[Advaita-l] About the term in 'Ishwara' in Advaita - a brief note

[V Subrahmanian]

There is no vidhi in Advaita to realize the sopAdhika brahman (whether
Hiranyagarbha or Parameshwara) as 'I' for liberation.  For the simple
reason that the jiva and Ishwara are not one with their upAdhi-s in tact.
So, whenever Brahman is taught to be realized as oneself, it is only
without the upAdhi-s.  And Ishwara, whether it is hiranyagarbha or
Parameshwara is with upAdhi-s.  That is why the Kenopanishat/bhashya uses
both the terms: anAtma and abrahma.  For, by both the terms what is meant
is: nirupAdhika Atma and nirupAdhika Brahman.

Thus your ingenuity in trying to explain away the Kenopanishat and the
bhashya takes us to no new discovery in Vedanta.

Also those who value the Bhashya place equal value to the supposed later
day authored works in Advaita.  For, in this particular issue of
jiva-brahma advaitic realization there is no contradiction one can show in
those works from Shankara's prasthAnatraya.  For those works here (the
svArAjyasiddhi and the vivekachudamani)  have not overruled or contradicted
Shankara:

This statement of Shankara in the BSB 2.1.14 is the  key to understanding
the status of 'Ishwara' in Advaita:

*तदेवमविद्यात्मकोपाधिपरिच्छेदापेक्षमेवेश्वरस्येश्वरत्वं सर्वज्ञत्वं
सर्वशक्तित्वं च न परमार्थतो विद्यायापास्तसर्वोपाधिस्वरूप
आत्मनीशित्रीशितव्यसर्वज्ञत्वादिव्यवहार उपपद्यते   ।*


//Thus, only in the realm of the ignorance-created upAdhis are Ishwara's
Lordship, Omniscience and Omnipotence, and not in the pAramArthika realm
which implies that the ignorance-created upAdhis have been
negated/dispelled by True knowledge.  In this post-negation scenario the
ignorance-realm of Ishwara-Ishitavya (ruler-ruled) duality and omniscience,
etc. do not have a place.//


This is perhaps the best and most unambiguous statement that one can keep
etched in one's intellect with regard to the status of Ishwara in Advaita.
The Kenopanishat Bhashya is no different from this but here the
clarification is very telling.

subrahmanian.v

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 4:32 PM, Rajaram Venkataramani <rajaramvenk at gmail.com
> wrote:

>
> We know that Br. Up. states that one who worships the deity thinking I am
> one and He is another is like an animal to the deity.
> >
> > After we agree on what the sruti and sankara say, we can go to later day
> texts ascribed to sankara
>