Still Confusion regarding Shankara’s co

Vidyasankar Sundaresan vidya at CCO.CALTECH.EDU
Mon Jan 27 19:12:44 CST 1997


On Sun, 26 Jan 1997, Cameron Reilly wrote:

>
> I disagree. In advaita, the pot neither IS devoid of objective reality, nor
> is it NOT devoid of objective reality. Both are merely matters of
> perspective. Seen from the perspective of the Absolute, the pot does not
> exist as an object. It is one with Brahman. Seen from the perspective of
> the subjective split-mind, the pot certainly does exist, as does the head
> which you hit it against. Both perspectives are absolutely correct, if
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> understood as flip sides to the coin of the Infinite.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Absolutely correct? And as flip sides to the Infinite? That is more like
bheda-abheda or dvaita-advaita than like advaita. There have been
philosophers who take such a position, namely Bhaskara and Nimbarka. What
differentiates advaita from this position is that the second view is held
to be inferior to the first, and not as equivalently valid.

Vidyasankar



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