[Advaita-l] Neha nAnAsti kimchana

Nagarjuna Siddhartha nagarjunasiddhartha at yahoo.com
Sat Jun 14 13:39:30 CDT 2003


>I don't know if Jay used only logic. Shruti is used more than logic, as
>the matters pertain to Brahman.
 
Srinivas tells me that shruti has to be interpreted so as not to contradict perception or inference.

>What criteria did you use to evaluate them to be better?

One obvious criterion is the illogicalness of holding the position that two attributes of something (brahman in this case) are not different, so that this position may not be given serious consideration.

>So your analysis starts with this assumption 'empirical' world, but
>wouldn't such unwarranted assumptions bring down the quality of your
>analysis? 
 
On what criterion are you suggesting that the assumption is unwarranted?
 
>> ego, worldly desires, selfishness etc. But since brahman is also the
>> material cause of the world, the world is in its ultimate essence
>> brahman only. 

>'neti neti'
 
I think I got what you are trying to suggest. 
 
If it is objected that neti neti suggests that brahman is not the "ultimate essence", then the reply is that "brahman is the ultimate essence" is an inherently tautological statement which is a defect in language rather than a philosophical defect. For brahman being the ultimate essence was never suggested as a definition of brahman. It is synonymous with it, just like reality which in advaita is not treated as a definition of brahman but as a term synonymous to brahman.
 

Nomadeva Sharma <nomadeva at yahoo.com> wrote:

--- Nagarjuna Siddhartha wrote:
> Dear Jay Nelamangala,
> 
> >The very first lesson that Shrutis teach is that Parabrahman
> >is not anything like that you know in this mundane world.
> >This is called His jagat-vilakshaNatva.
> 
> 
> It is surprising that you say this. Here you are, trying to refute
> some of the concepts of advaita-vedanta by logical and other means,

I don't know if Jay used only logic. Shruti is used more than logic, as
the matters pertain to Brahman.

> There are much better ways to understand "neha nAnAsti kimchana" than
> the one you suggested. 

What criteria did you use to evaluate them to be better?

> Since the empirical world is full of

So your analysis starts with this assumption 'empirical' world, but
wouldn't such unwarranted assumptions bring down the quality of your
analysis? 

> ego, worldly desires, selfishness etc. But since brahman is also the
> material cause of the world, the world is in its ultimate essence
> brahman only. 

'neti neti'. 

Regards,
Krishna

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