[Advaita-l] SSSS or Mulavidya? - a meta-analysis (2022) - Avidya, Maya, Namarupa & Ishvara

[Michael Chandra Cohen]

Key t*erms to determine Prasthanatraya Bhasya from Post-Sankara Advaita.*This
is an article incorporating prior exhaustive linguistic studies to
determine Sankara's intended meanings in Brahma Sutras, Gita and Upanisads.
SSSS bhais, please also note Sureswara's deviations from Bhasya
some extracts on point:
Hacker (1950, pp. 253–254) notes that efficient causation is assigned to
*avidyā *more often than material causation in BSBh as compared to the
later Advaitins, where ignorance becomes the prime matter out of which the
world is made. Hacker, however, points out that a strong distinction
between the material and efficient cause is unnecessary, because
expressions where *avidyā *is qualified by the word *bīja *“seed” and
*avidyātmaka *“having the nature of ignorance,” which imply material
causation, also appear, alb rarely.21 BĀUBh and TaittUBh show the same
interpretation of the causal operation of ignorance, which is a factor in
superimposition and never a material cause. Rare notions of *avidyā*’s
material causation found in BSBh are missing from BĀUBh and TaittUBh.
While the expression *āvaraṇātmaka *is used in BĀUBh as a passing remark,
Sarvajnātman systematizes teachings on the power of concealing and the
power of dispersing as the two power of ignorance.
In BSBh, the relationship between name and form and *īśvara *is described
mostly in the sense that name and form are *īśvara*’s nature or *īśvara*’s
*māyā*. BĀUBh describes their relationship in the same way. To conclude, in
the Upaniṣad commentaries attributed to Śaṅkara, *māyā *plays an even
smaller role than in BSBh.44 BĀUBh consistently uses *māyā *as a mirage,
mostly as an object of comparison, and certainly not as a metaphysical
concept as it appears in later Advaita Vedānta.
In Śaṅkara, ignorance is a synonym for superimposition, while Padmapāda and
Sureśvara consider superimposition to be produced by ignorance. Sureśvara,
however, uses the term *māyā *in a similar fashion as Śaṅkara; unlike
Śaṅkara and Sureśvara, Padmapāda develops *māyā *into a philosophical
concept.
The development of some concepts characteristic of the later Advaita
Vedānta was already outlined by Śaṅkara. In BĀUBh, Śaṅkara mentions
*āvaraṇa *“concealment in the context of *avidyā*, which would later—from
Sarvajnātman onwards— develop into a systematized doctrine of the two
powers of ignorance.
Also, in BSBh, Śaṅkara already materializes ignorance, albeit rarely; while
he prescribes *avidyā *only material causation in the Upaniṣad
commentaries, in later Advaita Vedānta, the material causation of
*avidyā *would
become predominant.
In this sense, criteria outlined by Hacker and refined by Mayeda are a
powerful tool by which to distinguish Śaṅkara from later authors, although
some peculiarities and minute details require care when considering
doubtful attributions, especially regarding positive criteria
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[image: Hacker on Brh and Tait bhasya.pdf]
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/16cebqYXnguJqyYVTdTJNB6UJurHSszq7/view?usp=sharing&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAYnJpZBExSW5EZXBwYW9oQjNnWnZmagEeqx0lxKdjXVOLyvTWOxCE22Qjc7TAiFCG-MCyjZuMcxtpTMU0_L1lFmJCETY_aem_oAvo_4tvU-eetstuRGdPgw>
drive.google.com
Hacker on Brh and Tait bhasya.pdf
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