Dear Prof. Deshpande,

1. > On the contrary, Madhvācārya calls Arjuna uttamādhikārī at the beginning of his Bhagavadgītā-Tātparya-Nirṇaya. Contrary to what?

2. S'ankara does not call Arjuna 'mandabuddhi'. While paraphrasing the first person expression of Arjuna, he uses the first person expression 'yadyapi viviktābhidhāyī bhagavān tathāpi mama mandabuddher vyāmiśram iva bhagavadvākyam pratibhāti.'. So S'ankara is saying that Arjuna is considering himself or making himself appear to be 'mandabuddhi' .

Sri V. Subrahmanianji pointed out this finer aspect already when he said, " यद्यपि विविक्ताभिधायी भगवान् , तथापि मम मन्दबुद्धेः व्यामिश्रमिव भगवद्वाक्यं प्रतिभाति । This is the thinking by Arjuna, as per Shankara, BG 3.2 bhashya "

3. Why should Arjuna, use expressions such as 'व्यामिश्रेणेव वाक्येन बुद्धिं मोहयतीव मे' ? In books such as BhG, which are composed in the form of a conversation between a guru and a s'ishya, the s'ishya represents the target reader / target audience of the book. When the composer of the book realises that the explanation given so far by the guru could be difficult to the target reader / target audience of the book to grasp, further clarifications may help the target reader / target audience of the book, the composer of the book makes the s'shya say, ' I am not able to grasp. I am a bit confused. Please clarify. '. This is a very good technique to make the target reader / target audience of the book feel that the book is able to read his mind and respond to all his questions almost as an interactive presentation.

4. So the mandabuddhi that is presented by Arjuna as his is, in fact, that of a certain level of the target reader / target audience of the book.

5. Prof. S. Radhakrishnan's expression madhyamaadhikaarin is not coming from this vyaamis'rENEva context. It is coming from a jnaana-karma context. His defective expressions such as salvation for moksha show his capability of making defective expressions such as madhyamaadhikaarin.

6. There is no proof that Madhvaachaarya was saying Arjuna is a uttamaadhikaarin in response to any words of S'ankara. Nor is there a proof that S'ankara had a view contrary to this view of Madhva about Arjuna.

On Sun, Feb 25, 2018 at 10:27 PM, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@umich.edu> wrote:

Dear Nagarajji,

Here is the passage form Radhakrishnan's introduction to his TR of the Bhagavadgītā [p.67]:

It is now clear to me that Śaṅkara himself does not use the term madhyamādhikāri in reference to Arjuna. However, the Bhāṣya on the verse "vyāmiśreṇeva vākyena buddhim mohayasīva me" [BG 3.2] uses the term mandabuddhi to refer to him: yadyapi viviktābhidhāyī bhagavān tathāpi mama mandabuddher vyāmiśram iva bhagavadvākyam pratibhāti. On the contrary, Madhvācārya calls Arjuna uttamādhikārī at the beginning of his Bhagavadgītā-Tātparya-Nirṇaya.

Madhav Deshpande
Campbell, California

On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 9:20 PM, Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi@gmail.com> wrote:
This is still not a citation from S'ankara Bhashya.

Now that the searchable formats are available, hope the actual words will be found.

On Sat, Feb 24, 2018 at 9:51 AM, Suresh Kolichala via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Madhavji,

Have you checked the supersite of IIT-K which has the text for all the important commentaries including Śankara and Madhva.

https://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in

Also the following paper appears to discuss the topic in detail, which I have only a snippet view access on google books:

Bhavani, Sudhindra: Is Arjuna amadhyamadhikarin? [Engl.]. In: Studies in Indian history and culture: volume presented to Dr. P. B. Desai ... 1971. - pp. 412-415

The following snippet appears to confirm Sankara proposed Arjuna as a Madhyamadhikarin.

Madhva has therefore, hastened to correct this impression left by Śankara and dispel the myth of Arjuna's being a Madhyamadhikarin. At the very beginning of his Gīta-Tatparya he hails Arjuna as a front rank Adhikari (Uttamadhikari) and as the best beloved of the Lord (Atmanah priyatamah).
https://books.google.com/books?id=H821AAAAIAAJ&dq=madhyamadhikarin+arjuna

Regards,
Suresh.

On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 10:46 PM, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
I am trying to find if and where Śaṅkara uses the term madhyamādhikārin in reference to Arjuna in his Gītābhāṣya. Radhakrishnan, in his introduction to his translation of the Bhagavadgītā, attributes this view to Śaṅkara. I have not yet found a passage in Śaṅkara's Gītābhāṣya where he used the term madhyamādhikārin for Arjuna. I would appreciate if anyone else has come across such a passage.

Madhav Deshpande
Campbell, California

On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 7:17 PM, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@umich.edu> wrote:
Thank you, David. That is great!

Madhav

On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 6:24 PM, David and Nancy Reigle <dnreigle@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Madhav,

GRETIL has a searchable file of adhyayas 1-17 here:

http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/6_sastra/3_phil/vedanta/bhgsbh_u.htm

Best regards,

David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.

On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 7:15 PM, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,

Is there a searchable text of Śaṅkara's commentary on the Bhagavadgītā? Please let me know if there is such a file that I can access. Thanks.

Madhav Deshpande
Campbell, California

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Nagaraj Paturi

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of Liberal Education,

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )

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Nagaraj Paturi

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of Liberal Education,

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )