Birth and death and rebirth from Advaitist viewpoint

[Subhanu Saxena]

On Friday Dec 18th, Ashish Chandra wrote:
> Again, the question was :
>
> If the Atman is Brahma, what is it that is manifested again and again
> through birth and rebirth. If there is no duality, then what is it that is
> manifested into all that is living, dying and being (re)born ? When we say
> that there is no birth or death or rebirth for one who has realised
> Brahma,
> which part of us do we mean i.e. Atman was being manifested all along in
> all these births. What stops ? If there is no part, what is not reborn ?
>
>
>
As has been pointed out by Jaldhar Vyas, Vaidya Sundaram and others, the
response to the above according to Sankara's tradition is based on
understanding the nature of adhyAsa, avidyA, and of the distinction between
the empirical and transcendental views.  As I had mentioned many moons ago,
I intend posting an article on Sankara's adhyAsa bhAshyam, which delineates
all the fundamental concepts required to grasp the teachings of Sankara's
tradition. Because of the crisis in Russia/my impending move to Switzerland,
I have been unable to pull it together for posting (my Christmas week
project!).  Once I rejoin the list, I hope to post this, which will also
include a summary of the how various schools have interpreted the adhyAsa
bhAshyam.

As has been pointed out, you will find lots of good stuff from the many
learned members of this list in the archives.

Subhanu

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