[Advaita-l] Eka jiva vada and nana jiva vada.

[Ramesam Vemuri]

One of my friends has sent the following message re: eka jIva vAda.

I will be grateful if the learned members would like to cite Upanishadic
pramANa  and / or offer their valuable comments/observations.

regards,

*********
The Message:

"Traditionalists do not consider either māṇḍūkya bhāṣya or vivekacūḍāmaṇi
as authentic works of śaṅkara for this very reason. Their statement is
based on the reading of śaṅkara's bhāṣyas on taitirīya and other upaniṣads
vis-a-vis these texts. Gauḍapāda had a huge buddhist influence (at his time
they were his primary pūrvapakṣa). Also it is a well known fact that
māṇdukya upaniṣad has only 12 verses, which gauḍapāda extended into
hundreds of kārikas. I would appreciate if you can give any pramāṇa direct
from the upaniṣads themselves than from prakaraṇa granthas whose
authenticity as its regards its authorship is debated.

Also, it is my considered opinion that there can be no advaita without
īśvara, because the equation tat tvam asi is between īśvara and jīva.
Bhakti refers to the relationship of the jīva with īśvara.

kaivalya does not mean aloneness; aloneness leads to alienation. Humans are
born connected and kaivalya to me is to discover this connection with
everything that there is, through the understanding of the basic oneness of
its substratum. Living connected, a jīvan mukta acts "lokasaṁgrahamevārthaṁ
sampaśyan kartum arhasi."