Date of Udhayana

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

nanda chandran <vpcnk at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

w.r.t. me-

>According to him Advaita was influenced "heavily" by NyAya. When I
>question the basis of this, with a reference to an earlier discussion,

Nanda, the said earlier discussion didn't take place on this
list, and it was totally inappropriate of you to bring it up in
response to a peripheral comment that I made.

>he's quick to divert the attention to the earlier discussion and fails
>to give any evidence of the "heavy" influence of NyAya on Advaita.

I have no wish to grind any axe, except perhaps to wish that
amateurs of Indian origin, like you and I, keep up some basic
standards on this list. You still haven't responded to my
question about your personal view regarding the probable date
of Sankara. And you haven't taken into account my comments that
Udayana refers to Bhaskara (who was post-Sankara, by the way).
Surely, that was news to you, right? I don't have to justify
Birgit Kellner to you, but if you think her response was vague,
do realize that your questions were even more so.

A little piece of advice, perhaps unsolicited, and that you
will perhaps reject immediately - statements based on "flavor",
"environs" and "strangeness" do not cut any ice, especially when
you give the impression of not having done any primary research
yourself.

As for the influence of nyAya on advaita, let me point to some
basic issues. You can come to your own conclusions.

1. Is liberation intrinsically bliss or is it an experience of
bliss? Compare Sankara and Vatsyayana on this.

2. Check P. K. Sundaram's word-index to Sankara's commentary on
the brahmasUtra, for references to the nyAyasUtras.

3. The properties of the five "elements". Compare Sankara's
comments in upadeSasAhasrI and his commentary on taittirIya
upanishad, with the sAMkhya and nyAya views of AkASa, vAyu etc.
See which school of thought Sankara is closer to on this issue.

That should do for now,
Vidyasankar

ps. I put "elements" in quotation marks, only in order to avoid confusion
with contemporary scientific views of what is an element.
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