[Advaita-l] Function of Pramana

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

--- Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <balasr at yahoo.com> wrote:
 
> You correctly point out the difference between
> self-knowledge and other kinds of knowledge. But as
> sha.nkara says in his upadeshasaahasrii (gadyabandha.h
> 2.102):
> 
> pramaayaa.h nityatve anaityatve cha
> ruupavisheshha-abhavaat | 
> 
> Knowledge, whether eternal (i.e., self-knowledge) or
> non-eternal (i.e., of the transitory non-self) do not
> differ in their fundamental nature. 
> 
> Namely, a pramaaNa merely destroys ignorance or
> misconceptions. The "object" itself may or may not
> undergo change before and after removal of the
> obstruction (example a pot in darkness is covered with
> light when the darkness is removed). 
> 
> A whole lot of confusion seems to stem from not
> understanding the much maligned "two levels of
> reality". Also many people think that shruti vaakya is
> "more important" in advaita and somehow invalidates
> our perception of a seemingly real world. Another
> pitfall is understanding what is acceptable
> "reasoning" and the *basis* for *classifying* types of
> reasoning as either acceptable and un-acceptable. 
> 
> I hope to post a detailed article on this sometime
> this year, comparing the reasoning advaita uses with
> the vishishhTaadvaita. The spirit is not vaada
> (argument), but rather to bring out the point that the
> advaita method is so unique, it's pointless to argue
> with schools such as vishishhTaadvaita. The basic
> approach is completely different.
> 
> Rama

Thanks I will be looking forward to your post.  As you are familiar,
Bhagavad Ramanuja in Shree Bhashya takes avidya as presented in adviata
doctrine as mahapurvapaksha and presents his siddhanta.  Will be
interested in your analysis.

Hari OM!
Sadananda  

=====
What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your gift to Him - Swami Chinmayananda.