[Advaita-l] Real vs. Unreal

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> >
> > < As per the shrutis, creation exists >.
> >
... ... ...
> >
> RV: As per advaita, the creation exists only for the ignorant. In reality,
> there is no creation. nasato vidyate bhavo na bhavo vidyate sata (BhG
> 2.16). If you say that the world exists, it can never become non-existent
> even after mukti (jivan or videha).


Sruti also says, "sad eva saumya idam agra AsIt" (chAndogya) and "asad
vA idam agra AsIt. tato vai sad ajAyata" (taittirIya). It should be obvious
that when it comes to jagat, the binary opposition of sat and asat, which
seems logically perfect, fails. You have to admit of at least one state that
is neither wholly sat, nor wholly asat. This is what is meant by different
writers in the vedAnta tradition, whether they say "tattva-anyatvAbhyAm
anirvacanIya" or "sad-asad-vilakshaNa" or "mithyA" etc.

 

We can very well say that the world appears to the ignorant, disappears
for the jnAnI. And we can make this statement even within the perspective
of vyavahAra, without having had the personal attainment of paramArtha
darSana, because this is the only way all the Sruti and smRti vAkya-s about
sat, asat, bhAva and abhAva of the universe can be understood in a self-
consistent manner. All the rest of the discussions, about jIvanmukti and
sadyomukti and videhamukti, about the prArabdha karman that continues
in its momentum to embody the person who attains paramArtha, or about
avidyA-leSa or saMskAras etc, are also statements made within vyavahAra,
depending on which logical starting point and explanatory framework one
adopts. The Sruti and smRti texts on the matter remain primary.

 

"It can never become non-existent even after mukti" is a strong statement,
which represents a failure to engage intellectually with the Sruti that says,
"na pretya saMjnA asti ... ... yatra tv asya sarvam AtmaivAbhUt ... ...
vijnAtAram are kena vijAnIyAt?" (bRhadAraNyaka). Again and again, I have
to come back to the conclusion that a mind that is unwilling to consider the
implications of a non-binary view of reality and unreality is not ready for
advaita vedAnta.

 

Vidyasankar