[Advaita-l] Omniscience, etc. only due to upAdhi

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Subbu prabhuji
Hare Krishna

'Omniscience' is the word generally used to connote the sanskrit term
'sarvajnatvam'.  'Knowledge' of 'everything' implies that the possessor of
such a knowledge is different from the 'everything' and the 'knowledge'.
Thus, just as a person who 'knows' something is different from that thing,
and without that thing in place no knowledge of it is possible for the
person, the Vedantic Brahman too cannot be inherently possessed with the
knowledge of 'everything' unless that 'everything' is existing.

>  as I said in another form, yes, I do agree that sarvajna, sarvashakta 
etc. which denote Ishawara's are valid only in the sphere of avidyA 
kshEtra where sarva is different from the 'knower'.  But, when it comes to 
inherent nature of brahman,  even in the absence of 'everything' (sarva) 
the knower's knowledge (jnAna) does not suffer from any obstruction since 
sarvajnatvaM, sarvashaktitvaM etc. are svarUpa lakshNa of the brahman 
whereas  savajna and sarvashakta are the qualities of the mAyA upahita 
Ishwara ( who has shuddha sattva as his upAdhi).  The adjectives such as 
sarvajnatvaM, sarvashaktitvaM etc. can be given to brahman synonymously 
such as nityashuddha, nirvikAra since there are inherent nature of 
brahman.  In sUtra bhAshya while arguing against sAnkhyA's pradhAna 
kAraNa, shankara says how the first and foremost (without second) would be 
the chetana cause of this creation which has 'intelligence'.  And to have 
this intelligence it does not require any body, mind, etc. shankara here 
quotes the up. maNtra that says : that which sees without eyes, that which 
hears without ears, that which moves without legs etc.  So, IMHO, 
existence of 'everything' is not a mandatory requirement to prove 
brahman's sarvajnatvaM and sarvashaktitvaM.  Do we doubt the self-luminous 
nature of sun and its illuminating capacity just because of absence of 
objects that needs illumination??   Kindly clarify.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar