[Advaita-l] Acceptance of the validity of shruti is only *faith*

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

>after granting sole validity status to vEda-s with regard to dharma
>jignAsa,  shankara adopted a unique principle while considering the
>validity of the vEda-s with regard to enquiry into the Atman and declared,
>in brahma jignAsa NOT ONLY shruti is pramANa but intuitive experience etc.
>also pramANa (means of knowledge)....coz. the tattva embedded in shruti can
>be intuitively realized HERE & NOW...

Dear Bhaskar,

In the course of this discussion, we have heard a lot about anubhava and 
Sruti, but it seems to me that one could do with some better definition of 
terms. Many of us would appreciate it if you could provide a fuller 
description of what is meant by

sArvatrika lokAnubhava - does this refer to what is commonly experienced by 
all human beings (e.g. external objects), or does this refer to something 
that is universal to all human experience (e.g. the presence of 
consciousness in any cognition of an external object)? In either case, does 
everyone have agreement on what that is?

vaiyaktika anubhava - does this refer to the experience of an individual 
human being (e.g. my interaction with my computer as I write this mail) or 
does it refer to the fact that human individuals are capable of separate 
experiences that may not correspond to what is experienced by other 
individuals (e.g. my dreams)?

As a follow up question to the above two, is sArvatrika lokAnubhava only a 
collection of common vaiyaktika anubhava-s, or is it something different? Is 
the fact that I can dream up something part of sArvatrika lokAnubhava or 
not?

Finally, when we maintain that the tattva explained in Sruti is capable of 
being experienced here and now, do we include the tattva "ahaM brahmAsmi" in 
this?

If yes, without my having  intuitively experienced it myself, how can I 
claim that the tattva taught in Sruti is capable of being experienced? 
Furthermore, wouldn't that experience itself be a vaiyaktika anubhava only 
and not sArvatrika lokAnubhava? Also, if I haven't intuitively experienced 
it myself, and hold that such and such a teacher said this, am I not merely 
taking on faith the claim that it can be experienced? In other words, faith 
in Sruti is transferred to faith in the potential experience of someone 
else, no?

Best regards,
Vidyasankar

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