[Advaita-l] Padmapurana verse on Mayavada

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

On Saturday, September 7, 2013, Sunil Bhattacharjya wrote:
>
>
> mAyAvAdam
> asac-chAstram
> pracchannaM bauddhaM ucyate
> mAyaiva vihitaM
> devI

...

>  Maya or Prakrti does not exist (for him or her) and also realizes that the
> so-called pre-liberation stage was only a superimposition.

RV: In Buddhism, there is no real entity. In Advaita, there is an entity
but it does not even know I exist. Essentially, there is no difference
between the two. Hence it is called covered Buddhism. Advaita negates the
world, jiva and Ishwara calling it all an illusion or maya that exists so
far as there is ignorance. Hence it is called Mayavadam. It is said to be
asat sastram (untrue reading of sastras) because vaishnavas believe that
there is a real world and consequently a real creator with who we have a
relationship. It also talks about giving up all karma, where as vaishnavas
believe that devotional activities should not be given up even by a
sannyasi. Sridhara and Madhusudana defend Advaita against the onslaught of
bhakti tradition by integrating bhakti and advaita. But they are not
accepted by mainstream it seems.


> On the other hand there is no liberation for the Vaishnavas as the
> Bhagavatam clearly states that the pure devotees do not want to get
> liberated at the cost of service to the Lord and therefore they do not
> accept any type of liberation. The relevant verse is as follows:
> sAlokyasArShTisAmIpya
> sArUpyaikatvamapyuta
> dIyamAnaM na grihnanti vinA matsevanaM
> janaH, (Bhagavatam 3.29.13)
>
> RV: Please read the next verse. These high class devotees attain vishnu
bhava because their goal is bhakti not even mukti.