[Advaita-l] Questions on Mayavada.

[Siva Senani Nori]

Dear Sri Bhattacharjya

Thank you for giving an explanation of Dharmakaya. I see that a discussion has 
already ensued focussing on the meaning of the term, and what it does not mean, 
which is beneficial to all list members, than focussing on who has read what or 
not.

I do not claim to be a great scholar; rather I am a studen - literlly! I have 
just enrolled in a full-time two-year course leading to MA in Sanskrit in 
Osmania University and get to read pUrvamImAmsA, sANkhyakArikas etc. in the 
course. Since I have not read the entire prasthAnatraya (of BhagatvatpAda, I 
mean - ours is a family of advaita vedAntins) to my satisfaction, I do not spend 
time reading other works on philosophy. So I do not know anything about Buddhism 
except what was in the social studies text books so many years back. My only 
submission is that, to the extent possible and generally speaking, I do not post 
if I have no business posting - that is if I do not understand the matter I am 
posting about or if I have nothing substantially or sufficiently (in my view) 
new (in the context of the discussion, not in the context of knowledge as such) 
to add.

Regards
N. Siva Senani



________________________________
From: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>
To: Siva Senani Nori <sivasenani at yahoo.com>; A discussion group for Advaita 
Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 1:07:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Questions on Mayavada.


Dear Sivasenaniji,

I am happy to know now that you are a great scholar and henceforth I shall not 
contest your views. You found me opinionated and expressed it and I also thought 
you to be opinionated and did not express it so far. That is a big difference 
between you and me. Why do you presume that I do not want to answer Srikantaji's 
request. You have conveniently forgotten that It was I who asked him about the 
concept of Kaya in Mahayana Buddhism. As you are a great scholar kindly tell me 
was there any need  for Srikantaji to bring in Jainism into the  discussion on 
Mahayana Buddhism? You might have noticed that  earlir also he  brought Hinayana 
Buddhism into the discussions on Mahayana Buddhism. That is why  I showed my 
resentment. Let him show his scholarship in the area under discussion. Adi 
Sankaracharya showed his  scjholarship and went to Mandana Mishra and defeated 
him. As the need arose he even did the parakayapravesh but did not give up 
arguing till he won. That tradition is from Adi Sankaracharya's time. I only 
objected to Srikrishnaji's digressing from the discussions. If I have shown my 
scholarship to you don't you think you too should have your scholarship to me 
and defeated me rather than fretting and venting your grievances later on.

According to my understanding the Mahayana Buddhism believes in three Kayas. One 
of them refers to the physical manifestation or the physical body (the 
Nirmanakaya), the second refers to the sense body (Sambhoga-kaya) and the third 
refers to the body which represents the ultimate truth or the Buddha-awareness, 
when the Shunyata is achieved. The last body is therefore the truth-body 
(Dharma-kaya) or  or the Buddha-mind or the Buddha-awareness (Bodha-kaya). When 
Shunyata is achieved there is only the  Buddha-awareness or Prajna. In Hinduism 
Prajna is Brahman. "Prajnanam Brahma". Lord Buddha did not use the word Brahma. 
You must be knowing that Lord Krishna used the word Brahma-Nirvana whereas Lord 
Buddha used the word Nirvana. One European scholar went to the exient of telling 
that Lord krishna's Brahmanirvana uses the wrod "Nirvana" first used by Lord 
Buddha. I presume you know all this that Lord krishna preceded Lord Buddja by 
more than a millennium. If you think that I am wrong kindly do me the favour of 
correcting me. Please  do not feel that I shall take umbrage at it . I am the 
last person to fret.

 I only wonder that if you thought that  I do not know anything about Buddhism 
and you also thought that I am unable to give reply to Srikantaji then I why did 
not you yourself give the answer to Srikantaji ?

Regards,

Sunil K. Bhattacharjya

--- On Sun, 11/7/10, Siva Senani Nori <sivasenani at yahoo.com> wrote:


>From: Siva Senani Nori <sivasenani at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Questions on Mayavada.
>To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" 
><advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
>Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010, 7:34 PM
>
>
>I want to express my resentment of Mr. Sunil Bhattacharjya's presumptive and 
>opinionated statements where he thinks some other list member has not studied / 

>understood this or that; or that for some other scholar joining the list is 
>beneath his scholarship; or constantly asking for proof, without offering it 
>himself or without substantiating his explanations. For the strong opinions he 
>expresses abuot others knowledge and understanding there is amazingly little 
>scholarly input from him in at least backing up such  statements. Going by past 

>form, I would expect him to ignore the specific request of Mr. Srikanta to 
>explain Dharmakaya, but such is unbecoming of somebody who threw the challenge 
>that Mr. Srikanta does not understand "Dharmakaya". 
>
>
>Time, he put up or shut up.
>
>There is a little history behind it. Earlier he (Mr. Bhattacharjya) accused me 
>of not reading Abhinava Gupta's commentary on the Bhagavat Gita. When I followed 
>
>up with a detailed explanation there was total silence. The irony is that Mr. 
>Srikanta himself indulges in such presumptive statements; he had earlier hinted 

>that I did not read Mandukya Upanishad, and when I posted back saying that I 
>indeed did and that I did post with reference to some obscure aspects, 
>there was silence. Neither of them so much as ackowledged the fact or bothered 
>to say that the slur against me was  incorrect.
>
>I hope we will see less of such posts in this forum.
>
>N. Siva Senani
>
>
>________________________________
>From: srikanta <srikanta at nie.ac.in>
>To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
>Sent: Sun, November 7, 2010 12:08:31 PM
>Subject: [Advaita-l] Questions on Mayavada.
>
>Dear sunil Bhattacharji,
>While explaining the description of Dharmakaya,I have followed the books
>on Buddhism.Dharmakaya is the entity encompassing Physical,mental and the
>intellectual faculties,with which a being function,which is called a
>"Dharma"in Buddhist parlance.Dharma in short(it is not charity as we
>ordinarily use)any being or Atma which funtion in the world for its
>sustenance and safety is denoted by  "Dharmakaya".
>If it is not, why don't you explain?
>                                                        N.Srikanta.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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