[Advaita-l] 'aham Brahmasmi' in Bhagavatam

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 1:51 AM, piyali palit <piyali_ju at yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>
> I shall give reference with Brahma sutra adhyaya and adhikarana of Adi
> Sankara’s bhasya after I clearly understand what you stated here.

Kindly do that.

> What type of cause he is for the Universe – ‘abhinna-nimitta-upadana-karana’;
> without cikirsa and kritimattva one cannot have the status of nimitta-karana;
> and, without possessing dharma-dharmi-bhava nothing can be assumed as upadana
> karana. Hence, Ishvara or Saguna Brahman is assorted with qualities and
> activities as illustrated by Adi Sankara.Universe is like a illusion on him - who is/are illusioned?
>

But where Adi Sankara said Saguna Brahman is highest?  This is Advaita
discussion list. Many learned members think he said Nirguna Brahma is
higher than Saguna Brahma. Many members can give reference where he
said it in his Bhashya.  Sadeva Somya Idam Agra Asit Ekameva Advitiyam
Vakya gives a good explanation.  If Saguna Brahma and his qualities
and activities is the Sat of this Vakya it is not correct.


>
> All the moksa-shastra-s, philosophy as you may call them, namely, Nyaya,
> Vaisesika, Samkhya, Patanjala, Purva-Mimamsa, also deal with eradication of ‘ajnana’,
> the root cause of all sufferings. How do you claim that Advaita is the only
> philosophy to answer why there are bad things, etc.?

Advaita gives the best answer. Other shastras may give answers but
they cannot convince.


> What did you mean by ‘transcendental activities and qualities’ ? Please
> make it clear for me.
>

I hope you are familiar with them. You have given the Krama Sandarbha
reference. I think Gaudiyas believe that God's activites and qualities
are not same as our activities and qualities.

> Against which Sruti ? There are many Sruti which tell about duality and
> even plurality and which have been taken up as pramana for non-advaita astika
> philosophy.

Only Advaita Srutis are correct. The duality and other Srutis are
subordinate to the Advaita Sruti. This is the message of Vedanta.

>
>  Only Advaita is
> finally true.
>
> ‘Only Advaita’ is a tautology. And, if you claim something as ‘finally
> true’, that indicates there are more things to be accepted as true to reach before the final one.
>
> The activities like dancing with Gopis are true in Vyavahara but not in
> Paramartha.
>
> Let us first decide how should we differentiate between ‘true in vyavahara’
> and ‘true in paramartha’; it is only after that that we can discuss about dancing
> with Gopis.
>

If you think Adi Sankara said Saguna Brahma is higher than Nirguna
Brahma the burden of proving this is with you. Here we believe he said
Nirguna Brahma is higher.  Saguna Brahma also is Maya only and finally
not Sat. Take this as Prima Facie position and prove your conclusion.


-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh