[Advaita-l] An Advaitin's Assessment of Some Dvaita Remarks

[V Subrahmanian]

Namaste.

The following observations in the original article prompted a Dvaitin
reader, outside this forum, to raise a question.  (see his question after
these quoted portions)

// All the jiva-Ishwara vyavahara takes place within the plane of duality
created by Maya. //

// The Pontiff’s disagreement with Advaita is akin to 2  above.  To
elucidate, no one in the Advaita sampradaya holds that Ishwara is deluded by
Maya.  He has  disagreed with Advaita on a misunderstood  ground that ‘in
Advaita, Ishwara is still deluded by Maya’. //

His question:

- Ishwara belonging to realm of Maya and Ishwara being deluded is one and
the same isnt it? Only deluded (unliberated) folks are in the realm of Maya
isnt it?

My reply to him:

Not at all.  Supposing there is a Commissioner of Prisons, of the cadre of
the IAS.  For logistical reasons his office is located inside a sprawling
Central Prison campus.  When he is in his office, a relative calls up his
house and enquires where this officer is.  His wife answers: He is in the
Central prison.

There is a criminal in the prison serving a five-year term.  His relative,
not in contact with this criminal/prisoner's family for a long time  calls
up his house and asks where this man is.  His wife answers:  He is in the
Central prison.

Now, both the answers are facts.  Yet they have a world of difference
between them.  Similar is the case with Ishwara and the bound jivas
coexisting in the realm of Maya.

With the possibility, sambhAvanA, of two entities existing in one
adhikaraNa, with a completely different sambandha with the adhikaraNa, there
can be no objection from any quarter to Sri Vidyaranya's verses: one
declaring that both the jiva and Iswara are in the realm of Maya and that
both are not related to Maya in the same way.  No charge of inconsistency or
contradiction can be leveled against Vidyaranya.

Even the words ' यथेच्छं पिबतां द्वैतं ' in the verse is so full of
scriptural meaning.  In the case of the jiva, the dvaita-paana, that is
experiencing duality, is in the form of samsara.  In the case of Iswara, the
dvaita-pAna, experiencing of duality is in the form of engaging in creation,
sustenance, etc.  The Shruti says: सोऽकामयत बहु स्यां ... [It, Brahman,
desired to become many...] The SmRti says: परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च
दुष्कृतां, धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय संभवामि युगे युगे [ with a view to protect the
holy and destroy the evil and establish Dharma on firm grounds, I manifest
Myself from time to time.]

Thus, the involvement in duality, dvaita, by the jiva and Ishwara are of a
different order, different kind.  While one's dvaita-paana is
bandhaka/bandhana, the other's dvaita-sambandha is not.

Om Tat Sat

On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 11:42 AM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>wrote:

> An Advaitin’s assessment of some Dvaita-remarks
> श्रीगुरुभ्यो नम:
>
> The following remark is sourced from the site: www.dvaita.org
>
>   //INTRODUCTION TO KANNADA EDITION of the Book ‘Gitaa-sAroddhAra’
>
> Some commentaries on the Gita which have come down to us have tried to make
> out that Advaita-vada is the true message of the Gita. These look upon Sri
> Krishna, the supreme Lord, as still open to the illusion of duality. This
> may be gathered from the following verse of the Pancadasi of Sri Vidyaranya:
>
> मायाख्याया: कामधेनो: वत्सौ जीवेश्वरावुभौ । (vi.236)
>
> “The Jiva and Isvara are the calves of the divine cow of Maya.”
>
> If Sri Krishna had really attained the experience of Advaitic unity, he
> should have realised the illusory nature of the universe and his own
> lordship over such a universe. In that case, it would be a gross deception
> on his part to claim to be the Lord of all beings (Bhutanam isvarah). In
> order to maintain the truthfulness of that claim, it will have to be
> admitted that from the Advaita point of view Sri Krishna is still subject to
> the illusion of duality. It is not clear how one who is not himself
> completely out of the illusion of duality can teach pure Advaita to others.
>
> - SRI VIDYAMANYA TIRTHA SWAMIJI
>
> of the Sri Palimar Mutt of Udipi and the
>
> Bhandarakere Math of Barkur (S. K.)
>
> Translated from the Kannada Introduction
>
> by Dr. B. N. K. SHARMA//
>
> An Advaitin’s  Response to the above observation of the Pontiff:
>
> In the Panchadashi, is the verse:
>
> मायाख्याया: कामधेनो: वत्सौ जीवेश्वरावुभौ ।
>
> यथेच्छं पिबतां द्वैतं तत्त्वं त्वद्वैतमेव हि ॥
>
> *mAyAkhyAyaH kAmadhenOH vatsau jIveshwaraavubhau |*
>
> *yathEccham pibatAm dvaitam tattvam tu advaitameva hi ||* (VI.236)
>
> [Jiva and Iswara, the two calves of the celestial cow called Maya, may
> enjoy the duality as they like.  But the non-dual alone is the Reality.]
>
> The  observation of the Pontiff of the Sri Palimar Mutt has arisen out of
> misinformation about the status of Ishwara and jiva in the Panchadashi in
> particular and in Advaita in general.  In the Panchadashi itself there are
> several verses that show the distinction between Ishwara and Jiva.  While
> Ishwara is the Lord of Maya, jiva is the ‘victim’ of Maya.  Hence, the two,
> Ishwara and jiva, *are not both deluded* by Maya.
>