[Advaita-l] Iswara swaruupam - 3

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

On Tuesday, April 3, 2012, Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:

>
>
>
> Rajaram, again and again, you reveal your confusion about what is meant by
> the usual
> advaita stance about ISvara. In essence, what Sri Sadananda has been
> writing, what
> Sri Subrahmanian has been writing, what I have been writing and what this
> Swamiji
> or that Swamiji quoted on this list has been saying is completely in
> consonance with
> Sankara. So, have no doubt that all of us are Sankarites, no matter what
> you may think
> of some or all of us being nirISvara vedAntins. Rather, it seems as if you
> have decided
> you alone understand what Sankara is saying, when it is clearly obvious
> that you do not.


Leave alone my confusion. If you say Ishwara is unreal, why don't you
concede  that you are Nirishwara Vedantin?

>
> I will just focus on one thing. According to you, Sankara says aparA
> prakRti is unreal
> and that parAprakRti is essentially brahman. Once you understand that
> parAprakRti is
> jIvabhUta, then this is merely a restatement of the sentence brahma satyam
> jagan
> mithyA jIvo brahmaiva formulation. Meanwhile, ISvara is also said to be
> ISvara over
> the jagat through and only through the operation of BOTH aparA and parA
> prakRti.


Ishwara is Ishwara by virtue of being the Self not by virtue of being a
puppet show master like the dualists say. The Self remains so even if there
is no covering just as I exist even when I don't wear my shirt.

So, what exactly, according to you, are the implications of aparA prakRti
> being unreal?
> This question pertains both to the status of jagat and to the status of
> ISvara being a
> ruler over that jagat. Take your time to come up with a logically
> consistent answer to
> this question. Do not jump to judge what other people are saying or
> implying without
> being extremely clear about what it is that you are saying or implying
> yourself.
>
>  The mirage is unreal but the desert is real. The world and its cause
apara prakrti but its basis para prakrti is essentially Ishwara Himself and
real.

> Vidyasankar
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org <javascript:;>
>