[Advaita-l] Omniscience, etc. only due to upAdhi

[H S Chandramouli]

Namaste.

This is regarding Iswara and Brahman. The answer to this issue given by
Bhagavatpada forms the core of advaita sidhanta, namely the maya vada. This
is the red rag for practically all those opposed to advaita including
western philosophers. Ofcourse those in India as well. This has been the
subject of extensive studies/discussions/deliberations etc of expert
thinkers/practitioners/darshanakaras/and so on for centuries now. It is not
as simple as swarupa/tatastha lakshanas. Sri Vidyaranya Swamiji has
deliberated on this briefly in his Panchadashi. But perhaps the most
authoritative and elaborate exposition is by Viditatman in his Ishta Sidhi
( One of the four Sidhi works on Advaita, the other three being Brahma
Sidhi, Naishkarmya Sidhi  and Advaita Sidhi ). If one is so keenly
interested he should refer to this work. There may not be much point in
trying to discuss this issue in its entirety here in this forum.

Regards


On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 3:22 PM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> praNAms Sri Subbu prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
>
> >  its year end for me at office, bit busy with bread earning job:-))..so
> kindly bear with me for this curt reply.
>
> Actually only with  sarvajnatvaM, sarvashaktitvaM etc. Brahman (nirguNa.
> Turiya) is called Ishwara (saguNa, sixth mantra of mAnDUkya - ESha
> sarvajnaH...antaryAmi...).  That is the way Advaita distinguishes Brahman
> from Ishwara.
>
> >  but Ishwara is NOT different from brahman and if we are ready to accept
> Ishwara is sarvajna, I am not able to understand why not brahman?? Does
> parabrahman is inferior to Ishwara since he is lacking these qualities??!!
> OTOH, I would say,  brahman's potence (shakti) which is inherent like
> existence and jnAnaM will be active through upAdhi in srushti kriya.
> Hence, we call the parabrahman itself as sOpAdhika brahman or saguNa
> brahman to denote chetanatva behind srushti.  If we argue parabrahman is
> minus sarvashaktitvaM and sarvajnatvaM we are restricting the parabrahma
> tattva and implying that parabrahman would get sarvashaktitvaM and
> sarvajnatvaM from jadOpAdhi then become Ishwara!!.
>
>
> While attributing sarvajnatvaM, sarvashaktitvaM etc. to Brahman we see
> these as taTasthalakShaNa and not svarUpalakShaNa.  'Inherent' means
> svarUpa.
>
> >  Yes, brahman's svarUpa is omnipotence, omniscience no matter whether
> 'omni' is there or not !!  And this inherent shaktitva will be displayed
> through upAdhi in srushtikriya (creation) and karma phala distribution
> etc. ekO devaH sarva bhUteshu gUdAH...kevalO nirhuNascha
> ....shvetAshvatara. Just like consciousness is the nature (svarUpa /
> svabhAva) of brahman shakti, knowledge etc. are the nature of brahman.
> jnAna, shakti, Ishitavya etc. are the nature (inherent) of para brahman
> and parabrahman's these inherent nature is not borrowed one from upAdhi
> when he becomes Ishwara (sOpAdhika).  To distinguish the difference
> between shakti and shaktimAn, jnAna and jnAnavAn etc, the upAdhi-s have
> been introduced and it does not anyway mean after getting upAdhi
> brahman/Ishwara  would get the power  of sarvajnatvaM and sarvashaktitvaM.
>
>
> It is essentially with a view to explain the 'everything' the shakti is
> admitted.  'No shakti, no creation.'
>
> >  Yes, no shakti means no creation but it does not mean no creation then
> brahman would remain minus shakti. To be precise, creation depends on
> Ishwara shakti but  Ishwara shakti would not vanish if creation is not
> there since shakti, jnAna, chetanatvaM etc. are inherent to brahman !!
> Hence, IMO, shakti, jnAna, consciounsness etc. are svarUpa lakshaNa ( not
> tatastha lakshaNa which is temporary)  of parabrahman which would get
> projected through upAdhi in srushti and with upAdhi (sOpAdhika) the same
> parabrahman is called saguNa, sOpAdhika, kArya brahma.
>
> >  We shall discuss this in detail with sUtra and itareya bhAshya.
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
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