Advaita

[Ram Chandran]

Hari Om;

Let me add some additional points regarding the terminology, Advaita.
Panini's Sanskrit grammatical structure is mathematically precise and has
been recognized most suitable for computer language structure.  For computer
computations, binary notations are critical and Sanskrit grammatical
structure has a built in (natural) binary notation.  Look the following
pairs of mutually exclusive words:

Dharma  -  Adharma
Satyam     -   Asatyam
Suddham  -  Asuddham
Nithi      -  Anithi
Nyayam   -  Anyayam
Dairyam   -  Adairyam
etc., etc.,


We can know everything that we want to know about Dharma by eliminating
‘Adharma' We can establish Dharma by abolishing Adharma and vice-versa
establish Adharma by not observing Dharma! The structure is mathematically
precise without any ambiguities.  A similar statement is possible with
respect to Satyam, Suddham, Nithi, Nyayam, Dairyam, etc.

Now let us get back to the word -  Advaitam.
The associated pair of words are: Dvaitam and Advaitam.  These two are
mutually exclusive terms and we eliminate Dvaitam then Advaitam is
established.  More effectively, if we establish Advaitam, we can eliminate
Dvaitam.   In conclusion, I believe that Advaitam is a better representation
than Ekatam.

Ram Chandran

Note: Panini's grammatical structure is well recognized by the scientists
who work in the area of Artificial Intelligence.  A number of journal
articles have referenced Panini' grammatical structure and its relevance for
computer algorithms.

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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>From  Fri May 26 07:05:37 2000
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Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 07:05:37 -0700
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From: Anand Natarajan <anandn at MYWORLDMAIL.COM>
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Subject: Re: Advaita
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Here is a nice Shloka in Sad Darshanam of Ramana Maharshi.

"Dwaitham Vichare Paramarthabodhe
 Thvath advaithamithyesha na sadhu vadaha  |
 Gaveshanaath prag dashame vinashte
paschasch labdhe dashamathvamekam ||

"To say there is duality during enquiry and non-dulaity in the knowledge
 of the supreme is not right. The tenth man's tenthness is one and the same
 when he was lost before search and when he was found later."

Here Sri Ramana Maharshi refers to a story of ten foolish men who were crossing a river. After crossing, they wished to count each other and see that all ten had safely crossed.
But, each one left himself out while counting and thus each one saw only 9 (the missing one being himself). So they were all lamenting when a passerby asked them what the problem was? They explained to him that they were 10 before crossing and now they are 9 and hence one must be lost. The passerby saw all 10 before him and guessed what happened.
He told the fools, I will give each one of you a blow and when you receive your blow count your number. So he started giving each one a blow and they counted themselves, 1, 2 , 3 , so on. When the 10th man fell down from his blow counting 10, they realized that they had been 10 people all along.
Sri Ramana Maharshi says nothing new was discovered when the 10 th man was found. He had all the time been there. Similarly, out of ignorance we percieve duality. To say that there is duality "dwaita" now and non-duality "advaita" later is in correct. That which is always is.

Anand


>> Om.
>>
>> Why is advaita called so ?  Why not ekata ?  The
>> Rishis (and Shankara) seem
>> to use two different means of expression.  They say
>> "ekam sat" and also say
>> "brahma advayam".  Is there a significance in the
>> use of ekam (single) in
>> the first and advayam (non-dual) in the next.  Or
>> are these different ? Or
>> are they mere appropriate choices for the meter in
>> which they were
>> cognized/composed.
>>
>> Om.
>>
>> There is a difference between unity with Brahman and
>> identity with Brahman.
>> Could that be reflected here?
>>
>
>The idea of 1 occurs when there are 2 or more
>(including the observer) and you refer to one of them.
>However, in the paramArtha state, only Brahman is. So
>Brahman does not 'see' anything apart from it. In fact
>brahman 'sees' no thing. So the word advaita  which
>refers to the paramArtha state attempts to describe a
>state of non-multiplicity or non-difference.
>On the other hand, ekatA, would refer to two entities,
>the seer seeing the seen as one.
>
>


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--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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