Talk:Nyaya: We Need All Types of Knowledge

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

We must make good use of our brain and mind. Indeed, we must make them sharp as if by frequent honing so that they will help us in finding the truth. Why did Śaṅkara master all the śāstras, all the arts, all the sciences — Śaṅkara who thought the world was Māyā? Why did he ascend the sarvajña-pīṭha (seat of omniscience)?

I said Nyāya was also known as Tarka, Anvikṣikī. We learn from the Śaṅkara-vijaya that the Ācārya mastered Nyāya or Anvikṣikī, Kapila Mahāṛṣi's Kapilam (Sāṅkhya), Patañjali's Yoga-śāstra (Pātañjalam), Kumārila Bhaṭṭa's Mīmāṁsā (Bhaṭṭa-śāstra).

Anvikṣikyaiṣi tantre paracitiratulā Kapile kapi lebhe Pīṭam pātañjalāmbhah paramapi viditam Bhaṭṭa ghaṭṭārtha-tattvam

Advaita embraces even those śāstras that apparently do not speak about it. That is why I am speaking about all such śāstras though I am called Śaṅkarācārya. Non-dualism inheres dualism, qualified non-dualism, Śaivism, Vaiṣṇavism and so on. It enfolds even those systems that are critical of it. Advaita does not state that other systems are totally false. If it opposes them it is only to the extent needed to counter their argument against itself. It concedes them the place they deserve.