[Advaita-l] Is the Acharya's remark correct

[Subrahmanian, Sundararaman V [FI]]

> in the Mundaka Bhashya, the Acharya mentions that it is in fear of Him that the Sun 
> revolves round the earth like a Chakra......
> 
> is He not aware of the heliocentric theory ?
> 
> if he is not aware, how can he be a Sarvajna ?    
> If he is aware, how has he made such a erroneous point ?

Apparent movement, not actual movement [1].  jyotishA considers apparent movement, not the actual movement[2] (Ex:  retrograde movement of planets - as observed from earth).  By convention, it is convenient to express as if all Planets, Moon and Sun revolve round the earth.  In the context of a Vedic school where upaniShad-s would be taught along with jyotiShA, it would be appropriate to say so.

(~500 years after Galileo proved that the Earth revolves round the Sun) Don't we still say: "Offer arghyam in the morning facing the rising sun".  Does the Sun rise?

[1] Imagine that if train A moves and train B is stationary.  Then we could easily shift the frame of reference to train B and observe train A moving in the reverse direction.  Can't we?

[2] Only the frame of reference is differnt, but the measurements are actual, not fictitious even in jyotiShA.

SVS