[Advaita-l] Advaiti response to this report

[abhishek sm]

||ब्रह्म सत्य जगत् मिथ्य जीवो ब्रह्मैव न परः||
This verse sums up advaita in a very simple way. It simple means
Brahman is true, the world is unreal, the soul is nothing but Brahman.
What people tend to misunderstand is the part where the world is
called "mithya". This means that the world is unreal, not a lie. Plz
note the difference here. I'll explain through an example.
Suppose you are in a dream. It is very evident that the dream world
and whatever happens in the dream world is an illusion if not a lie.
But when you are IN THE DREAM no where do you get even the slightest
doubt that it is an illusion. Drinking water in a dream definitely
quenches thirst. But once you wake up, you say that "It was all a
dream". One thing you must note is that, the water you drank in a
dream quenched your thirst, i.e changed your condition only IN your
dream. But you essentially are unaffected. Similarily, God is
unaffected by the entity Maya no matter what transpires within in.
You may call your dream unreal, but it was very much real when you
were dreaming. Now what do you say about the dream state? Is it good
or evil? Is it the truth or a lie? Clearly this judgement is relative
and hence not absolute. It is vyavaharika, not paramarthika. Hence,
maya is not a lie, but a source for the entities lies, truth, etc. It
is the same maya which makes a man hear good things as well as bad
things. Maya is what creates duality and creates opposites. The water
in a river may provide irrigational facilities to a farmer, but the
same water can kill countless lives through a flood. Now one cannot
term the water as evil or good. Maya is the source of such good and
evil. Ideally, there is neither good nor evil. There is only Brahman.
Maya is only the asset of Brahman. There is neither dependence not
independence of Maya and Brahman because the feeling of independence
and dependence arises from Maya itself! Coming back to the dream
example. Can you tell me which "YOU" is real? Is it the you in this
world or is it the you in the dream world? Clearly the source of the
dream world is you but in the dream world YOU as in this world have no
existence at all though you are the cause of this entire dream world.
Similarily, Brahman is unseen or isn't perceived in Maya though
Brahman is the existent. Also it becomes clear that Maya is not
reigning supreme over Brahman as the condition of supremacy is itself
meaningless. If I ask you who is more supreme- whether it is you in
this world or in your dream world, does the question carry validity?
As long as one exists in the dream realm he never acknowledges the
fact of non-reality. Only at the time of "wakening" does he know the
unreality of it. Hence it would be inappropriate of you to term that
God and lies are coexistent. This is clearly an invalid point in
criticism of Advaita.

On 1/14/12, Vijaya Kambhampati <vjkambhampati at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> From what I understand,
>
> the world and all it it ie jagat is SAT  but mithya------ It is a lie
> that exists.
>
> In the intense light of god and infinitiy even lies exist.
>
> Vijaya Kambhampati
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