[Advaita-l] Sastra's Ability To Remove Ignorance

[Ramesh Krishnamurthy]

On 18 June 2012 19:14, Rajaram Venkataramani <rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:
<< The self is self-evident. We all know it and  that is why we go
about getting clarification from the sastras. Now, the sastras remove
our ignorance about the self. We may start with the assumption that
the self is formed at the time of birth and destroyed at death. The
sastras teach that the self is eternal. We accept it on the belief
that sastras form a valid pramana and our acharyas interpret them
right. Now, sastras say that the self is nameless, formless,
attributeless etc. We accept all these on the basis that sastras tell
us. Now, how do sastras know that the it is the right thing to negate
names, forms etc.? >>


It is not that the shAstra merely negates names and forms. What it
negates is the tendency for objectification, which is a much broader
canvas. Words like "nameless" and "formless" need to understood
properly. For example, air is formless, but this formlessness itself
is an attribute and hence objectifiable. The case of the Atman is
different.

The self is self-evident but any kind of objectification of the self
is not self-evident, and hence not satya. What the shAstra does is to
help us "give up" or "let go" of the tendency for objectifying
oneself. Hence your question is ill-posed - it presents the shAstra as
trying to tell us something which it never intends to.