[Advaita-l] Definition of sAkshI

Praveen R. Bhat bhatpraveen at gmail.com
Mon Feb 5 09:33:44 EST 2024


Namaste Sudhanshuji,

On Mon, Feb 5, 2024 at 4:38 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
>
> How exactly do we define sAkshI? In advaita-siddhi, several prima facie
> different definitions of sAkshI can be found:-
>
>
> ...

> Is my understanding correct? Is there a modification needed? Kindly share
> your valuable inputs.
>

My study of bRhatprashtAna is next to nothing if not nothing, so my
response is moot. However, based on your concise quotations, I think that
your analysis is correct.

That is: avidyA becoming an upAdhi to chaitanya, without which it cannot be
sAkShi and without avidyAvRtti, sAkShya wouldn't be there to get the sAkShi
tag either. Further, the very nature of all the sharIras is to form a
pratibimba/AbhAsa and avidyA being kAraNasharIra would reflect the same.
This pratibimba is a semblence of the bimba and therefore, resultant is
tAdAtmya that is adhyasta on chaitanya. Ergo, avidyopahitachaitanyaM sAkShi
as a lakShaNa seems fair to me too.

gurupAdukAbhyAm,
--Praveen R. Bhat
/* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one know
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