[Advaita-l] Why is there maya?

[V Subrahmanian]

On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 11:08 AM, <rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:

> If there is no maya, why is there a duality? We all see objects of
> duality. Objects do not go away even when we don't see them in deep sleep
> or in samadhi. One can say  that object less consciousness is a
> neurological phenomenon like deep sleep and Advaita is a philosophy that
> explains experiences and non-experience.


'Objectless Consciousness' cannot be called a neurological phenomenon.
When the UpaniShad says 'satyam jnAnam....' the jnAnam is jnapti or
objectless consciousness, there is no condition that this OC should exist
in a neurological set up.  Brahman is not a neurological apparatus that has
OC as its attribute.  Therefore Advaita is not just confined to the human
experiences but is essentially about the OC that is Brahman.


> Other philosophies also do. For example, vaishnavas will say that advaita
> is a state the lord puts advaitins in because they don't want this or the
> world of god.
>

First, there are no two worlds: this world and the god's world.  It is the
teaching of the Lord that it is prakRti/maya that has transformed into this
world of seer, seeing and seen (13th chapter).  It is also His teaching
that it is due to mAyA that one is in samsara and that one should strive to
transcend maya.  Since the triad of seer, seeing and seen  is a must even
in the so-called world of God, it has to be admitted per force that even
that world is a creation of mAyA.  And the teaching of transcending mAyA
will have to be applied there too.  Thus, in order to avoid an infinite
regress it is but apt to admit that Advaita is the only solution.

regards
subrahmanian.v