[Advaita-l] Locus of maayaa and avidyaa

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

Bhaskarji - PraNAms
I
recognize that these discussions are futile since there is no knowledge that
takes place via these discussions. Perhaps the bystanders may gain some
clarification if they have any doubts. 
 
avidyaa
also comes under mithyaa only since it is part of vyaavahaarika satyam and
therefore anirvachaniiyam. Shree Sureshwara gives an elaborate description in
his introduction to NaiShkarmya Siddhi how samsaara arises. 
 
The
maayaa cannot be different from avidyaa - we call it moola avidya since this
avidya, unlike the specific avidyaa-s of objective world or of objective sciences,
is the very basis for non-apprehension and subsequent misapprehension - which
are anaadi. Brahman is the ultimate locus for anything and everything by
definition since there cannot be anything other than Brahman. At the same time
Brahman cannot be the cause for anything including avidyaa as well as its
opposite jnaanam too since it is indivisible or without parts of any kind. In advaita
it is not contradiction since ontologically Brahman and avidyaa are of
different degree of reality. Just as Krishna say - mastaani sarva bhuutani and
in the very next sloka He declares na cha mastaani bhuutani . Hence this sat-asat
vilakshanam is not a contradiction but the very nature of maayaa too. 
 
The reason it is mithyaa which is same as
anirvachaniiyam is that we all know our ignorance. It is as real as the
knowledge gained via pramaaNa that eliminates it. Ontologically they are in
par. Hence Shankara says kRitvaa jnaanam swayam nasyet, jalam kaTakareNu vat.
Ignorance is also an object of our knowledge as in the statement - I know that
I do not know - as is evident since no one claims I am Brahman. 
 
Krishna in 8th Ch. of Geeta says Karma is
responsible for creation (You can look up for the slokas since I do not have
book here) and at the same time also says maayaa which is same as prakRiti is
the cause for projection of plurality - mayaadhyaksheNa prakRiti.. and maayantu
prakRitim vidyaat .. Karma cannot be there without kartRitva bhaava and kartRitva
bhaava cannot be there without avidya. Hence root cause for creation is avidyaa
only. It is not avidya locussed at individual jiiva but total avidya of all
jiivas put together. Out of courtesy we call it as maayaa as prameswara Shakti
and Iswara is the wielder of this maayaa and Iswara is sarvajna. The anyonya
aasraya is part of anirvachaniiyam aspect only as the chicken and egg
situation. This is circumvented by recognizing that avidyaa is anaadi and the
creation cycle is also anaadi. 
 
When
it comes to creation and even avidya or maaya, we are not talking about Brahman
here. Brahman with maayaa upAdhi is Iswara where maayaa is moola avidya that
involves sum total of all avidyaa-s ? of all jiivas put together. Since Iswara
does not have avidya we call it maaya as his Shakti. These are meant for
teaching to get out of all these conditionings using the very conditionings. I
do not create the world and then see the world. Iswara cannot create world
either as per his whims and fancies. He uses maayaa - but the maaayaa is
not independent entity but is the essence of the sum total of avidyaa of all
jiivas put together - hence we call it as moola avidya. moola avidya can go
only when all the jiivas in the universe realize. Individual jiiva can realize
when the avidya at the local mind gets eliminated - but when that jiiva drops
his upAdhi or BMI - the upahita chaitanyam of that jiiva also goes away as
illustrated by the saindhava khilya or salt-crystal example in Maitreyii
Brahmana, then only the statements that yagnyavalkya says - yatra vaa asya
sarvam aatmaiva abhuut, tat kena jighriit, tat kena kam pasyet .. etc. follow -
when one has merged with the essence of everything as the self as all, then who
is there to smell what? etc. follows. That applies only as in the dissolution
of salt or when the BMI which is a product of moola avidya falls away. When
all jiivas realize then there is no creation nor Iswara not maaya Shakti or
moola avidya. All are interconnected. 
Vedanta
is self-consistent and pure absolute science that includes both praamataa,
prameyam and in the process the pramaaNas too. 
With this I stop.
Hari Om!
Sadananda


>________________________________
> From: Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com>
> 
>
>>  avidyA is not anirvachaneeya
and according to vyAkhyAnakAra-s avidyA is NOT bhAvAbhava vilakshaNa it
is bhAva rUpa and the upAdAna kAraNa to the adhyAsa and kindly note this
upAdAna kAraNa bhAva rUpa avidyA is NOT jnAnAbhAva, it is something special
and separate from jnAnAbhAva.  However prabhuji I agree with you that
avidyA is at jeeva level only, Ishwara does not have this avidyA which
shankara also confirms :-)) 
>
>
>