[Advaita-l] Adhyaropa-Apavada Nyaya.

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Sat Feb 12 11:45:55 CST 2011


On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 7:09 PM, kuntimaddi sadananda <
kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Bhaskarji - PraNAms
>
>
>
> Therefore the whole idagam sarvam is reduced to mithyaa - neither satyam
> nor asatyam - sat asat vilakshnam, while the essence of the mithyaa is -
> aitadaatmyam - is that satyam -which is there before creation - sat evam
> idam agra aseet -  which you are.
>
> Bhaskarji - aham braamasmi is one aspect of advaita where brahma satyam and
> jiivo brahma eva na aparaH are involved. The second aspect of advaita is
> equally important is jagat mithyaa. mithyaa is not only not sat but also not
> asat too. Hence jnaani sees the mithyaa world as mithyaa and not satyam that
> ajnaani thinks it is - because he is jnaani. And my friend, echoing your
> statements, yes this is also what Shankara says, if one studies them
> carefully. Jnaani sees the oneness that pervades the whole creation and
> claims aham brahmaasmi and also sees the apparent creation as apparent and
> not real. All nine yeads are involved in the jnaanam of the jnaani. As have
> been pointed out many times both jnaani and ajnaani are within vyavahaara
> only. At paaramaarthika level - aham brahmaasmi statement itself has no
> meaning too, like any other statements - since na vaak gacchati etc.
>
> I hope the above explanation is also equally refreshing, since there are no
> contradictions in my understanding.
>
> Hari Om!
> Sadananda
>

Namaste Sada ji,

The 'aitadaatmyam idagam sarvam' of the Chandogya upanishad reference is a
well-reasoned one.  I am reminded of the famous ManIShA panchakam verse 2:

Brahmaiva Aham, idam jagat cha sakalam chinmaatra-vistaaritam

Sarvam chaitad-avidyayaa trigunayaa asheSham mayaa kalpitam�..

Meaning: I am Brahman. This entire universe is none other than Brahman. All
this is imagined by me through the avidya made of three gunas.

In the above Shankaracharya conveys in one place both:

1. The Realization of the Absolute Truth that one is Brahman.  This gives
the Jnani the sarvAtmatva bhAva, the aatmaikatva darshanam.

2.  At the same time, the seen world is realized to be a mere appearance, a
mithyA avabhAsanam.

Shankaracharya has explained about not just the first but also the second in
a number of places in the prasthAnatraya bhashya as well.

In other words, the jnani knows that the scheme of pramAtru-pramANa-prameya
that is/was the characteristic of the mithyAjnana owing to avidyAdhyAsa, now
continues to
appear, just like mirage water, even though it is really non-existent;
'asanneva...mthyA avabhAsate' (BGB 2.16). So, the adhyasa sambandha does
continue, only in the bAdhita form. Says the Panchadashi: na
aprateetistayorbAdhaH, kintu mithyAtva nischayaH ('bAdha'/sublation' is not
the
non-perceivability/non-perception of the jagat (and jiva) but it means only
the conviction that 'they' are unreal, mithyA).

In the BGB 2.16 sentence Shankara explicitly says that the Lord's message to
Arjuna in this verse is: 'you too, Arjuna, following the manner of the
Tattvadarshis, regard the transformations that the world brings forth as
mere mithyA appearances, not really there but only falsely appearing to be
there: 'asanneva...mthyA avabhAsate' .

In the BSB 4.19 He has established by anvaya-vyatireka logic that the Jnani
will continue to have 'bheda darshanam' till the fall of the body.  He uses
the 'dvichandrajnanam' analogy which He uses in 4.1.15 too for demonstrating
the 'bAdhita anuvRttiH' (the continuance of the sublated).  Just like the
man with a defective vision seeing two moons has the clear knowledge that
the moon is only one, the Jnani will continue to see the
multiplicity-charactered world with the full knowledge that it is a
mirage-water like mithyA appearance.  Shankaracharya is very explicit and
clear about this.  Bhaskar ji has put it very nicely when he observed
recently in the other forum:

//Hare Krishna
Perhaps the example of sun rise & set would be more appropriate example here
to prove the bAdhitAnuvrutti is it not?? One would continue to see the sun
rise and set and follow the rules of this routine though having the
knowledge that sun neither rises nor sets...  //

In the same way, the jnani in vyavahara will see and interact with the world
of duality, as demanded by his position in the world, with the knowledge of
its unreality.  This vision will be concurrent with his vision of the
sarvAtmatvam, Atmaikatvam. In other words, prapancha mithyA nAnAtva jnanam
coexists with the Atmaikatva darshanam.

Incidentally the sun-rise example is a fine case of pratyaksha pramANa being
superseded by/bAdhita by another pramANa, of the appropriate shAstra.  The
reality of the world that was proven by pratyaksha earlier is
negated/sublated/bAdhita by the higher pramANa of Vedanta Shastra for the
aparoksha jnani.  His use of the pratyaksha paramana to interact with the
world is no contradiction for even such a use is a part of that bAdhita
anuvRtti alone.  As noted earlier, the tripuTee that the avidyA projected
continues in its bAdhita form.

Thus, the unconditioned Brahman is left untouched by names and forms and
remains for ever pUrNa, sarva. In the 'sarvam khalvidam Brahma', the Brahman
is 'sarvam' on this basis: 'sarvam' itself is the created universe. This
'sarvam' is
negated, bAdhita, and then only Brahman is understood to be sarvam. This is
called 'bAdhAyAm sAmAnAdhikaraNyam'. What is wrongly understood as snake is
none other than the rope. What is seen as 'sarvam' is none other than the
substratum
Brahman. Shankara has explicitly stated this in the Bh.Gita
4.24(brahmArpaNam, brahma haviH, ...) bhashyam:

//The knower of Brahman perceives the instrument with which he offers
oblation in the fire as Brahman Itself. He perceives it as not existing
separately from the Self, as one sees the non-existence of silver in nacre.
[यथा शुक्तिकायां रजताभावं पश्यति yathaa shuktikaayaam rajatAbhAvam pashyati]
In this sense it is that Brahman Itself is the ladle - just as what appears
as silver is only nacre.//


By this rule, the non-existence of names and forms in Brahman is indeed the
BrahmadRShTi of Vedanta. The knowledge that the multiplicity is not there is
in tact even while dealing with that seeming  multiplicity.  This is what is
meant by Shankaracharya in the BSB 4.1.19 as the continuance of 'bheda
darshanam' for the jnani till the fall of the body.

In fact the mAnDUkya seventh mantra word 'prapanchopashamam' means nothing
other than this 'abhaava' of the prapancha in TurIya. And apart from TurIya
there is nothing else says this mantra: advaitam.  So, the perceived world
is known by the Jnani as having no existence apart from the Self.

Best regards,
subrahmanian.v



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