Tat tvam asi?

[nanda chandran]

> > Note that Shankara himself says that even a thousand shrutis cannot make
>a
> > fire cold and that reason has to be given preference over revelation
>because
> > it is nearer our experience.
>
>Let us finish the quote "...in the matters for which reason is relevant."
>Knowledge of Brahman is not the same as knowledge of heat and cold.  How
>can perception be a valid guide when it is the nature of perception itself
>which is under suspicion?

Sure, with regard to Brahman all pramaanas are invalid. But for the normal
man, the pramaanas are the only source of knowledge.

>I agree with that but it just goes to show that all the pramanas work
>together.  One cannot use one in the sphere of another or say one is
>paramount over the others.  Each shows a different aspect of the truth.
>Brahman is something which is known only from the shastras.  The other
>pramanas may provide some side information about it but they cannot say
>anything authoritative about it.

The question is not whether any source of information is "authoritative" or
can provide "some side information" about Brahman. The question is : can
such sources of knowledge fetch liberation. If the shruti had absolute
validity then merely reading about brahman in the shruti should fetch
liberation.

"Brahman" is merely a word or a lable to point to the spirt and the shruti
as a collection of words is also atbest only a pointer to Brahman. The
shruti tells us about Brahman which is beyond all sources of normal
knowledge and shows us how to experience it. But Brahman being beyond
conception, any such conception/path taught even by the shruti is not
absolute but only relative.

We should learn to distinguish between absolute and relative. The
"authoritativeness" of the shruti is thus only relative. That's the reason
that Advaita holds even shruti to be in the realm of avidhya.

Jaladhar, anyway this is not the first time I'm arguing this point with you
and I'm already tired of it. I'm not going to argue anymore on this subject.

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