[Advaita-l] 'Ishwaro'ham' and 'IshwarabhAvaH'

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 5:23 PM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <
svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> > RV: Ishwara is formless according to our sastras. He is also a container
> of
> > all names and forms. However, Ishwara's form is not made of material
>
>
> There is a logical contradiction in your stance. If you accept that
> fundamentally
> ISvara is formless, then ALL forms are incidental and yes, all names are
> forms
> pertain equally to ISvara. A special ISvara's form, whether made of
> material
> elements or of something else, is not consistent with formlessness.
>
RV: What is something else if not para maya or pure consciousness? Do you
accept that Ishwara's form is not material? It is not made of either gross
or subtle elements. This much Madhususadana says unambiguously, right?  Not
long ago, scholars on this forum argued that the Lord's forms are material
though Madhusudana says apanchabautika, not gross like Virata's, not subtle
like Hiranyagarbha's etc. and Sankara also says clearly - mayarupam
aprakrtam.  All the logical fallacies that you pointed out in my
position will fall apart without basis once we agree on the status of
Lord's form in Advaita.

It would also be good to know if you agree or disagree with my arguments on
sabda, words etc.