Vedânta in Gau@dapâda.
It is useless I think to attempt to bring out the meaning of the Vedânta thought as contained in the Brahma-sûtras without making any reference to the commentary of S'a@nkara or any other commentator. There is reason to believe that the Brahma-sûtras were first commented upon by some Vai@s@nava writers who held some form of modified dualism [Footnote ref 1]. There have been more than a half dozen Vai@s@nava commentators of the Brahma-sûtras who not only differed from S'a@nkara's interpretation, but also differed largely amongst themselves in accordance with the different degrees of stress they laid on the different aspects of their dualistic creeds. Every one of them claimed that his interpretation was the only one that was faithful to the sûtras and to
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[Footnote 1: This point will be dealt with in the 2nd volume, when I shall deal with the systems expounded by the Vai@s@nava commentators of the Brahma-sûtras.]
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the Upani@sads. Should I attempt to give an interpretation myself and claim that to be the right one, it would be only just one additional view. But however that may be, I am myself inclined to believe that the dualistic interpretations of the Brahma-sûtras were probably more faithful to the sûtras than the interpretations of S'añkara.
The S'rîmadbhagavadgîtâ, which itself was a work of the Ekânti (singularistic) Vai@s@navas, mentions the Brahma-sûtras as having the same purport as its own, giving cogent reasons [Footnote ref 1]. Professor Jacobi in discussing the date of the philosophical sûtras of the Hindus has shown that the references to Buddhism found in the Brahma-sûtras are not with regard to the Vijñâna-vada of Vasubandhu, but with regard to the S'ûnyavâda, but he regards the composition of the Brahma-sûtras to be later than Nâgârjuna. I agree with the late Dr S.C. Vidyâbhû@shana in holding that both the Yogâcâra system and the system of Nâgârjuna evolved from the Prajñâpâramitâ [Footnote ref 2]. Nâgârjuna's merit consisted in the dialectical form of his arguments in support of S'unyavâda; but so far as the essentials of S'unyavâda are concerned I believe that the Tathatâ philosophy of As'vagho@sa and the philosophy of the Prajñâpâramitâ contained no less. There is no reason to suppose that the works of Nâgârjuna were better known to the Hindu writers than the Mahâyâna sûtras. Even in such later times as that of Vâcaspati Mis'ra, we find him quoting a passage of the S'âlistambha sûtra to give an account of the Buddhist doctrine of pratîtyasamutpâda [Footnote ref 3]. We could interpret any reference to S'ûnyavâda as pointing to Nâgârjuna only if his special phraseology or dialectical methods were referred to in any way. On the other hand, the reference in the Bhagavadgîtâ to the Brahma-sûtras clearly points out a date prior to that of Nâgârjuna; though we may be slow to believe such an early date as has been assigned to the Bhagavadgîtâ by Telang, yet I suppose that its date could safely be placed so far back as the first half of the first century B.C. or the last part of the second century B.C. The Brahma-sûtras could thus be placed slightly earlier than the date of the Bhagavadgîtâ.
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[Footnote 1: "Brahmasûtrapadais'caiva hetumadbhirvinis'cita@h" Bhagavadgîtâ. The proofs in support of the view that the Bhagavadgîtâ is a Vai@s@nava work will be discussed in the 2nd volume of the present work in the section on Bhagavadgîtâ and its philosophy.]
[Footnote 2: Indian Antiquary, 1915.]