Alavandar’s argument

October 13, 2016 01:50 am | Updated 01:50 am IST

Aki Azhvan was a pandit in the court of a Chola emperor and he subscribed to the theory that only Brahman was real and everything else was illusion. “Ekameva Advitiyam,” says the Upanishadic statement.

Aki Azhvan belonged to a school of thought, which interpreted this to mean that there was only One and that was Brahman and that there was no second to It.

In Aki Azhvan’s interpretation, all except Brahman, was illusion. Alavandar proved him wrong, said M.A. Venkatakrishnan in a discourse.

“There is only one emperor and that is you. There is no second to you,” Alavandar told the emperor. The King was pleased. But then Alavandar said “Why are you happy, instead of being sad?” The King wondered why he should be unhappy. Alavandar replied “Since there is one Chola emperor, that means you the emperor do not have a wife, or children, or even an empire.”

The King laughed, and said “What kind of an interpretation is that? When you say that I am the only Chola emperor, it means that there is none superior to me and that there is none equal to me. How can it mean I stand alone without anything else?”

Alavandar then explained: “In the same way, Brahman is Supreme, with none to surpass Him or to equal Him. This is what the statement, ‘Brahman is One,’ means. It doesn’t mean that there is nothing other than Brahman. There is only One means there is only one Brahman and that there isn’t another Brahman. It doesn’t mean that the world is illusory. The entire Universe belongs to Him.”

And Alavandar’s explanation is what Ramanuja later elaborated on, when he wrote Vedantic texts on the Brahma Sutra, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita.

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