Absolutism and Relativism in Advaita

[Rajiv Malhotra]

Let me state my views on this central question you raise - is advaita
absolutist or relativist?

It cannot be either in the conventional sense. Relativist would by itself
imply that there is no ultimate reality. Absolute would imply that we could
represent the absolute or at have it as referent, which also we cannot.
There is an absolute NON-THING, but being not a thing (which includes ideas,
concepts, etc) it cannot be said to exist in the sense of the term
existence. Existence would have to be against the backdrop of its opposite
and hence we would be back to the pair of opposites.

Truth or thing or existence depends on the view, which is relative to where
one is viewing from. There is no Brahman's eye-view because Brahman's is a
non-view, outside the categories of existence and non existence. All views
are inherently relative only.

So is there anything absolute? Yes but not viewable, because any view must
be relative.

So how is this absolute 'non-view' truth experienced? By transcending all
views, that's a state of identity with and as Brahman, which is non-view.
Like the square root of minus 1 is not a real number and merely a pointer to
a 'transcendental' non-number, so also Brahman is not any 'thing' or
'concept'. Final truth is a non-view, transcending all possible views.

Therefore, all views, religious paths, etc are relative only. The ultimate
is beyond all paths. Paths can just point to the transcendental but never
describe it.

In this sense, each religion is valid for someone at some stage and to take
him/her to some higher stage. Like different paths on different faces of a
mountain, some work faster, some require more prerequisites, some take you
higher before you transfer to another road, etc. Some have more pitfalls
along the way.

Regards,

Rajiv


-----Original Message-----
From: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
[mailto:ADVAITA-L at braincells.com]On Behalf Of Vivek Anand Ganesan
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2000 5:28 PM
To: ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG
Subject: Absolutism and Relativism in Advaita

Hello all :

    I have enjoyed the discussions on confessionalism et.
al. on the "Advaita and Christianity" thread very much.
To facilitate a more "focussed" discussion, I have taken
the liberty to move the discussion away from "religion"
towards "philosophy", so as not to offend any religious
sentiments. I hope list members would tolerate my
indulgence.

    The big question I have is : "Is Advaita Absolutist or
relativist?".  By using the shruti statement, "Ekam Sad;
ViprA bahudha vadanti", are we to understand that there are
many valid expressions of truth and Advaita is just one
among the many?  This would naturally be the stand of the
philosophical relativist.

    But, Advaitins do not seem to have taken the relativist
stand.  Judging by the quality of polemics
by Advaitins, they seemed to have been more than eager to
defend Advaita from its critics.  So, it seems to me that
Advaita is an absolutist philosophy with a very clear
conception of truth.  In that case, how are we to
understand
"Ekam Sad; ViprA bahudha vadanti"?

    This leads to my second question : Can conflicting
philosophies be "resolved" within Advaita?  I have heard
that even dvaita and vishishTadvaita have a place in
Advaita. But, as a philosophy Advaita is **opposed** to
dvaita and vishishTadvaita. Right?  So, how can there be a
reconciliation?

Thanks in advance,

-Vivek.

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