University of Hawai'i Press

Review
Author(s): Victor A. van Bijlert
Review by: Victor A. van Bijlert
Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan., 1983), pp. 99-100
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1398671
Accessed: 28-10-2015 12:11 UTC

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99

translation(page83) in theformofa paraphhrase: "according to whattheyoginhas

meditated upon".Butabhidhydna denotesnotso muchan objectas an intensity.
Couldone perhapstranslate ivedayati(page28) as "announcesitself"ratherthan
"invites(theself)"?Themindpresents itself
to theapperceivingpurusa.
Ifitistrue,
as theGerman maxim goes,thatAllerAnfangistschwer,thenextchapters
of
theVivarana shouldprovea lessharrowing experienceforthetranslator,
so thatwemay,
hopefully,lookforward to an earlycompletion ofthisproject.MrLeggett deserves
our
gratitudeforhaving embarked onsucha difficulttextandforhavinggivenusa generally
finetranslationofat leasta sectionofit.

G. FEUERSTEIN
Yoga ResearchCentre,DurhamUniversity,
England

Adisesa:The EssenceofSupremeTruth(Paramarthasara).Sanskrittextwithtranslation
andnotesbyHenry Danielson. TextsTranslation
Religious SeriesNisaba,vol.10.Leiden:
E. J.Brill,1980.Pp. x + 87.Gld.28,-.

Soundscholarly translations and editionsof philosophical textsfromIndiaare rare,

notwithstanding thegreatinterest Indianphilosophy arousesbothintheEasternas well
as intheWestern world.ForthisreasonDanielson's annotated
liberally translationofthe
PS (Paramirthasara) of Adisesais a welcomeadditionto our knowledge of Indian
thinking.Theworkisa poeminSanskrit consisting of87 strophes; thetwointroductory
strophes areintristubh-metre (4 x 11syllables), a metre often foundintheVedas,butthe
otherversesareinthehighly literaryiryd-metre. Danielson'stranslation,although quite
literal,
conveys enoughofthepoetical beautyoftheoriginal tomakeforpleasant reading.
Verycopiousnotesclarify almosteveryknotty problem in thetextand moreover give
muchusefulinformation on Indianreligion andphilosophy ingeneral.
Theimportance ofPS liesinthefactthatitsetsforth a system ofVedantathatexisted
before Sankara(8thcentury) butthatwas greatly influenced bytheGK (Gaudapada's
Kiriki),written roughly in the6thcentury, as Danielsonshowson page 1. PS 31,for
example, presupposes GK I, 1 ff.;PS 30isan adaptation ofGK II, 19;whilePS 24,35-36
andPS 51refer tothefamous passageinGKIII, 3-8,inwhichtheSupreme Self(Atman) is
compared touniversal spaceandtheindividual selvestothesmallbitsofspaceinpotsand
jars.Danielsonfurther demonstrates, on pages1 and 2, thatPS was probably written
somewhat before 550,an important factthatplacesGK quiteearly!
In theintroduction, page4, Danielsondiscusses theingredients ofthedoctrine ofPS.
Although AdvaitaVedantais veryprominent in thepoem,notionsfromtheSamkhya
schoolsuchas thedualism ofmatter (prakrti)andsoul(purusa)areyetfoundinPS 7,35,
44, 52,70,and 75, as wellas theBhedabhedatheory thattheindividual soul is both
identicalandnon-identical withtheSupreme Soul.A clearexampleofBhedabheda, for
instance, is PS 26-27whichstatesthatall living entitiesaremodifications (vikrtayah) of
theSupremeSelf;thisthought, illustrated
bytheUpanisadicsimileof thefireand its
sparks,recursin PS 47. FromthisDanielsondrawstheconclusion thatPS as a whole

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100 Book Reviews

belongs toa traditionofVedanta, andonewemaycallBhedibhedidvaita (page10);that

is,Bhedabheda andAdvaita occur sidebysidein thisparticularform ofVedanta.
ApartfromthisblendedVedanta,PS contains unmistakably theistictraits, strongly
reminiscent oftheBhagavad Glta.TheSupreme DeityinPS iscalledVisnu (PS 1,33,56,
74,86)andVasudeva (PS 29-30),which isalsooneofthenamesgiventoKrsnaintheGiti
7:
(BG 19;10:37;11:50;18:74). In PS 29 thishighestGod Visudeva isidentified withthe
Selfofall:"Deludedbyerror, people do not recognizeVasudeva as the Selfofeverything"
(Danielson's translation).
Notwithstanding itstheistic
character, PS nowhere emphasizes
bhakti, theardent personaldevotion forGod,as theGtitdoes.In fact,terms likebhakti,
bhakta, or verbal formsof theroot to are
bhaj, adore, wholly absent in PS. Therefore
Danielson'sremark on page7 about"theemphasis we findin PS on bhakti," thatis,
"participating devotiontoward, and identificationwith God" is rather surprising.
Identification withGod is certainly Adisesa'schiefconcern, but,to mymind,he never
speaksaboutintense feelingsforGod, whichis so typicalof bhakti.On thecontrary,
Adisesastresses knowledge (jnana)oftheSupreme Selfas themeansofgaining liberation
his
throughout poem, and towards the end he says:"He whoknows the Self ofevery-
thing,... becomes onewith it"(PS 80, Danielson's Still,
translation). Adisesa's references
toSamkhya andBhedabheda, andespecially hishighregard forVisnu/Vasudeva suggest
thathewasinfluenced bya bookliketheBhagavad Gta. Whether theGitacouldhavebeen
oneofhissources andwhyhecombined suchtenets inhisPS withtheAdvaitaVedantaof
are
Gaudapada questions Danielson does not answer.

VICTOR A. VANBIJLERT
Instituut,
Indologisch Straat29,Leiden,Holland
Rembrandt

GlobalHistory
ofPhilosophy. JamesMichaelDolin.Vol.III: The
ByJohnC. Plott,with
Period.Delhi:MotilalBanarsidass, Pp. 604 + xiv.Rs. 90.
Patristic-Suitra 1980.

In "OneBright Pearl,"published inSocialScience(Winter 1981)I introduced thetotal

project,of which Volume III of Global History is an
ofPhilosophy integral part.For a
subsequent issueofSocial Science I reviewedVolume III from the ofsocial
perspectives
scienceandeducation. Now, forreaders of PhilosophyEast and West,I should liketo
examine thevolumewithattention tohistoryofphilosophy andhumanvalues.
VolumeIII can be profitably studiedoutofsequenceprovided one understands the
generalgoals of theGlobal History to
ofPhilosophy: appreciate humankind's rich and
variedphilosophizingsand,wherepossible, to makethemavailableforbuilding a more
humaneandpeaceful worldtoday.A uniquefeature ofthisvolume, whichsetsitapart,
evenwithin theseriesofwhichitis a part,is theauthors'refusal tolumpthinkers either
or for
geographically comparative purposes:"Strict
chronological arrangement without
regard forgeographicallocation hasbeenchosentodramatize thefactthatthisisa global
historyofphilosophy andnotjustanother incomparative
exercise philosophyorevena
seriesofsuchexercises" (ix).
The strength of theseries,as of its author-director, is a remarkable humanand
philosophicalopennessofmindandmethodology. Openness hasreapeditsdialecticaland

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