[Advaita-l] Shankara on non-Advaitic mokSha/Brahman

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

In Eka Jeeva Vada you are that dreaming Jeeva. You are alone in the 
Universe. There are no other
Jeevas. 

>  IMHO, from the transactional view point we do unconditionally believe 
that there are number of other jeeva-s and other things existing around us 
and our behavior also tuned according to this belief.  So, it is futile to 
argue that whether there is only one jeeva (eka jeeva) or nanA jeeva and 
it is hardly matters even if we call this universe and other jeeva-s are 
mere eka jeeva's dream because that jeeva which is arguing that there is 
nothing in this universe, is itself a product of avidyA.  So this jeeva 
may call this universe and other jeeva-s an avastha restricted reality or 
mere dream but this jeeva's ultimate goal should be establishing itself in 
that secondless reality. shankara insists that it is pure being (i.e. 
brahman) alone that is spoken of as a jeeva owning to its connection with 
an upAdhi.  So, so long as bondage continues as attaching itself to one 
upAdhi, we can say there is only one jeeva (which is none other than 
brahman) but in the case of bondage continuing to attach to another 
upAdhi, the talk of another jeeva comes into picture.  It is clear that 
due to upAdhi (eka & nAnOpAdhi) saMbandha only the 'number' of jeeva 
determined here in advaita, but ultimately what stands out is 
'ekamevaadviteeya' chaitanya i.e. parabrahman.  In short, if we hold the 
samashti antaHkaraNa as the upAdhi for Atman, then it is eka 
jeeva/chaitanya..OTOH, if we hold the individual antaHkaraNa-s as they are 
many (ofcourse, you do agree that you have different set of BMI and your 
realization of 'dream' would not going to help other BMI-s :-)) then nAnA 
jeeva is quite evident and you can not come out of this duality being in 
avidyAkruta vyAvahArika jagat.  So, as long as you are seeing this jagat 
through the upAdhi of yours which is conditioned, it is better to accept 
the existence of other things & other jeeva-s. 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar