple meanings, usually quoted as "illusion", centered on the fact that we do not experience the environment itself but rather a projection of it, created by us. Maya is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality...
as real yet non-dual in his example of the firebrand tries to provide a cosmological answer. The empirical dimension cannot be totally avoided.
See also
- Shri Gaudapadacharya Math
- Shri Govinda BhagavatpadacharyaGovinda Bhagavatpada.Govinda Bhagavatpada was the Guru of the Advaita philosopher, Adi Shankara. We know little of his life and works, except that he is mentioned in all the traditional accounts as the teacher of Adi Shankara. He was the disciple of Gaudapada . He is mentioned in the first verse of Adi Shankara's...
- Adi Shri ShankaracharyaAdi ShankaraAdi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
- Mandukya UpanishadMandukya UpanishadThe Mandukya Upanishad is the shortest of the Upanishads – the scriptures of Hindu Vedanta. It is in prose, consisting of twelve verses expounding the mystic syllable Aum, the three psychological states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, and the transcendent fourth state of illumination.This...
- Advaita