विजातीय-स्वजातीय-स्वगत-भेदः

"In treatises on Vedanta three kinds of bheda (difference) are mentioned:

i) Vijātīya-bheda: the difference between objects of different kinds or species; as for example the difference between a tree and a cow. The difference between Purusha and Prakriti in Sānkhya philosophy is of this kind. The difference between God and the souls in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions is also of this kind. Just as the potter and the pot can never be the same, so also the Creator and creature can never be the same. This is not the type of difference between the individual Self and the Supreme Self accepted in Dvaita schools of Vedanta.

ii) Sajātīya-bheda: the difference between objects of the same kind or species; as for instance the differences between two mango trees. The difference between two Purushas in Sānkhya philosophy, and the difference between two liberated selves in Ramanuja’s philosophy, are of this type.

iii) Svagata-bheda: the differences found among the parts of the same object; as for instance the difference among the branches, leaves, and flowers of a mango tree, or the differences between rind, pulp, and seeds of a Bel fruit. This is the type of difference between Atman, the individual Self, and Brahman in the dualistic schools of Ramanuja, Madhva, and others. This kind of difference is necessary for the soul to adore and love God and enjoy the bliss of Brahman.

  

But Sankara denies even svagata-bheda in Brahman (विजातीय-स्वजातीय-स्वगत-भेद-रहितम्); according to him the individual Self attains oneness with Brahman, so much so that it becomes Bliss itself."

Space is devoid of स्वजातीय-भेद and स्वगत-भेद ।

There is only one space.

Within itself, space does not have any division.

It has only विजातीय-भेद wrt Brahman. 

Whereas Brahman is Consciousness, space is inert.

Apophatic theology and Cataphatic theology in

निर्वाणषट्कम् / आत्मषट्कम्

Nirvāṇaṣaṭkam (Ātmaṣaṭkam) uses the neti neti methodology (प्रक्रिया) of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. The first three lines state what the Ātmā is not. The fourth line states what Ātmā is.

मनोबुद्ध्यहंकारचित्तानि नाहं,

न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे ।

न च व्योमभूमी न तेजो न वायुः,

चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम् ॥१॥

mano-buddhyahaṅkāra-cittāni nāhaṃ,

na ca śrotra-jihve na ca ghrāṇa-netre |
na ca vyoma-bhumī na tejo na vāyuḥ,
cidānanda-rūpaḥ śivo’haṃ śivo’ham ||1||

This presentation is comparable to Apophatic theology and Cataphatic theology in western philosophy.

i) Apophatic theology (from Ancient Greek "to deny"), aka negative theology, (Latin for "negative way" or "by way of denial"), is a theology that attempts to describe God, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about God. It stands in contrast to Cataphatic theology. - Wiki

E.g. If we compare, the neti neti expression in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad  2..3.6, 4.4.22 and 4.5.15, it will fall under Apophatic theology.

ii) Cataphatic theology or kataphatic theology uses "positive" terminology to describe or refer to the divine - specifically, God - i.e. terminology that describes or refers to what the divine is believed to be, in contrast to the "negative" terminology used in apophatic theology to indicate what it is believed the divine is not. - Wiki

E.g. Taittirīya Upaniṣad’s definition of Brahman as सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म ।

(satyaṃ-jñānam-anantam brahma) - Tai.Up. 2.1 

and 

यतो वा इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । 

येन जातानि जीवन्ति । 

यत्प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्ति ।

(yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante | 

yena jātāni jivanti | 

yat prayantyabhisaṃviśanti ) - Tai.Up. 3.1 will fall under Cataphatic theology.

There are many other statements in the Upaniṣads presenting Brahman.

Swāmini Ātmaprajñānanda Saraswati is a student-disciple of His Holiness Śri Swāmi Dayānanda Saraswati (1930-2015) Padma Bhushan (2016), founder of the Ārsha Vidyā paramparā (tradition). She is a Daśanāmi Sannyāsini of Śankara-Bhagavatpāda order, belonging to Niranjan Akhādā.

She is an Advaita Vedantin, and Vedic and Sanskrit Scholar (holding a Ph.D. in Sanskrit). Her other areas of study and research are - Vedic Studies, Temple-Architecture, Buddhism, Bhakti Movement in India. (Her other technical degrees are MBA (in Finance and Marketing), PG Diploma in Journalism and Certificate in Human Rights, which she earned in per previous āśrama).

Swāmini is a Master in the Speaking Tree, and writes regularly on Advaita Vedanta, and answers individual questions. She has answered more than 8,000 questions in the Speaking Tree on her 140 blogs. She was conferred the title Vedanta Śiromani by them in 2017.

Books authored:

1. Daśaśānti (2008)

2. Rūpasiddhi (2008)

3. Nomenclature of the Vedas (2012)  

4. Ṛṣikās of the Ṛgveda (2013)

5. Om:The Sound Symbol (2014)

6. Vision of Advaita Vedanta in Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2016)

7. SubhāshitaPrajñāvali (2020)

8. Śrīmad Bhagavadgītā - a Study (2020)

Chants

Vedic chants are included in the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Swāmini is a Kṛṣṇa-Yajurvedi Taittirīya-Sākhādhyāyī. Her Vedic/Sanskrit chants comprising 8 ½ hours are available in the YouTube along with selected images of paintings and sculptures duly captioned with elaborate script. The Channel has more than 620,000 views until date (28.4.2020), and more than 2,560 subscribers.

Intrafaith Meetings

Swamini was a participant in the 4^th Ācārya Sabhā 2010 in Hyderabad, 5^th Ācārya Sabhā 2012 in Ahmedabad, 6th Ācārya Sabhā 2016 in Goa, and 7^th Ācārya Sabhā in Rajkot.

Interfaith Meeting

Swāmini was a delegate and signatory in “A Meeting of Diverse Spiritual Traditions in India” convened by The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2014.

Parivarajanam and Temple Visits:

Swāmini has visited (by flight, train, car, on foot) more than 100 temples/holy sites in India, has extensively photographed them, and has studied their legends, architectural history. They include four temples of elements (Chidambaram, Kanchipuram, Jambukeswara, Arunachaleswara, Seven Jyotirlingas - Kedarnath (1998), Srisailam (2007, 2010), Rameswaram (2010), Somanath (2009, Dec 2018), Nageswara (Dec 2018), Ghrishneswara (2012), Kashi Vishvanatha (March 2019)   out of twelve, almost all Buddhist (Dhauli, Ajanta, Ellora, Ratnagiri, Udaigiri, Lalitgiri, Khandgiri, Udaygiri (the Silver Triangle) and Jain pilgrim-sites (Khandagiri, Mt.Abu), and all famous Indo-Islamic architecture. Out of these, twelve are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Ārsha Vidyā Vikās Kendra (AVVK), a Teachings and Research Centre

Swāmini is the Founder Ācāryā of Ārsha Vidyā Vikās Kendra (AVVK), a Teaching and Research Centre for Vedānta, Sanskrit, and Indian Culture. She has taught Vedanta and Sanskrit to many eligible students in short-term courses in Bhubaneswar as well as in Rishikesh.

AVVK Indological Library

AVVK maintains an Indological Library of around 3,000 texts, and an archive of Vedic Chants, Indian Classical Music, and Palm leaf Manuscripts.

Indological Conference

In addition to her teaching and research activities, she has convened ten Indological Conferences in 2009 (Bhubaneswar), 2010 (Bhubaneswar), 2011 (Bhubaneswar), 2013 (Bhubaneswar), 2014 (Bhubaneswar), 2014 (Baripada), 2016 (Rishikesh), 2018 (Rishikesh), 2019 (Rishikesh), 2020 (Rishikesh) on various Indological topics.

Honouring Scholars

The Trust has honoured more than fifty Indological scholars during the last ten years for their contribution to the domain of Indological studies and research.

Outreach activities

Besides her academic activities she is involved in various outreach activities in the community through her Sri Medhā Dakshinamurty Trust. She regularly organises Health Camps, Blood Donation Camps in the nearby villages. She distributes dresses, study materials to the children of migrant-labours of the local slums besides taking classes for them on Sundays. For last six years she has been distributing 100-150 blankets during winter to the needy.

Educational Endowment

She has also gifted decent corpus for Educational Endowment to three educational institutions out of which the best graduate/best all rounder is awarded every year.

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Sāmānādhikaraṇyam

Definition of Sāmānādhikaraṇyam  (sāmānādhikaraṇa + ṣyanj)

When two or more words in a sentence, each of which has a different meaning, together denote one and the same object, they are said to be in sāmānādhikaraṇyam (in apposition).

Śaṅkara has, in his BSSB 3.3.9, explained that sāmānādhikaraṇyam is of four kinds.

These four kinds are explained below.

1. Adhyāse sāmānādhikaraṇyam - Superimposition.

Here the word adhyāsa is not used in the sense of superimposition due to delusion but in the sense of a deliberate mental act of looking upon one thing as another for the purpose of meditation. The Upaniṣadic statement, “Meditate on a name as Brahman” is an instance of such a sāmānādhikaraṇyam. Here the idea of Brahman is superimposed on a name, but the idea of name persists and is not negated by the idea of Brahman as it happens in the case of a superimposition due to delusion. Another example is a meditation on an image as Lord Viṣṇu, where the idea of Viṣṇu, is superimposed on the image.

2. Ekatve sāmānādhikaraṇyam  (aka aikya-sāmānādhikaraṇyam) e.g. rāmo dāśarathiḥ

i) rāmo dāśarathiḥ

rāmaḥ = dāśarathiḥ. There is aikyam. They are equal as well as identical. It may be noted that equal and identical are different. They do not mean the same always.

However, rāmo dāśarathiḥ is not the same as - sarvaṃ khalu idaṃ brahma (Everything is God).

Everything (sarvam) is multifarious, variegated and perishable (naśvaram). Anything dṛśyam is jaḍam

ii) Another example of ekatvam/aikyam is satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma.   Here each of the three words, satyam, jñānam and anantam have a different meaning, but together they denote Brahman. Satyam, jñānam,  anantam are identical with Brahman.

iii) Yet another example is, “The pot-space is the same as the total space”. Here both are equally real (vyāvahārika sattā) and their identity is declared.

3. viśeṣaṇa-viśeṣya-bhāva-sambandhaḥ sāmānādhikaraṇyam - nīlo ghaṭaḥ

i) e.g. nīlo ghaṭaḥ.

Here, the meaning of both the words are different, the words are also different. But they are in the same case (vibhakti), pointing to the same object - the thing that is blue is a pot. Here there is viśeṣaṇa-viśeṣya-bhāva-sambandhaḥ. This is aikya-sāmānādhikaraṇyam .

Here the relationship between the words is that of substantive and attribute. An example is, “a blue (viśeṣaṇa) lotus (viśeṣya)”. The thing that is blue is pot. Here there is viśeṣaṇa-viśeṣya-bhāva-sambandhaḥ.

4. Apavāde sāmānādhikaraṇyam  (aka bādhāyaṃ sāmānādhikaraṇyam)

e.g. śuktikā-rajatam

a) The example given by Śaṅkara for this is - the idea that the body-mind complex is the Self, which has been persisting over innumerable births, is discarded on the rise of right knowledge arising from the Upaniṣadic statement ‘That thou art”. Here what was thought to be the Self is found to be not so. Thus the wrong knowledge is replaced by right knowledge.

b) Another example is the statement, “The silver is nacre” (śuktikā-rajatam). Here the meaning is that what appeared to be silver is really nacre. The statement sarvaṃ khalu idaṃ brahma (Ch. Up, 3.14.1), which means “All this is indeed Brahman” is of this type. It means that all this that appears has no reality and that there is nothing but Brahman.

In this kind of sāmānādhikaraṇyam, the two which are in apposition are of different levels of reality. Silver is prātibhāsika, while nacre is vyāvahārika. “All this” is vyāvahārika, while Brahman is pāramārthika.

Now the question is -

Q. Is sarvaṃ khalu idaṃ brahma  (Everything is God), like nīlo ghaṭaḥ, where nīlam is an attribute to ghaṭam (viśeṣaṇa-viśeṣya-bhāva-sambandhaḥ)?

A. No.

Q. Is it like rāmo dāśarathiḥ, where there is aikya-sāmānādhikaraṇyam between rāmaḥ and dāśarathiḥ?

A. No.

Thus, in sarvaṃ khalu idaṃ brahma  there is bādhāyāṃ sāmānādhikaraṇyam

(negation of the sāmānādhikaraṇyam). Yaḥ sarpaḥ, sā rajjuḥ.

Q. Where is your rajjuḥ?

A. Your serpent is the rajjuḥ.

Q. Is there a viśeṣaṇa-viśeṣya-bhāva-sambandhaḥ in yaḥ sarpaḥ, sā rajjuḥ? Are they identical?

A. No.

So, what you thought as sarpaḥ, is not sarpaḥ.

First see the false sarpaḥ as false. Don't jump. It is rajjuḥ. Extending this, what you perceive as jagat, is not jagat. It is Brahman.

In sarvaṃ khalu idaṃ brahman, what is taken as the other/multiple...is neither multiple nor other.

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