[Advaita-l] [advaitin] The Three states/types of Reality (sattaa-traividhyam) - Taittiriya Shankara Bhashya

[V Subrahmanian]

On Wed, 28 Jan, 2026, 11:06 pm Michael Chandra Cohen, <
michaelchandra108 at gmail.com> wrote:

> namaste subbuji, It's not Chatgpt that is adding anything, but rather that
> the traditional presentation of the three levels of reality is a later
> schema.not found in PTB systematically.
> Your one Tait reference is not sufficient to establish the three-level
> ontology as a systematic doctrine in the Upanishads or Shankara's Bhashya..
> That's confirmed by SSS, Hacker, Alston,
> and a host of other objective observers not just CHATGPT
>

Then all of them are the candidates for Shankara's censure in the Gita
Bhashyam:

 // Those despite their scholarship in many disciplines, who have not
understood this Vedanta in accordance with the tradition,
are to be rejected like an ignorant one is. //

Regards

>
> On Wed, Jan 28, 2026 at 12:17 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Chat gpt does not know that neither the shruti nor Shankara posit three
>> types of ontological realities. The absolute reality is only one. That one
>> alone has appeared into the vyavaharika and the error-based events/objects
>> in the world. What is Chat gpt adding to this? Nothing.
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 28, 2026 at 6:06 PM Michael Chandra Cohen <
>> michaelchandra108 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Namaste Subbuji
>>> I've prompted Chatgpt to offer this reply,
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> Thank you for collecting these references and especially for
>>> highlighting Śaṅkara’s gloss on *“satyam cānṛtam ca satyam abhavat”* in
>>> Taittirīya 2.6.1. The distinction you draw between *paramārthika* and
>>> *vyāvahārika* is certainly helpful pedagogically.
>>>
>>> That said, one caution may be worth adding.
>>>
>>> The presentation risks suggesting that the *three-level scheme
>>> (paramārthika–vyāvahārika–prātibhāsika)* is explicitly taught by the
>>> Śruti itself. Textually, however, this taxonomy does not appear in the
>>> Upaniṣads as a formal doctrine, nor does Śaṅkara introduce it as an
>>> ontological stratification of reality.
>>>
>>> In the Taittirīya bhāṣya, for example, Śaṅkara does not posit “levels of
>>> being.” Rather, he restricts the *scope of the word satya* contextually:
>>>
>>> व्यवहारविषयमापेक्षिकं सत्यम् … एकमेव हि परमार्थसत्यं ब्रह्म
>>>
>>> Here *vyāvahārika satya* simply means “empirically valid for
>>> transactional purposes,” like water contrasted with a mirage; it does not
>>> denote a second grade of reality. Ontologically speaking, he is explicit: *Brahman
>>> alone is real; everything else has only dependent or borrowed status
>>> (mithyā).*
>>>
>>> So in Śaṅkara the terms function *epistemically and pedagogically*, not
>>> as a three-tier metaphysics. The later “three orders of reality” framework
>>> is a convenient explanatory schema developed by the tradition, but it
>>> should not be read back into the Śruti or into Śaṅkara as if he were
>>> proposing a graded ontology.
>>>
>>> Framed this way, the passage reinforces his consistent method: not
>>> constructing intermediate realities, but progressively sublating all
>>> empirical standpoints into non-dual Brahman.
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> 🙏🙏🙏
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 28, 2026 at 6:29 AM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> This post has the Bhashya, Sureshwarachar's Taittiriya Bh.Vartika,
>>>> Vanamala and Sayana Bhashya:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/paramarthika-vyavaharika-satyam/
>>>>
>>>> In the Bhashya, Shankara specifies three types of 'reality' based on
>>>> the Taittiriya mantra: *सत्यं च अनृतं च सत्यमभवत् . *For Vedantins,
>>>> the Taittiriya Upanishad is the Pramana for the Three types of reality.
>>>>
>>>> The Bhashya for the above passage is:
>>>>
>>>>  सत्यं च व्यवहारविषयम् , अधिकारात् ; न परमार्थसत्यम् ; एकमेव हि
>>>> परमार्थसत्यं ब्रह्म । इह पुनः व्यवहारविषयमापेक्षिकं सत्यम् ,
>>>> मृगतृष्णिकाद्यनृतापेक्षया उदकादि सत्यमुच्यते । अनृतं च तद्विपरीतम् । किं
>>>> पुनः ? एतत्सर्वमभवत् , सत्यं परमार्थसत्यम् ; किं पुनस्तत् ? ब्रह्म, ‘सत्यं
>>>> ज्ञानमनन्तं ब्रह्म’ इति प्रकृतत्वात् ।
>>>>
>>>> SSS translates the Bhashya thus:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> (ಭಾಷ್ಯಾರ್ಥ)
>>>>  ಸತ್ಯವು ಎಂದರೆ ವ್ಯವಹಾರವಿಷಯವಾದ ಸತ್ಯವು ; ಏಕೆಂದರೆ (ವ್ಯವಹಾರದ ವಿಷಯದ್ದೇ) ಈ
>>>> ಪ್ರಕರಣವು. (ಇದು) ಪರಮಾರ್ಥಸತ್ಯವಲ್ಲ ; ಏಕೆಂದರ ಪರಮಾರ್ಥಸತ್ಯವಾದ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮವು ಒಂದೇ,
>>>> ಇಲ್ಲಿಯೋ ಎಂದರೆ ವ್ಯವಹಾರ ವಿಷಯವಾದ ಬಿಸಿಲುಕುದುರೆಯ (ನೀರ) ಮುಂತಾದ ಅನೃತಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಲಿಸಿದರೆ
>>>> (ಸತ್ಯ) ವಾಗುವ  ಆಪೇಕ್ಷಿಕವಾಗಿರುವ ನೀರು ಮುಂತಾದದ್ದನ್ನೇ ಸತ್ಯ ಎಂದು ಕರೆದಿರುತ್ತದೆ.
>>>> ಮತ್ತು ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ವಿರುದ್ಧವಾಗಿರುವದು ಅನೃತವು.
>>>>
>>>> (ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ :-) ಇದೆಲ್ಲವೂ ಆದದ್ದು ಯಾವದು ?
>>>> (ಉತ್ತರ :-) ಸತ್ಕವು ; ಪರಮಾರ್ಥಸತ್ಯವು.
>>>> (ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ :-) ಆ (ಪರಮಾರ್ಥಸತ್ಯ )ವೆಂಬುದಾದರೂ ಯಾವದು ?
>>>>
>>>> 2. ಹೋಲಿಕೆಯ ಸತ್ಯ, ನೀರು ಬಾಯಾರಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ಹಿಂಗಿಸುತ್ತದೆ ; ಬಿಸಿಲು ಕುದುರೆಯ ನೀರು
>>>> ಹಿಂಗಿಸುವದಿಲ್ಲ ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ನೀರು ಆಪೇಕ್ಷಿಕಸತ್ಯ ; ಬಿಸಿಲು ಕುದುರೆಯ ನೀರು ಅನ್ನತ.
>>>>
>>>> Translation of SSS's translation:
>>>>
>>>> *(Translation of the Bhāṣyārtha)*
>>>>
>>>> By *satya* (truth) is meant *vyavahāra-satya*—empirical or
>>>> transactional truth; because the present context pertains to empirical
>>>> dealings. This is not *pāramārthika-satya* (absolute truth); for the
>>>> absolute truth, Brahman, is one alone. Here, in contrast to the unreal
>>>> entities of empirical experience such as the mirage-“water,” those things
>>>> like actual water—which are relatively true (*āpekṣika*)—are spoken of
>>>> as *satya*. That which is opposed to this is *anṛta* (untruth).
>>>>
>>>> *(Question):* Then what is that which truly is?
>>>> *(Answer):* *Sat*—the absolute truth.
>>>>
>>>> *(Question):* And what indeed is that (absolute truth)?
>>>>
>>>>    1.
>>>>
>>>>    Although inert objects such as stones are also effects of the
>>>>    conscious Brahman, consciousness does not manifest distinctly in them. *(Sūtra
>>>>    Bhāṣya 2.1.6)*
>>>>    2.
>>>>
>>>>    Comparative truth: water quenches thirst, whereas the water of a
>>>>    mirage does not. Therefore, water is *relative truth*, while
>>>>    mirage-water is *unreal*.
>>>>
>>>> The point to be noted is:
>>>>
>>>> *SSS is not refuting Shankara and the Taittiriya Upanishad stating
>>>> three types of reality:* The pāraarthika reality is Brahman, the
>>>> vyavaharika reality is given the analogy of water and a third category, the
>>>> 'unreal' which is also a part of the creation, is given the analogy of
>>>> mirage water by Shankara.
>>>>
>>>> Thus, the Upanishad itself gives three types of reality.* If SSS was
>>>> opposed to the three types of reality, he should have disagreed with the
>>>> Upanishad and Shankara, *and by extension, with Sureshwara, who in the
>>>> Taittirya Vartika has explicitly named two satyas: vyavaharika and
>>>> paramarthika.
>>>>
>>>> More details can be seen in the linked article.
>>>>
>>>> warm regards
>>>> subbu
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>>>> Groups "advaitin" group.
>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
>>>> an email to advaitin+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
>>>> To view this discussion visit
>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAKk0Te2sb2gMnGcQybGPst61PpzGR8i0L0yU90dM7rgNwAwo9w%40mail.gmail.com
>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAKk0Te2sb2gMnGcQybGPst61PpzGR8i0L0yU90dM7rgNwAwo9w%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>>>> .
>>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>>> Groups "advaitin" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
>>> an email to advaitin+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
>>> To view this discussion visit
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAAz9PvG4XF_V52-UxaP2gKvqPvCfiHX9W%3D5jVe7%3DhV-JaJNQZA%40mail.gmail.com
>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAAz9PvG4XF_V52-UxaP2gKvqPvCfiHX9W%3D5jVe7%3DhV-JaJNQZA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>>> .
>>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "advaitin" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to advaitin+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAKk0Te0D5giSwksoba0AR30dzzY7-steyD10hhp6RxmG1OSXBQ%40mail.gmail.com
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAKk0Te0D5giSwksoba0AR30dzzY7-steyD10hhp6RxmG1OSXBQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>> .
>>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "advaitin" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to advaitin+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAAz9PvH_PkZbMK2zUtPXdSMnhCfevLBQg9%2B--FKnhFZaF-_7rA%40mail.gmail.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAAz9PvH_PkZbMK2zUtPXdSMnhCfevLBQg9%2B--FKnhFZaF-_7rA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
> .
>