z:\ ambedkar\vol 04\vol4 04.indd MK SJ YS 23 9 2013/YS 8 11 2013 160
160 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
based on the scriptures and the scriptures have authority and sanctity which cannot be repudiated. All that he insists on is that his Vedanta doctrine is also true because it has also the support of the scriptures.
This is not all. What Badarayana does is to use the term Vedanta to cover these senses. He uses it so as to emphasize that the Upanishads do form a part of the Vedic literature. He used it also to emphasize what Vedanta or the Dnyanakanda of the Upanishads is not opposed to the Karmakanda of the Vedas that the two are complimentary. Indeed this is the foundation on which Badarayana has raised the whole structure of his Vedanta Sutras.
This thesis of Badarayana—which underlies his Vedanta Sutras and according to which the Upanishads are a part of the Veda and there is no antagonism between the Vedas and Upanishads—is quite contrary to the tenor of the Upanishads and their relation to the Vedas. Badarayana’s attitude is not easy to understand. But it is quite obvious that Badarayana’s is a queer and a pathetic case of an opponent who begins his battle by admitting the validity of the premises of his adversary.? Why did Badarayana concede to Jaimini on the question of infallibility of the Vedas which were opposed to the Upanishads ? Why did he not stand for truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. This is a riddle that requires explanation.
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