[Advaita-l] Is the concept of maya essential to explain advaita?

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 9:39 AM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>wrote:

> Thus the work 'shruti sAra samuddharaNam' is replete with the concept of
> mAyA-avidyA though these very words are absent.  All effects of this pair
> is elaborately discussed both in the verses as well as in the commentary.
> All the misconceived ideas about Vedanta/Advaita/Gaudapada/Shankara that
> were expressed in the recent posts are set at rest in this work.
>
Rajaram: Yes. I have a copy of the translation with notes by Dr. Mahesh G.
Hampiholi published by Shrividya Prakashanam for which Dr. R.
Balasubramanian has written the foreword. Though, the foreword says that
the concetp of maya / avidya does not occur in the text, it appears only
the words do not occur.

I think the concept of maya is important for two reasons and interested to
keen to know what  the advaita acharyas said on this. First, for those of
us who are within the world of duality we need to know how one fundamental
reality appears as many through maya. We need to know its ways so that we
can avoid its dangers and progress towards Ishwara. Second, for those who
have citta suddhi and qualified for renounciation, it is important to know
that this world is not real. It makes it easy for the sannyasi to renounce
the world just as it is easy for us to renounce the silver in the shell.
The biggest trap of realist philisophy (vishishtadvaitam, dwaitam,
bhedabheda etc.) is that one can never develop the conviction to *completely
* renounce the world. There are great souls in these traditions who offer
every thing to Ishwara due to devotion but the attachment to this act of
offering persists forever because of the conviction that I, the jiva, exist
as an individual forever. So, atma-nivedhanam in its highest form is
impossible because the destruction of jivatvam is taken to be inadmissible.
I would like to know what Shri Venkatesh and those who support absolute
realism think.