[Advaita-l] Fwd: Nirguna Brahman has Guna-s acquired from Maya alone - Srimad Bhagavatam

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Thu Apr 6 02:54:25 EDT 2023


In this chapter it is stated that Brahman really has no attributes and that
the attributes are from Maya alone:
श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणम्/स्कन्धः ५/अध्यायः १६
https://sa.wikisource.org/s/k69
<https://sa.wikisource.org/s/k69?fbclid=IwAR0Q5pCttXj7OWRo-6R8KTSFlAWE7xHNj9Wuw4ufK86JYWoFP3FQW3IjWMk>
भगवतो गुणमये स्थूलरूप आवेशितं मनो ह्यगुणेऽपि सूक्ष्मतम आत्मज्योतिषि परे
ब्रह्मणि भगवति वासुदेवाख्ये क्षममावेशितुं तदु
हैतद्गुरोऽर्हस्यनुवर्णयितुमिति ३
This mundane form, which is the gross form of the Supreme Lord, is endowed
with attributes. But the subtle-most form is nirguna. It is said to be
Atmajyotis, Parabrahman, Vasudeva.
Shankaracharya says in Kathopanishad Bhashya (1.3.9):
विज्ञानसारथिर्यस्तु मनःप्रग्रहवान्नरः ।
सोऽध्वनः पारमाप्नोति तद्विष्णोः परमं पदम् ॥ ९ ॥
तत् विष्णोः व्यापनशीलस्य ब्रह्मणः परमात्मनो वासुदेवाख्यस्य परमं प्रकृष्टं
पदं स्थानम् , सतत्त्वमित्येतत् , यत् असावाप्नोति विद्वान् ॥
Nirguna Brahman, which transcends these qualities, is the true nature of
Brahman.
Here Shankaracharya has said that the word 'Vishnu' is 'vyapanashila'
(all-pervading). From this it should be understood that this is Nirguna
Brahman. Even the word Vasudeva has a verse indicating the etymology as
cited by Shankaracharya in the Vishnu Sahasra Nama Bhasya.
The Bhagavatam further describes that the nature of Ishwara is Maya- Guna:
ऋषिरुवाच
न वै महाराज भगवतो मायागुणविभूतेः काष्ठां मनसा वचसा ...
This sentence is about the universal form of Brahman (Vishwarupa) mentioned
earlier. So here the Bhagavatam tells us that that attribute is derived
from Maya.
So Brahman really has no guna-s. When the guna-s are said to exist they are
derived from Maya alone and are not inherent in Brahman.
The absence of guna-s is also is derived here based on the anvaya-
vyatireka nyaya (rule of co-presence and co-absence) in the Bhagavatam.
This premise is accepted only in Advaita: No inherent guna-s in Brahman but
only derived from Maya for the purposes of world-creation, etc.
Om
Picture of Sage Jada Bharata devoutly besought by Kind Rahugana for Atma
Jnana upadesha in the Bhagavatam.

See here: https://groups.google.com/g/advaitin/c/9JkbvTiVLhk


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