[Advaita-l] Holenarsipur Swamiji's remarks and why even Avidya is not necessary for Advaita

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

It is difficult for me to believe the simple idea  Maya is planted
into pure Advaita is so difficult to understand.  I am saying a simple
thing. Give up the complicated Maya Jala and do Brahmopasana. That is
all.

Adi Sankara has not propagated the idea of Anirvachaniya Avidya and
the two Avidyas. But it was started later.

Holenarsipur Swamiji has written about Vachaspati in Page 101 How to
Recognize the Method of Vedanta -

'In almost all instances of his defence of Sankara against the attacks
of Bhaskaracharya, we find the Anirvachaniyavada is the one handy
weapon un-sheathed to repulse the opponent.'

In Page 98 -
'The Panchapadika however enters upon a tediously long discussion to
refute all views other than the theory of Anirvachaniya Khyati which
is elaborated at great length, never invoking the support of the
Bhasjya for any of the opinions advanced in that connection.'

What is Anirvachaniya Vada? Same as Mayavada. Same as Mithyatva Vada.

We can now say two things. A The Anirvachinaya Vada is not supported
in Sankara Bhashya. B It is not necessary for understanding Advaita.
All the Sadasadvilakshana Vada was used to confuse Opponents in
Debates. It is not necessary.

Holenarsipur Swamiji is saying Sankara Bhashya has used only
Adhyaropa Apavada Vada. A false thing is superimposed and removed. But
Adi Sankara has used Brahmavada very strongly in arguments in the
Bhasya. The Creator of the World is Brahman. It is unnecessary to
bring in another thing called Maya to explain Creation. But he creates
the world with his Sankalpa thought only. He does not have to do any
work actually. He is doing this creation for having fun. It is His
Leela. Lokavattu Leelakaivalyam sutra 2-1-33 is clear. Moreover
Brahman's Sankalpa cannot be false. He is called as Satya Sankalpa.
Whatever He thinks will be real only. It will never be false. The
World created by Him is also real. But it is only His thought. It is
in Him. It is not different from Him. That is why every object is a
reflection of Him only. That is why the Sruti is saying Sarvam
Khalvidam Brahma.

The Bruhadaranyaka Sruti is saying Purnamadaha Purnamidam Purnat
Purnamudachyate. Adi Sankara has explained this. This Universe has
come from the Infinite Purna Brahman. It is not different from Him.

But a question can be asked? How is it possible for a Jada Vastu like
a stone to be Brahman? In pure Advaita there is no Jada vastu at all
like the Visistadvaita says Acit Vastu. Instead of Acit or Jada or
Achetana Vastu in pure Advaita the stone is not revealing Brahman to
us. But Brahman is there in it.

Another question. If the world is Brahman how is there suffering and
cruelty in the world? The World is created in Brahman's thought as a
Game for fun. In a Game we suffer sometimes defeat sometimes we get
victory. We cannot always be winning. We have to smile even in defeat
because we can play well in the next game. Better Luck Next Time.

Life is a Game played by God. We have to be good sportsmen. Exercise
well and play well. We cannot take Life very seriously because it is
only a Game.

The Sruti is also saying Nirguna Brahman is the only thing existing.
We all are That only. By doing Sagunopasana we can realize we are part
of Brahman's Sankalpa thought only. This will lead to Nirguna Brahman
directly.


On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 10:43 PM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan
<svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Okay, you have been given vast latitude to express your half-baked views on
> this list. Some have tried to reason with you, others have tried engaging you
> in other kinds of dialogue. At least one member has asked you to stop. After
> asking you to cease the earlier thread, I let this go on for a while, just to give
> other list members an opportunity to engage you in a discussion and hopefully
> make it a meaningful one. Kudos to your unique ability to make all such efforts
> quite meaningless very quickly.
>
> Your earlier thread began with a "report" and you started asking about the
> "advaitin response" to it. The way the thread developed, it had nothing to do
> with either the report or a response. It became merely a heading under which
> you posted every single thought that happened to cross your head as if it were
> well reasoned philosophy. Here we are, two weeks later, and you are doing
> exactly the same thing all over again. What the Holenarsipur Swamiji said or
> didn't say does not seem to be the focus of your questions here. For that
> matter, you don't seem to listen to what anybody other than you says.
>
> So, you leave me with no choice but to pull the plug once again. Close this
> thread out no later than midnight, Tuesday, Jan 31, 2012, Indian standard
> time. I have again given you sufficient time to wind up, after giving you more
> than sufficient space to air your thoughts. If you or any other list member
> wants to continue this thread, take it offline. The patience of others on this
> list is wearing thin.
>
> Vidyasankar
>
>
>
>> Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:21:32 +0530
>> From: vmurthy36 at gmail.com
>> To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
>> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Holenarsipur Swamiji's remarks and why even Avidya is not necessary for Advaita
>>
>> Namaste
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 11:17 PM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan
>> <svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>>
>> >
>> > You just don't seem to get it. mAyAvAda is nothing more than pointing to
>> > people that they are like children, playing and having fun in dirty water.
>> > It is like the parent telling the child that at some point, it is necessary to
>> > get out of the dirt and get cleaned up. You are blaming the messenger
>> > for the content of the message, a classic misdirection.
>> Another example. Mayavada is saying avoid the water because it is
>> dirty to the thirsty man. Brahmavada is saying the water may be
>> looking like dirty water. Don't avoid it but purify it and drink it.
>> The dirty water has pure water as the base. Get the base. Here in
>> India we are always using water purifiers at home and drink it. If you
>> say give up the water people will die of thirst.
>
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh