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

[Sudhakar Kabra]

--- On Mon, 6/18/12, Rajaram Venkataramani <rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Rajaram Venkataramani <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sastra's Ability To Remove Ignorance
To: "Bhaskar YR" <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com>
Cc: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Monday, June 18, 2012, 7:14 PM

>The self is self-evident. We all know it and  that is why we go about
getting clarification from the sastras.


It is only verbal knowing. In reality if you realize this, then sastras are not required and you do not go about getting clarifications. 


> Now, the sastras remove our ignorance about the self.
Yes, ignorance can only be removed by jnana.

> We may start with the assumption that the self is formed at the time of birth and destroyed at death. 
This is charvak philosophy.

>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. 

 The validity of sastra pramana is different from other pramanas.

>Now, sastras say that the self is nameless, formless, attributeless etc.

They also tell us that it has thousand names (Vishnu sahastranAm) ,It has all the forms (Rama and Krishna as humans) and attributes as well.

> 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 just as you know that your name is Rajaram.


>They should have a positive knowledge of brahman just as we know that rope is real and snake is simply superimposed on the rope but that is not possible for sastras because brahman is not an object of knowledge like the rope. Hence the question.

Tulsi ramayana says that idam and ittham of brahman cannot be known and one cannot have positive knowledge of brahman. All are just pointers to that supreme reality.
At times where the knowledge ends or fails, what carries is the scriptures and it is the faith which carries there after. That is why as a source of knowledge it is a separate category called shabd pramana, different from other pramanas.Hope this helps.
Regards

Sudhakar Kabra


On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> My question is how can sastras have a positive knowledge of Brahman so
> that they can teach us what is and not Brahman?
>
> praNAms
> Hare Krishna
>
> shAstra does not teach brahman as such & such a thing!!  it only removes
> the ignorance that jeeva has on brahman due to avidyA.  shAstra just
> removes the avidyA and as soon as this avidyA goes self-evident Atman
> shines on its own.
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
_______________________________________________
Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita

To unsubscribe or change your options:
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org