[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Re: Does the mukta/jnani see the world?

[Srinath Vedagarbha]

On Fri, Dec 22, 2023 at 10:13 AM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
>
> We know from this saying of the Bhagavatam: The world is akin to dream, not
> real like the proverbial castle in the air. This premise stated by Veda
> Vyasa in the Bhagavatam is accepted with no compromise only in Advaita.
> This premise is contradictory to the doctrinal beliefs of other schools.
>
>
Well, for others it is very crystal clear whenever shAstra equates waking
with dream state.

Sri. MadhwaAcharya quotes paramOpanishad in His VTVN work on this subject;

"anitva vikAritva pAratantraAdi rUpataH |
svapnAdi sAMyam jagatO, na tu bhOdha nirvatyAtA |
sarvajnasya yatO vishNuH  sarva dvaita pratIyatE |
bhOdhAsahaM tato naitat kMtvAjnAvashamasya hi"  -- iti paramOpanishadi

(Wherever this world is said to be akin to dream in shAstras, it has to be
understood not as mithya. It is said so because both are similar in sense
of their anityatva, vikAritva and pAratantryatva. When this dvaita jagat is
in Vishnu's knowledge (pratIti) and since He is sarvajna, how can His
knowledge be brAnti and how can this jagt be mithya? This jagat is not
sublatable by knowledge. It is real and under His controllership.)

In many places Upanishad talk about nature of swapna avastha. To quote some;

1. Br. Upa -- swapnEna shArIramabhi prahatyAsuptaH suptAnabhi chAkaShIti,
shukramAdAya punarEti stAnam hiraNmayaH puruShaH Eka-haMsaH

2. In another instance the same Br.U clearly says Deva creates vaasanamaya
swapna padArthas by taking various small & large forms, sports with sthree
forms and sees jIva-s in scariest objects of dream.
"swapnAnta uchAvachamIyamAnO rupANi dEvaH kurutE bahUni, utEva steebhiH
saha mOdamAnO jakshadutEvApi *bhayAni pashyan*"

3. The same theme is asserted when Upa. Says "na tatra ratha-yOgA na
panthAnO bhavanti, atha rathAn rathayOgAn pathaH srujatE, ?? sa hI kartha
"  (in swapna, initially there will not be chariots, nor paths. Swapna
kartha Brahman creates the chariots, paths etc for the jIva)

4. Same Brahman Who creates the swapnAdi avsta-s controlls those very
avasta-traya states of the jIva.

5. In another instance says "sa vA Esha Etasmin swapnAntE ratvAcharitvA
driStAiva puNyam pApam cha punaH pratinyAyam pratiyOnyA dravati
budhAntAaiva" etc...
(Only this Isha moves jIva between swana and shuspti avastas, witnessing
jIva's puNya and paapa, again bringing him to jaagrata avasta)

/SV