Definition - S. N. Sastri
'bAdha' is a technical term in advaita vedAnta
which is used in a specific sense by all writers
on advaita from Sri Shankara onwards. The actual
definition of this term is given in vedAntaparibhAshA,
which is the authoritative work on such matters. The following is the definition:--
The destruction of an effect is of two kinds.
In one the destruction is together with that
of the material cause, and in the other the material
cause remains intact. The first is bAdha or ‘sublation’,
and the second is nivRtti or ‘cessation’.
The cause of the first is the realisation of
the truth of the substratum, brahman, for without
that, Nescience which is the material cause is
not removed. The cause of the second is the rise
of a contrary mental modification, or the removal
of defects, like the cessation of a pot by the
blow of a club, in which case the material cause
of the pot, namely clay, still remains. Another
example is, when a person first sees a snake
in a rope and subsequently thinks that it is
not a snake but a crooked stick. In this case
also the material cause, ignorance of the rope,
remains and so there is only nivRtti or cessation
of the illusion of a snake, and not bAdha. If
he realizes that it is only a rope, then there
is bAdha because the ignorance of the substratum,
rope, has also been removed.
The same definition has also been given in vivaraNa
of prakASAtman and in vivaraNaprameyasangraha
of svAmI vidyAraNya. The definition is:
ajnAnasya svakAryeNa saha tattvajnAnena nivRttiH
bAdhaH-
This has been translated by G.Thibaut as follows:--
"Sublation (bAdha) is the termination,
by means of the cognition of truth, of Nescience
together with its effects".
It follows from the above that when brahman
is realized there is bAdha or sublation of Nescience
along with its effect, the world.
advaita vedAnta has, like any other science, its
own terminology and consequently its own technical
terms. The meaning of such technical terms has
to be understood by seeing in what sense writers
in Sanskrit on advaita have used them. Other such
technical terms are upAdhi, prAj~na, etc. The term
'upAdhi' has a totally different meaning in nyAya
philosophy from that given to it in advaita. The
word 'prAj~na' has a meaning in mANDUkya upaniShad
which is quite different from the dictionary meaning.
All this is already known to most members, but
I am stating this only for the information of beginners
in advaita.
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