[Advaita-l] Avidyaa is Subjective not Objective

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Wed May 22 13:26:51 CDT 2013


On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 6:10 PM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> I have already shown that in the Br.up. 1.4.10 bhashyam Shankara Himself
> has said that avidyA is to be admitted in/for Brahman.  [this is not to be
> confused with what I said above: avidyA is an attribute of the anAtmA and
> not of the Atman.)
>
> praNAms Sri Subbu prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
>
> Without considering & clarifying  the context in which shankara apparently
> implied that  avidyA is brahmAshrita, I think you will be doing advaita
> hAni or siddhAnta hAni.


Shankara is saying in very clear terms: Ok, let it be that 'Brahman is not
the originator of avidyA or one that is deluded'. * But there is no other
sentient being that is not Brahman that is the subject of avidyA and who is
deluded.  'kintu naiva abrahma avidyAkartA chetano bhrAnto anya iShyate*'.
And He cites a number of upanishad and Gita statements like: na anyo ato
asti vijnAtA', tattvamasi, 'AtmAnameva avet aham brahma asmi, 'ahamAtmA
guDAkesha', etc. All these statements show in clear terms that there is no
such person called jIva apart from Brahman.  Therefore, according to
Shankara it is Brahman alone that takes the form of a samsArin owing to
avidya.  He is using the arthApatti pramANa here.  On  the one hand we have
Brahman as nitya shuddha mukta svabhAvaH (as you have cited) and on the
other hand we have the very Br.Up.1.4.10 which declares that 'AtmAnamevAvet
aham brahma asmi iti'.  Here the subject in this mantra is the advitIya
brahman itself.  So, in order to reconcile these two facts which are pitted
against each other, the kalpanA (anyathA anupapatti) has to be done: That
nitya shuddha mukta brahman alone assumed a samsAri bhAva owing to avidyA
and now gets enlightened.  Unless this kalpanA (arthApatti) is done the two
facts will remain irreconcilable.  So, there is no advaita hAni or
siddhAnta hAni.



> Do you really mean here in this bhAshya shankara
> talking about brahmAshrita avidyA without jeeva aspect  !!??


Brahman assuming the jIvabhAva due to avidyA is the admitted 'kalpanA'
(arthApatti) as shown above by Shankara.

regards


>  dont you remember in this same maNtra  bhAshya itself shankara clearly
> says
> nAvidyAkartru bhrAntaM cha brahma ??  and how can we forget the sUtra
> bhAshya where shankara clearly says : yat sarvajnaM sarva shakti brahma
> nityashuddhabuddhamukta svabhAvaM shAreerAt adhikaM anyat tat vayaM
> jagataH srashtru brumaH...... Ishwarasya .....nityanivruttAvidyAtvAt...do
> you mean to say here by taking avdiyA Ashraya brahma become jeeva?
> because, as you know,  there is no provision here in advaita for the
> second 'chaitanya' apart from THAT.
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
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