[Advaita-l] Advaita-The Vedanta.

[Srikanta Narayanaswami]

1. Just as in Advaita,in Dvaita and V.advaita too there is no
   independent existence/reality to the jiva-jagat.
   2. While Advaita uses 'vyavaharika satyam' nomenclature, D uses
   paratantra to signify the dependent reality consisting of jiva-jagat.  In
   VA they have a sheSha-sheShi bhAva where too the former (jiva-jagat) is
   dependent on the latter (Brahman).  In the Bhagavadgita bhashya 14.1
   Shankara has used the term 'paratantra' to denote the prakRti-puruSha duo
   (jagat - jiva) - ईश्वरपरतन्त्रयोः क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोः जगत्कारणत्वम्, न तु
   सांख्यनामिव स्वतन्त्रयोः....[the cause of the world is the jiva-prakRti duo
   which are subservient to/dependent on Ishwara (Brahman) and not the duo
   which are independent as held by the Sankhya system.]
   3. While only Advaita openly denies an absolute existence-reality to the
   dependent jiva-jagat, the other two systems do not openly say so, although
   they clearly imply that the duo does not have an existence/reality
   independent of Brahman
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The word "Paratantra"is used with different connotations in different schools.In Advaita in his commentary on the Gaudapada karikas,Sri Shankara uses the term "paratantra'as due to "external agency.In Buddhism too,the word"paratantra"is used by the Vijnanavadi Buddhism to signify,"Sarvastitvavadi"school of Buddhism.In all these cases,the word in general is used to  denote,'not innate"but,exraneous.
N.Srikanta.