[Advaita-l] Swami Sureswaracharya and avidyA

[H S Chandramouli]

Namaste.

//  On Sun, May 24, 2026 at 8:56 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar <
sudhanshu.iitk at gmail.com> wrote:

Namaste.

Just a word of caution.

avidyā is not a positive entity either, as the AI in the write-up
erroneously concludes.

avidyā is bhāva-abhāva-vilakṣaṇa.

So, avidyā is an entity which is:

   1. neither Brahman (sat)
   2. nor vyāvahārika-bhāvātmaka-avidyā-kārya (mithyā vastu such as
   table/chair);
   3. nor prātibhāsika-bhāvātmaka-avidyā-kārya (mithyā vastu such as
   illusory snake, illusory table conjured by magician)
   4. nor asat i.e. tuccha (horns of hare);
   5. nor vyavahārika-abhāvātmaka-avidyā-kārya (mithyā vastu such as
   pot-abhāva on ground);
   6. nor prātibhāsika-abhāvātmaka-avidyā-kārya (mithyā vastu such as
   illusory pot-abhāva when pot is present on ground)

When avidyā is stated as bhāva-abhāva-vilakṣana, the word bhāva includes
1,2 and 3, whereas the word abhāva includes 4,5 and 6.

So, in my humble opinion, the usage of the word "positive" is incorrect  //.

It is clear from the PDF document that the above is in contradiction to
BUBV portion cited and discussed by AI. Verses have been cited from BUBV
which clearly state avidyA to be the material cause of everything in
Creation which obviously includes table/chair/pot etc.As also rope-snake
etc. And *material cause* is considered as *positive*.

It would help if Sudhanshu Ji confirms that his views as above are in
accordance with the SiddhAnta as advanced by Sri Bhagavatpada and
elaborated upon by Swami Sureswaracharya. At least the readers would be
sure that we are talking with reference to the same SiddhAnta.

Regards