[Advaita-l] Discussion on the topic"Knowledge and the means of knowledge"

[srikanta at nie.ac.in]

In the  discussion of the above topic,Sri.Shivaramakrishnan Muthuswamy had
written"How is that the mind flows out of the senses and envelops the
object".The Advaitic standpoint studies how does perception takes place.Is
the object depedent upon the mind or the mind is dependent on the object
for its cognition?.Secondly,whether the perception of the object is real
or illusory.Does consciousness exist by itself even if no object
exists.Which is dependent on what?Cognition involves two processes.Seeing
and memory(smrti).If the object already existed,then how is it seen and
recognised?.Contrary to the scientific(western view) that light from the
object enters the retina, stimulates the optical nerves and sends a
stimuli to the brain and memory,for the perception and recognition of the
object.In Vedanta,the senses and the mind(the sixth sense)are taken in
totality,the seer and the seen are differentiated.Drg(seer) and
drsya(seen)are analysed to find out which is dependent on what?The
Advaitic view concludes that "Drk" is the reality than the "drsya",which
keeps on changing in all the three states of jagrat,svapna and susupti.In
Advaita vedanta the dvaita(created world)and Ishvara(the created) are
tentative assumptions.The Drk which is nothing but the "Atman"(Brahman) is
the only reality without any plurality.Infact,Advaita analyses the
Vijnanavada Buddhism view that "No object exist
outside(bahyarthavada)",and come to the conclusion that the dvaita is real
tentatively.
                                                       N.Srikanta.