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

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Sriram prabhuji
Hare Krishna

I think people are getting confused with the clay-pot example.  One is 
likely to be
confused here because when Clay is getting transformed into Pot, the Pot 
should
also have the properties of Clay and hence the confusion.  

>  I dont think there is room for any confusion when shruti itself gives 
'mruttika/lOha' example in chAndOgya to prove this point. When pot is seen 
as 'pot' as a separate entity, then it is upAdhi drushti, when the 'same' 
pot is seen with svarUpa drushti it is clay only nothing else.  Shankara 
takes pot-clay example in bruhadAraNyaka to explain nAnAtva & ekatva. 
 
The best example suited to explain Vivartavada is "rope-snake" analogy.  
 
The rope is appearing as snake due to ignorance.  Now, when a person X is 
seeing
the rope as a snake, until he has the knowledge of rope, for him the 
perception of
snake is real.  But how long is this perception of rope as snake is real 
is the debatable
issue.  It is real till one switches on the torch and the rope is 
revealed.  So, until the rope
is revealed, the snake is real (sat) and with the knowledge of rope, there 
is no apprehension of snake and hence (asat).  And hence, existence of the 
snake is termed as "mithya".  

>  But unlike 'snake', jagat would continue to 'exist' even for the 
paramArtha jnAni (like mirage water or blueness of the sky)..the 
paramArtha jnAna does not destroy anything nor create anything afresh. 
jnAni's drushti is paramArtha drushti, hence he would see only clay even 
in the pots & jars. Therefore, for him even this socalled nAma rUpa, in 
their 'sadrUpa' is satya only not mithya.  Shankara after 
arambhaNAdhikaraNa sUtra bhAshya, elsewhere clarifies that the kAryAkAra 
what we see in the form of nAma rUpa is nothing but that  'kAraNa svarUpa' 
only.  Because there exists nothing 'apart from that 'svarUpa'. 
 
Just as the Seed has all the inherent qualities of Tree in itself, so 
also, the entire Jagat
is inherent in Brahman in avyakta avastha.  

>  Yes, this avyAkruta or avyakta svarUpa of jagat is nothing but THAT 
only.  avayAkrutaM 'svayameva' vyAkriyata.  sOkAmayata, bahusyAm 
prajAyeyeti...idaM sarvamasrujata, satyanchAnrutaNcha satyamabhavat etc. 
would say this only. 
 
Then, why this X perceives the world "external" to himself is the 
question. 
The sankara's "swapna-driSTAnta" is a wonderful example to explain the 
existence of external world.  

>  But when shankara upholds the Ishwara srushti (It is not avasthAtraya 
viveka) in sUtra bhAshya, he clearly says 'svapna' srushti is not 
pAramArthika like Ishwara srushti such as akAsha etc. which we see in 
waking state. So, IMHO, context is very important when we say svapna 
srushti is equal to jagat that which we perceive in waking.
 
>  just my 2 paisa worth thoughts on the ongoing discussion.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar