[Advaita-l] Is the notion of an ISvara compatible with advaita?

[Amuthan Arunkumar R]

namo nArAyaNAya 

dear list members,

(i sent this mail a few days back, but i guess it
didn't reach the group members. so, i'm sending it
again. please excuse me if u've already got it)

first of all, let me mention that i'm still a freshie
in advaita, so please excuse me if my questions are
silly...and one more clarification : in the argument
presented below, i'm not trying to refute the
existence of an ISvara, but rather asking for a
rational justification of it based on the axioms of
advaita vedanta.

as far as i understand, according to advaita vedAnta,
jN.Ana and karma don't go together, i.e, once the
brahman is realized mAyA no longer exists. now, if an
ISvara exists, He must have a simultaneous knowledge
of His own nature i.e brahman, and the universe i.e.
mAyA. this doesn't seem to fit into the general scheme
of advaita (a closely related question is : how can a
world exist at all for a jN.Ani?, to put it in other
words, is not a "jIvanmukta" a self-contradictory
statement?...please direct me to earlier discussions
on this topic if any.)

in case i didn't get my point through, i'd like to
give a more precise statement of the problem. below, i
quote from SrI rAmAnujAcArya's commentary on
SrImadbhagavadgItA, 2.12:

"...ajN.Anakr.ta bhedadr.shTivAde tu, paramapurushasya
paramArthadr.shTe: nirviSesha kUtastha nityacaitanya
AtmayAthAtmyasAkshAtkArAt, nivr.ttAjN.AnatatkAryatayA
ajN.Anakr.ta bhedadarSanam, tanmUla: upadeSAdi
vyAvahArA: na ca samgacchante | 

...advaitajN.Anena bAdhitam bhedajN.Anam
anuvartamAnamapi, mithyArthavishayatvaniScayAt, na
upadeSadi pravr.ttihetu: bhavati |

...iha tu, bhedajN.Anasya savishayasya sakAraNasya
apAramArthikatvena vastu yAtAtmyajN.AnavinashTatvAt na
kathamcidapi bAdhitAnuvr.tti: sambhavati | atha:
sarveSvarasya idAnIntanaguruparamparAyA: ca
tatvajN.Anam asti ced bhedadarSana tatkArya: upadeSadi
asambhava: | bhedadarSanam asti iti ced, ajN.Anasya
tad heto: sthitatvena ajN.atvAdeva sutarAmupadeSo na
sambhavati |"

the argument that the jN.Ani-s, i.e. jIvanmukta-s have
a SarIra due to prArabda karma is also refuted in the
above argument given by SrI rAmAnujAcArya.

please let me know any possible explanation of this
problem as soon as possible.

hari sarvatra,
aparyAptAmr.ta:

=====
Amuthan Arunkumar R,
Department of Aerospace Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras.
 
Address : 327, Tapti Hostel, IIT Madras.

Ph : 9840482709

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