saguNa and nirguNa are the same

[Sankaran Kartik Jayanarayanan]

On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

> Further, it is directly against the principle that GYAna alone
> counteracts avidyA, since it is directly opposed to it. It
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> wouldn't make any sense to claim that upAsana which springs
> from avidyA and which is not directly opposed to it, will
> counteract avidyA.
>

What I understand from the above is that something that is within the
realm of avidyaa cannot counteract avidyaa.

[..]

> equivalent. The point that bhagavatpAda is trying to make is
> that acceptance of something called GYAna certainly implies
> the prior acceptance of the affliction of avidyA, and so it is
> itself within the sphere of avidyA only. All means of knowing,
> ***including shruti***, are within the sphere of avidyA only.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

But if shruti were in the realm of avidyaa, how can it remove ignorance?

In the updeshasahasrii, Shankara says that RAma achieved GYAna *only* by
listening to the statement "That is You," and NOT by *any other means*.
Implying of course, that the statement "That is You" conferred GYAna on
RAma. There are several other places where Shankara says that GYAna can be
achieved by contemplating on statements of shruti. My question would
be,"How is it that something like a statement (which is obviously in the
sphere of avidyaa), "cause" Self-realization?"

-Kartik

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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