RE: Fw: Images of Religion

From the Bhakti List Archives

• November 7, 2002


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mani Varadarajan [mailto:mani@alum.calberkeley.org]
> Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 5:29 AM

> It is not that scholars in those days did not see some of the 
> difficulties involved in such a view. If I recall correctly, many 
> outside the orthodox Vedic fold, themselves good Sanskritists as 
> Sanskrit was the lingua franca of the day, criticized the idea of the 
> Veda's eternality as being outside the realm of common sense and 
> logic. Though some, such as scholars of the Dvaita school, tried
> to establish the Veda's eternity and unauthoredness on
> logical grounds, the arguments are not very convincing and
> one must fall back on the axiomatic nature of such a 
> belief to stay on unassailable ground.

Dear Sri Mani,

May I know the source of the information that "scholars of the Dvaita school, tried to establish the Veda's eternity and unauthoredness on logical grounds"? Here's a line from Sri Madhva's Vishnu-tattva-vinirnaya (VTVN): apaurushheyatvam.h cha svataH eva siddham.h | that contradicts your view.

I have compared the arguments mentioned in the VTVN to those mentioned in Jaimini's sutras (yes, the attempt to 'prove' apaurusheyatva is older than Shankara), those in Sayana's bhAShya-bhUmikAs and in Dayanand Saraswati's works. Notwithstanding my affiliation to mâdhva philosophy, the arguments presented in VTVN are more sophisticated and cover more ground and opposition than any other works. It's only after those arguments can one understand that apaurusheyatva is an uncontradictable truth and not an axiomatic 'belief'.

Thanks,
Krishna


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