[Advaita-l] mithyaa / anirvachaniiya and asattva

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

Shree Naresh - praNAms - You are now entering into discussions of what is real, what is unreal and what is mithyaa. 
________________________________
> From: Naresh Cuntoor <nareshpc at gmail.com>
>
>
>Let us stick to the non-paaramaarthika level for now. According to the
>above statements, in suShupti, no objects are perceived, so existence of
>objects is anirvachaniiya. By the same token, why can't we then say, in the
>jaagrat state, that the shashaviShaaNa is aniravahaniiya too? Given what we
>know at the vyaavahaarika level today, a rabbit could very well be
>genetically engineered to have a horn. (My background in biology is limited
>to the 10th standard (grade) - so people in the field may laugh at the
>question. But I hope the spirit of the question is clear.)
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There are some definitions that follow Navya Nyaaya.

Real as per advaita is trikaala abhaaditam
satyam - that which can never be negated at any time.

Unreal is that following Madhusudana's Advaita
Siddhi - that which has no locus for existence. Vandhyaa putraH is logical
contradiction and therefore no existence is possible. Horns of the rabbit -
Nyaaya says is unreal since up to now no one has seen. There is no logical
contradiction here and one can create a rabbit in the dream with horns or there
may be other worlds where rabbits may have horns. The Nyaaya definition pertains
to human experience so far. Implication of this is - Existence of an object is
established by the knowledge of its existence. Otherwise it is an indeterminate
problem which is what I referred to anirvachaniiyam. 
 
Mithyaa is defined as sat asat vilakshaNam -
which is neither sat nor asat - since the world is experienced it cannot be
asat (unlike the rabbit-horns) but it is not non-negatable therefore not real
also. This Shankara calls it as anirvacaniiyam - there are extensive
discussions on the anirvacaniiya khyaati and Bhagavan Rmanuja criticizes the
advaitic position in his Shree Bhaashya on Brahma suutras. 


Hence from the advaitic position the whole
creation is anirvacaniiyam since how an infinite pure consciousness appears as
unconscious entities. Hence mayaa that makes it appear is called aghaTita
ghaThanaa paTiiyasi maayaa - that which makes impossible possible. 
 
Hence your statement that calls vyavahaara as
anirvachaniiyam is not far from advaitic position.
 
When I used the existence of the objects in deep
sleep is anirvacaniiyam - I mean even from our vyaavahaarika reference, since
existence of the objects are established by the knowledge of their existence.
We cannot say they exist nor we cannot say they do not exist. From mathematics
it is an indeterminate problem. Mandukya Up. says - na kanchana kaamam
kaamayate – there is no desire for objects – not that one has become jnaani but
there is no perception of objects since perceiving mind along with senses is
folded. Hence there is no knowledge of their existence as we have no knowledge of existence of objects in a pitch dark room. 

  
Hari Om!
Sadananda