Date of Udhayana

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

nanda chandran <vpcnk at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>>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.
>
>Vidhya, why is your comment peripheral while my comment about our
>earlier discussion, isn't?

For all your interest in advaita, you have a peculiar knack
for doing various kinds of adhyAsa. It would be nice if you
moved to apavAda. My comment was peripheral; your response to
it was inappropriate. The two words mean different things,
you know.

1. My comment that nyAya has influenced advaita was in
response to your statement that viSishTAdvaita is heavily
influenced by nyAya. This has little to do with Udayana's
date, as I also pointed out in the same mail. Ergo, it was
peripheral.

2. Our discussion about advaita and buddhism was on another
list. Ergo, your reference to it here was inappropriate. Do
maintain some viveka, regarding the mailing lists you
participate in.

>I generally desist from having views on such subjects. But I've a
>quite a few questions with regards to the current dating. I've
>pointed out a few of those in an earlier post.

It looks like the Sahara will turn green before you have some
answers, and not just questions.

>Is it vague that there is a long history of argument for and against
>a creator God in Indian philosophy?

As long as men live and think, there will be arguments for and
against a creator, from various perspectives. Look at the
current argument between creationists and evolutionists in the
"Bible-belt" in the USA.

>Is it vague that the philosophical environment during that time had
>gone past the creator/no-creator argument?

That is indeed an assumption on your part, based on very vague
ideas of what constitutes philosophical environment.

Moreover, if you desist from having views on dates of people
who lived in the past, pray what time are you thinking of, in
your phrase "during that time"?

Finally, given that you claim to have acknowledged the
references given by some others who responded to you, don't
you think you should update your views on "philosophical
environment"? Or do your original assumptions and expectations
still continue to be "reasonable"?

>In this context is it not reasonable to expect the NaiyAyikas to catch on
>to
>the situation and desist from arguing further?

You apparently don't see why the parataH prAmANya vAda was
fundamental to nyAya, or why it was never given up. Another
one of those things that I pointed out in an earlier mail,
but which you have chosen to ignore, in favor of finding fault
with imaginary axes.

Back to the influence of nyAya on advaita. I am not trying
to "bridge the two systems". This sort of "everybody said the
same thing" is not my cup of tea. All I'm saying is that there
has been an influence of nyAya on advaita. Not only will you
find this in Sankara with respect to classical nyAya, but also
in late authors like Madhusudana Sarasvati, with respect to
navya-nyAya. That does not mean that advaita and nyAya are one,
or that they need to be made one. For that matter, you can also
find influences of other schools of thought on Sankara.

As for the three issues in nyAya and advaita that I mentioned
in my earlier mail, you can do your own research, if and when
you obtain the necessary texts.

Finally, one small request. I am tired of being referred to
as "Vidhya" by you. I would like to be called Vidya, if not
Vidyasankar. You may want to put an h after the s, but please
don't put it after the d in my name. I never see you spelling
your own name as "Nandha". I notice that you have also converted
Birgit to Birgitte, perhaps to show her that you can add extra
letters to everybody's name but yours. Is it too much to ask
that you put some effort into your spelling, or must we all
accept your idiosyncratic way of doing things as reasonable?

Best wishes,
Vidyasankar
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