Words Maya and nirguNa

[Shrisha Rao]

On Mon, 23 Jul 2001, Vidyasankar wrote:

(quote from Sadananda)

> >Yesteday Shreeman S.M.S. Chari mentioned in his lectures that the
> >word Maya and nirguNa each one occurs only ones in the upanishat -

He's wrong, at least if his own tradition be believed.  There is also the
verse:

  anAdimAyayA supto yadA jIvaH prabuddhyate  |
  ajamanidramasvapnaM advaitaM buddhyate tadA  ||

This is considered to be a kArikA of Gaudapada according to modern Advaita
tradition, and the citation of the same by Shankara in his BSBh. is
perhaps ambivalent.  However, Ramanuja himself quotes the first hemistich
as Shruti (`jIvasyaiva hi mAyayA nirodhaH shrUyate').

> If we are to look at only the 12 major texts (aitareya, ISa, kaTha,
> taittirIya, bRhadAraNyaka, chAndogya, kena, praSna, muNDaka, mANDUkya,
> kaushItakI and SvetASvatara) -
>
> nirguNa occurs in the last text, in sAkshI cetA kevalo nirguNaSca,
> and mAyA in mAyAM tu prakRtim vidyAt .
>
> If I remember right, praSna should also have the word mAyA somewhere.

`teshhAmasau virajo brahmaloko na yeshhu jihmamanR^itaM na mAyA cheti'
(1.16).

The mahAnArAyaNa has it as `tAn.h yaj~nasya mAyayA sarvAn.h avayajAmahe'.

> Have to check on it. And bRhadAraNyaka has indro mAyAbhiH puruRupa
> Iyate - mAyA is here, in the instrumental case.

That is a quoted Rk; there are many others where mAyA is used; e.g.,
`indro mahAM sindhuM AshayAnaM mAyAvinaM vR^itraM asphuranniH' (2.11.09).
`pra mAyAbhir.h mAyinA bhUtamatra nArA nR^itU janiman.h yaj~niyAnAm.h'
(6.63.05).

Regards,

Shrisha Rao

> Vidyasankar

>From  Wed Jul 25 19:12:51 2001
Message-Id: <WED.25.JUL.2001.191251.0200.>
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 19:12:51 +0200
Reply-To: robvandijk at inter-esse.nl
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
From: Rob van Dijk <robvandijk at INTER-ESSE.NL>
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> >> The Dwaraka Shankaracharya Matha now has an official website. Check
> >> http://www.shardapeeth.org .

> >Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:
> >Not to dredge up an old argument but did you notice they uses the 2509 BC
> >date for Shankaracharya?

> Yes, I know, the 509 BC date is given on the website. Can't help
> but leave aside the issue of Shankara's date with a shrug now! For
> some reason, a BC date holds a lot of fascination for many people.
> Vidyasankar

Concerning this issue, my friend dr.Paul van Oyen wrote the following
personal letter to His Holiness, hereby published with permission. While
some "leave the issue aside with a shrug", which I can understand, Paul van
Oyen places this matter in a broader perspective.
Please take good notice of his letter and remember that the subject is NOT
really Shankara's birthdate.
It is all about a-dvaita and about nivritti THROUGH pravritti.

Rob van Dijk.
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