[Advaita-l] Adhyaropa-Apavada Nyaya.

[V Subrahmanian]

On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 4:44 PM, Venkatesh Murthy <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Namaste
>
> If Beeja is not destroyed in sleep is it right to say Adhyaropa
> Apavada will destroy Projection but Concealment of Brahman is not
> destroyed.  There was one mail  on Vikshepa and Avarana Saktis.
>

Namaste.

The original verse as available to us is: अध्यारोपापवादाभ्यां निष्प्रपञ्चं *
प्रपञ्यते*’ It says that through this method the world-free Brahman is
'taught/delineated'.  After studying this delineation one has to engage in
manana and nididhyAsana and that will result in the destruction of both
AvaraNa and vikShepa.  However, it should be noted that by 'destruction of
vikShepa shakti'  it is not meant that the prapancha will cease to be
perceived.  The Acharya  has added enough caution on this, for example, in
the BSB 4.1.15 in that famous statement: 'बाधितमपि तु मिथ्याज्ञानं
संस्कारवशात् द्विचन्द्रज्ञानवत् कञ्चित्कालं अनुवर्तत एव’.  Even though
destroyed/sublated, the erroneous knowledge (adhyAsa/projection) will
continue to be perceived owing to the samskara.  However, the Jnani will
know very well that it is only an appearance.


Adhyaropa Apavada is a negative method.  By using it how can a Positive
> thing like Brahman come out? Neti Neti will negatively remove Projections.
> But will it remove Concealment?  The question - is Adhyaropa Apavada enough
> for Brahma Jnana? Or some other method also
> is required?
>

In the bhashya for the Mandukya Karika 2.32 Shankaracharya says:

तस्मान्निर्विशेष एव आत्मनि *सुखित्वादयो विशेषाः कल्पिताः* ।
यत्तुअसुखित्वादिशास्त्रम् आत्मनस्तत्सुखित्वादि-विशेषनिवृत्त्यर्थमेवेति
सिद्धम् ।
*’सिद्धं  तु निवर्तकत्वात्’* इति आगमविदां सूत्रम् ।

[Therefore, it is in the attributeless Self that the distinct
characteristics of ‘being happy, miserable, intelligent, dull, healthy,
ailing ’ etc. are imagined.  And as for the scriptural texts speaking of the
absence of happiness etc. in the Self, it is proved that they are *merely
meant to remove the specific ideas of happiness etc. from It.*  And in
support of this is the aphorism of those who are versed in the meaning of
scriptures: ‘The validity of the scriptures is derived from their *negation
of positive qualities from the Self*.’]

Clarifies Anandagiri : उक्तेऽर्थे द्रविडाचार्यसम्मतिमाह – सिद्धान्त्विति ।
ब्रह्मणि पदानां व्युत्पत्त्यभावेऽपि सिद्धमेव शास्त्रप्रामाण्यम्,
अभावबोधननञ्पदसंसृष्टैः स्थूलादिव्युत्पन्नपदैः स्वाभाविकद्वैताभावबोधनेन
अध्यस्तनिवर्तकत्वादिति सूत्रार्थः ।

  ’सिद्धं  तु निवर्तकत्वात्’ – This is a quotation from draviDAchArya.  The
idea is this: 'Though words may not have any positive meaning with regard to
Brahman, the validity of the scripture is well established; for the words,
that are associated with negation and are well known as denoting the absence
of qualities, eliminate all duality from the Self. ‘


The following post, in two parts, could be studied, in the order shown
below:

http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2010-April/024163.html

http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2010-April/024164.html


The above provides enough explanation on the question as to why the method
of 'neti neti' is the only method available to the Shruti.  Since the
problem of samsara is SOLELY due to superimposing un-Brahman 'dharma-s', if
I can use such an expression, ('ataddharma' is an allowed expression), the
way out of samsara is to *remove *those superimposed dharma-s and then
Brahman will be realized 'as It IS'.   If this 'removal' is called
'negative' method, one can't really help it.  As the Acharya has pointed
out, it is 'nivartanam' of the 'ataddharma' from Brahman that is to be done
and which is what the Shruti does through the method of adhyAropa/apavAda.
As was stated in the original post, with a view to 'effectively remove' this
ignorantly superimposed dharma-s, the shruti first superimposes certain
dharma-s on Brahman, shAstrakRta adhyAropa, and later methodically 'removes'
them, apavAda.  By going through this exercise, the shAstra succeeds in
removing the avidyA-kRta adhyAropa.  They give the example of the 'kaTaka
beeja ' powder that is put into contaminated water and in the process the
water is cleansed of the contamination as well as the cleaning agent, the
powder.


Regards,

subrahmanian.v




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