Chapter 5.2 - Vedyasaṃvedyapada and Avedyasaṃvedyapada

Vedyasaṃvedyapada:

The vedyasaṃvedyapada is a technical term. It consists of three terms. They are: Vedya, Saṃvedya and pada. The complete word Vedyasaṃvedyapada means the resting place where knowables are acknowledged as they are^[1] .

(a) Vedya : Vedya is to know a knowable as it is.

(b) Saṃvedya : It is to ascertain such acknowledgement of a knowable, as per the destruction–cum-subsidence karman, by a seeker with a resolute intellect.

(c) Pada : A word pada is used in various meanings in Sanskrit. However here it means to give a place, a resting place^[2] .

Definition of vedyasaṃvedyapada:

Where a woman etc. knowables are acknowledged as cause of harm with an intellect purified by the knowledge of sacred texts but where activity of abandoning or accepting these knowables does not take place, such a place (i.e state of a soul) is called vedyasaṃvedyapada^[3] . Vedyasaṃvedyapada is an ideal state of a soul. The understanding (bodha) of a vedyasaṃvedyapada beholder is perfect from definitive stand point (niścaya naya).

He considers all knowables as different from his soul. He perceives a knowable as it is. There is no difference between his perception of a knowable and the actual nature of that knowable. At this stage the beholder’s intellect is purified by the knowledge gained from the sacred texts. He thinks that since my soul is defiled by the impurities of karman the knowables viz. woman etc. cause me lower rebirth form like hell, and the religious practices would be beneficial to my soul. Hence I must abandoned attachment for knowables viz woman etc., develop regard for religious performances and practice them. Due to the emergence of samyagdarśana the subject in question acknowledges worth abandoning knowable as heya (worth abandoning) and worth accepting knowable as upādeya (worth practising). However, due to the existence of avirati at this stage, the subject in question does not actually leave or accept the knowables. He acknowledges them as worth leaving or worth accepting but does not activate himself in actual leaving or accepting the knowables^[4] .

The vedyasaṃvedyapada possessed by a samyagdṛṣṭi soul, a deśavirati soul as well as a sarvavirati soul^[5] . It is a proper resting place where knowables are known in right manner. Therefore, it is pada in real sense of term. Though the designation pada is also attached to the term avedyasaṃvedya, it is merely for name sake. The meaning in which the word pada is used in the present context does not correspond with meaning of the term avedyasaṃvedyapada. This is so because the avedyasaṃvedyapada conveys the meaning which is exactly opposite to the meaning of the term vedyasaṃvedyapada^[6] . The vedyasaṃvedyapada is owned by a beholder of last four yoga yogadṛṣṭis ^[7] . It is obtained with the attainment of samyagdarśana. The vedyasaṃvedyapada is endowed with the subtle understanding. A beholder of the vedyasaṃvedyapada has achieved substantial destruction of inauspicious karman and is therefore, free from intense impurities of the soul. Haribhadrasūri defines a beholder of the vedyasaṃvedyapada as follows: He rarely indulges in sinful activities. Perchance he does something sinful owing to the fault of his previously accumulated karman, he tends to withdraw from the sinful deeds as early as possible. His such behaviour is compared with the reaction of a person who has set his foot on a piece of red-hot iron^[8] . The performance of sinful act is done with a feeling of dislike for worldly existence. Hence it becomes the last performance^[9] . Now onwards certainly he is not going to find himself with lower rebirth forms like hell^[10] .

Avedyasaṃvedyapada

The avedyasaṃvedyapada is a state where one considers a knowable, which is not worth knowing, as worth acknowledging and vice versa.

Definition of avedyasaṃvedyapada:

According to Haribhadrasūri avedyasaṃvedyapada is a state where its beholder, instead of perceiving the nature of knowables like woman etc. as it is mentioned in the sacred texts, perceives the knowables in his own manner with the intellect which arises from his destructioncum-subsidence of ajñānāvaraṇa karman ^[11] . Moreover, our author states that the acknowledgment of knowables possessed by an avedyasaṃvedyapada holder is exactly opposite to that of a vedyasaṃvedyapada holder^[12] .

A vedyasaṃvedyapada beholder (viz. samyadṛṣṭi soul, deśavirati soul or sarvavirati soul) acknowledges a knowable viz. woman and many other from manifolded perspectives as propounded by the omniscience ones. However, due to emergence of karman the different beholder of vedyasaṃvedyapada view a knowable variedly. For instance, one has attachment for a woman. The other considers a woman as a cause of aversion and hatred. The third one develops a feeling of indifference for a woman. Though the various vedyasaṃvedyapada holders view a woman from different different perspectives, they all have firm conviction that the real nature of woman is as it is mentioned in the sacred texts. Whatever may be our acknowledgement of her.It is contaminated by our karman. They believe that it is not these knowables that cause any pain or pleasure but our karman are the cause of pain and pleasure.

On the contrary an avedyasaṃvedyapada holder, who is infested by intense delusion regarding reality (mahāmithyātva), would acknowledge the above mentioned knowables in exactly other manner then they are explained in the sacred texts by omniscient ones. Such adverse knowledge pertaining to knowables take place in an avedyasaṃvedyapada holder because his intellect is born out of the destruction-cum-subsidence of ajñānāvaraṇa karman. Just like one has illusion of water in mirage and confirms his illusory perception to be right by his intellect. Similarly the subject in question considers that ‘these knowables are causes of pain and pleasure.’ In reality his afore mentioned type of intellect suffers from vices viz. attachment, aversion and so on. Therefore he perceives heya objects as worth accepting and upādeya objects as worth abandoning. He has misconception regarding objects of worldly existence. He considers them as the source of happiness and joy. Hence he spends his entire life in seeking pleasure from the objects of worldly existence. While doing so he gets only pain and miseries. He accumulates a lot of inauspicious karman, in this birth, conducive to taking lower rebirth forms in next births. It forms a ceaseless chain of accumulating bad karman followed by lower rebirth forms and ultimately pain and miseries.

While defining the avedyasaṃvedyapada Haribhadrasūri states that it is a seat for mithyādṛṣṭi souls. Though it is called pada, it is apada in real sense. This is so because knowables are not acknowledged as they are in the state of avedyasaṃvedyapada^[13] . It is defined, as the blindness that makes one stumble into lower rebirth forms, by our author^[14] . From all these we surely can say that the state of avedyasaṃvedyapada is alway permeated by delusion (mithyātva). In other words we may say that these two co-exist.

Due to kṣayopaśama of ajñānāvaraṇa karman, a mithyādṛṣṭi soul possesses wide knowledge of various object as well as concepts. He can elaborate them in a very fine manner. However, his knowledge does not happen to be beneficial for his soul. It fails to help him as well as others to achieve progressive erasure of karman to attain salvation. Therefore his knowledge is considered to be fake or unreal knowledge (mithyājñāna)

Haribhadrasūri classifies all living beings into two broad categories. They are:

1. The holder of vedyasaṃvedyapada,
2. The holder of avedyasaṃvedyapada.

However, Upādhyāya Yaśovijaya, who is known as Laghu Haribhadrasūri , has divided the above mentioned second category into two. In his twenty second dvātriṃśikā, he deals with the subcategories.

The verse is as follows:

avedyasaṃvedyapade puṇyaṃ niranubandhakam |
bhavābhinandijantūnāṃ pāpaṃ syātsānubandhakam ||22.29||

The verse literally means that in avedyasaṃvedyapada auspicious karman (puṇya) happens to be niranubandhaka whereas a sinful deed of a rejoicer of worldly existence becomes pāpānubandhi. The meritorious deeds of a beholder of avedyasṃvedyapada is not conducive to either accumulation of auspicious karman or inauspicious karman. Hence it is called niranubandha. A beholder of avedyasaṃvedyapada who is also a rejoicer of worldly existence, is the one whose sinful activities are always conducive to accumulating more and more inauspicious karman (pāpa).

From this description we may say that according to Upādhyāya Yaśovijaya, the avedyasaṃvedyapada holder can be divided into two categories. They are:

1. A rejoicer of worldly existence.
2. A beholder of any to the first four yogadṛṣṭis.

To conclude we may say that every rejoicer of worldly existence must be a holder of avedyasaṃvedyapada but every avedyasaṃvedyapada holder is not necessarily a rejoicer of worldly existence.

An Avedyasaṃvedyapada holder:

	A rejoicer of worldly existence	A beholder of the first four yogadṛṣṭi
1	Acaramāvartin;	Carmāvartin;
2	abhavya, dvirbandhaka, sakṛdbandhaka, durbhavya;	Apunarbandhaka;
3	possesses intense delusion regarding the ultimate truth;	has debilitated the delusion;
4	holds oghadṛṣṭi;	holds any of first four yogadṛṣṭis;
5	stays far away from the path of spiritual elevation;	has turned his face towards spiritual upliftment and also has entered into its gate;

In this table we have seen the differences exist between a rejoicer of worldly existence and a beholder of any of the firth four yogadṛṣṭis. Though both of them are destitute of subtle understanding, lack vedyasaṃvedyapada and have not cut the knot, the later is said to have achieved substantial growth in the path of spirituality and have come closer to the attainment of samyagdarśana. Though they both possess avedyasaṃvedyapada, the later has acquired eligibility to enter the gate of spiritual elevation. The later is capable of obtaining any of the first four yogadṛṣṭis. One would definitely think that what can be the reason of these differences between these two subjects in question though they both are mithyādṛṣṭi souls. Its answer is found in the auto commentary of twenty second dvātriṃśikā of the text Dvātriṃśad-dvātriṃśikā written by Upādhyāya Yaśovijaya.

The lines are as follow:

pravṛttirapīti | tatreti prāktanamatrā'nuṣajyate | tatra mohagarbhato vairāgyāt yogasya pravṛttirapisadgurūpāratantryā'bhāve apāyajananīmuttarāṃ mohavāsanāṃ prasūte, mohamūlā'nuṣṭhānasya mohavāsanā'vandhyabījatvāt |...||28||

These lines says that all religious performances (yoga Pravṛtti) of an avedyasaṃvedyapada holder are useless and beget more and more delusion (moha); if they are performed without being obedient to the enlightened preceptor (sadguru pāratantrya). From these lines we may say that is only the obedience to enlightened preceptor which makes performance of an avedyasaṃvedyapada holder meaningful and unfailing cause of liberation. While describing the concept of avañcaka traya in the first mitrā yogadṛṣṭi, Haribhadrasūri states the importance of preceptor under the title of yoga avañcaka. Since the beholder of first four yogadṛṣṭis, who has entered the caramapudgalāvrta, follows the obedience to the enlightened preceptor. Therefore his activities, though performed under the influence of wrong faith (mithyātva), becomes meaningful.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

vedyasaṃvedyamucyate-vedyaṃ saṃvedyate'nenetikṛtvā ||74||
   –Auto-commentary of Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya

[2]:

tat padamiti padanāt padamāśayasthānaṃ,... ||74||
   –Auto-commentary of Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya.

[3]:

vedyaṃ saṃvedyate yasminnapāyādinibandhanam |
tathā pravṛttibuddhyā'pi, stryādyāgamaviśuddhayā ||73||
   –Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya.

[4]:

vadyeṃ-vedanīyaṃ vastusthityā tathābhāvayogisāmānyenā'vikalpakajñānagrāhyamiti yo'rthaḥ, saṃvedyate-kṣayopaśamānurupaṃ niścayabuddhyā'pi jñāyate, yasmin pade-āśayasthāne | ... - apāyādinibandhanaṃ-narakasvargādikāraṇam stryādi | ...-tadupādānatyāgāśayātmikayā saṃvedyate stryādi vedyamāgamaviśuddhyā-śrutāpanītaviparyayamalayā |...||73||
   –Auto-commentary of Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya.

[5]:

bhinnagranthyyādilakṣaṇaṃ-bhinnagranthi-deśavirata-sarvavirata rūpam |..||74||
   —ibid.

[6]:

avedyasaṃvedyapada-mapadaṃ paramārthataḥ |
padaṃ tu vedyasaṃvedya-padamoveha yoginām ||72||

avedyasaṃvedyapadamiti mithyādṛṣṭyāśayasthānam, at evā''ha-apadaṃ paramārthataḥ -yathāvasthitavastutattvāpadanāt |
padaṃ tu-padaṃ punaḥ, vedyasaṃvedyapadamova vakṣyamāṇalakṣaṇamanvarthayogāditi ||

–Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya and its auto-commentary.

[7]:

atro'nyaduttarāsviti...vedyasaṃvedyapadam, uttarāsviti sthirādyāsu catusṛṣu dṛṣṭiṣu |.....||70||
   –Auto-commentary of Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya.

[8]:

ato'nyaduttarāsvasmāt pāpe karmāgaso'pi hi |
taptalohapadanyāsa-tulyā vṛttiḥ kvacid yadi || 70||

...| asmād-vedyasaṃvedyapadāt, pāpe-karmaṇi hiṃsādau, karmāgaso'pi hi-karmāparādhādapi, kimityāha-tatpalohapadanyāsatulyā vṛttiḥ-saṃvegasārā pāpe svacid yadi bhavati, prāyastu na bhavatyeveti ||70JJ

–Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya and its auto-commentary.

[9]:

vedyasaṃvedyapadataḥ, saṃvegātiśayāditi |
caramova bhavatyeṣā, punardurgatyayogataḥ ||71||
   –Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya.

[10]:

|...-punardurgatyayogataḥ, śroṇikādyudāharaṇāt | pratipatitasar?्śanānāmanantasaṃsāriṇāmanekadhā, durgatiyoga kati yatkiṃcidetat, na abhiprāyāparijñānāt, kṣāyika samyagdṛṣṭereva naiścayikavedyasaṃvedyapadabhāva katyabhiprāyād, vyāvahārikamapi tvetadeva cārū,satyasmin prāyo durgatāvapi mānasaduḥkhābhāvāt, vajratandulavadasya bhāvapākāyogāt |
acārū punarekāntata eva ato'nyaditi ||71||

–Auto-commentary of Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya.

[11]:

bhtathāhi-avedyamavedanīyaṃ vastusthityā na tathā bhāvayogisāmānyenā'pyanikalyaka- jñānagrāhyaṃ, tathāvidhasamānapariṇāmānupapattoḥ, tat saṃvedyate ajñānāvaraṇakṣayopaśamānurūpaṃ.... ||75||
   –ibid.

[12]:

avedyasaṃvedyapadaṃ viparītamato - vedyasaṃvedyapadād matamiṣṭam |…..||75||
   –ibid.

[13]:

avedyasaṃvedyapada-mapadaṃ paramārthataḥ |
padaṃ tu vedyasaṃvedya-padamoveha yoginām ||72||

avedyasaṃvedyapadamiti mithyādṛṣṭyāśayasthānam, at evā''ha-apadaṃ paramārthataḥ - yathāvasthitavastutattvāpadanāt |.....||72||

–Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya and its auto-commentary.

[14]:

avedyasaṃvedyapada-māndhyaṃ durgatipātakṛt | .................................................. ||85||
   – Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya