[Advaita-l] Apoureshyatva - Faith or Logic?

[V Subrahmanian]

On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 2:52 AM, Rajaram Venkataramani <
rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:

>  It makes me wonder if it is a matter of faith rather than facts and
> logic. I would like to know if the scholarly members feel it is a matter of
> faith or logic please.
>

In all matters other than the Atman, the ONLY siddha vastu, no absolute
finality can be reached.  It is because its nature is so.  It is pertaining
to mAyA.  And it has to be so.  What logic we might rely upon is also
within this realm alone and it is enough if it serves its purpose.  And the
purpose is: go beyond the words and look at the spirit.  The true Acharya
will point out to the spirit and let the true aspirant get the most benefit
of it.  For, the purpose of the apaurusheya veda is getting him the
knowledge of his true self and thereafter itself recede into the not-self,
mAyA/mithyA.   Shankara explicitly says : the shruti has no real purpose of
asserting creation; the talk about creation is aimed at a completely
different purpose: to turn the aspirant's attention from the creation to
the conscious creator. The questions regarding cosmology, evolution, etc.
will remain for ever with one asserting and another challenging it. But the
Self, when one realizes it needs no asserting and cannot be challenged
either.  That is the end ( I mean also the purpose) of the Veda.  That is
why the Lord says in the Gita: shraddhaavAn labhte jnAnam: the one with
faith will attain Knowledge.  The logic the sampradaya uses is sufficient
to make this faith work and take it to its logical end: realization of the
Self and end of samsara, with which the Veda too ends, for him.  This is
the message of the adhyAsa bhashya.  I have come to see the root of every
question and every solution to be already contained in this peerless
masterpiece.  The more we understand, appreciate, this work the less will
be our questions.

regards,
subrahmanian.v