पंचीकरणम्: Pancikaranam with Four Commentaries (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Pancikarana is one of the most important topics of Advaita Vedanta. The order of self-realization, meant for the renunciates possessing the four pre-requisites, becomes explained as well as the process of origination and dissolution of the creation also when pancikarana is dealt with. It is a pleasure for me that I have been able to present two commentaries with their two respective subcommentaries of this tract in one volume.

All the Commentaries and sub-commentaries, included here, were published previously in the Kashi Sanskrit Series No. 7. As the book has been. out of print since long, it was desired by the proprietors of the Chaukhambha Sanskrit Sansthan, Varanasi, that I should revise and re-edit the text for them. The result is in the hands of the reader. Though previously edited by an eminent scholar of his time, the book was printed in the old style and lacked introduction, appendices etc. I have collected and compared the text with the Gujarati Printing Press edition, added an introduction and two appendices here for the convenience of readers. I hope this attempt will be more useful to the devotees of Vedanta in particular.

I thank Mr. Mohan Das Gupta and his able son Mr. Rajendra Kumar Gupta for getting this work done by me. My thanks are also due to Shri Brajaratna Das Gupta and Pt. Ganapati Shankara Trivedi of the press who tried their level best to print the book up to the mark.

This work too, like other previous works of mine, is dedicated to the present Sankaracarya of Dwaraka Saradapitha and Jyotispitha, His Holiness Swami Svarupananda Sarasvati. May He bless us all.

Adyasri Sankarachrya (traditionally accepted of 509 B.C. and historically of 788 A.D.), commonly known as Sankara, established the monistic Vedanta through his valuable scholiums on the 'three great sources'-prasthanatrayi-i.e. the upanisads, the Brahma-sutras and the Gita, in the realm of philosophy. Except these commentaries, he is accepted to be the illuminating author of about ninety stotras, about ten minor commentaries, many tantric treatises and About seventy six vedantic tracts, though a few hold difference of opinion regarding his authorship of the minor texts and believe that many of them came from the pen of the succeeding Acaryas of his pithas.'

The Pancikaranam is undoubtedly the work of the Adya Sankaracarya. Though very short in form, it is of great value, as it deals with the final goal of paramahamsas. In his bhasyas Sankara had to confine himself to the words of the root-text and had to deal with the topics in a limited form. With the result, he wrote many tracts to illustrate the important points in detail separately. The content of the present text is to describe how a paramahamsa should view the world and in what a way he should understand the origination and dissolution of the universe and how to dissolve the whole into Pranava. As the whole brahma-vidya is meant for the paramahamsas, this treatise also deals with the same. Samadhi for them has been propounded here, and upasana etc. have been repudiated and proved to be worthless for a Sarpnyast, as the main goal of a renunciate is nothing else but self-realilization.

This tract has been composed in a prose sutra-style. In fact it contains only nineteen (twenty eight with the interpolations) sentences, which include the four great sentences-mahavakyacatustaya also. Thus, though dealing with a very valuable topic, the work is very small in form.

The small treatise bears a big interpolation. In the very beginning from 'Athatah' to 'Nisprapancam prapancyate is out and out an interpolation. No commentator, except Santyananda Sarasvati, comments on this portion. He himself accepts this portion to be interpolated, but comments upon it, as he finds it included with the text in some manuscripts. Internal evidences too prove it so. As a matter of fact, the process of evolution of the elements narrated in this part, resembles more with that of the Samkhyas, In all it is also nearer to the pauranic sarpkhya. Santyanand had to aspire hard to explain this portion on the lines of the monistic Vedanta. Rest of the text is enough for understanding the topic, even if the interpolation is deleted here from.

In the same way Anandagiri accepts a few more mahavakyas in the end in addition to the four. This addition matters little, as it is immaterial and runs in accordance with the theme and the subtopic.

Commentators and Commentaries

Owing to its great importance, the text has been commented by many eminent scholars. Many commentaries and sub-commentaries are available and a few are lost or out of approach.

Suresvara wrote his vartika on the root-text and Narayanendra Sarasvati commented upon the vartika. Narayanas commentary is known as Vartikabharana, Anandagiri's Vivarana on the root-text was again sub- commented by Ramatirtha which is known as Tattvacandrika, Santyananda's Advaitagama-hrdaya and Gangadhara's Pancikarana-candrika are direct commentaries of the Pancikaranam. Except these four commentaries and two sub-commentaries, Pancikaranabhava-prakasika by Narayana himself and the Vivaranatika by Svayamprakasayati were also written, but none of these two seems to be extant.