[Advaita-l] Body is the disease

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste Chandramouli Ji,

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This is taken as a hint that Sri Bhagavatpada considers jiva as the locus
of avidya. You will notice that the entire statement refers to one level of
reality only, namely vyavaharika level. Then the locus could be jiva. But
the earlier question was with reference to Brahman being the locus of
avidya , which refers to two different levels of reality paramarthika /
vyavaharika  So the answer should take that into consideration. Once that
is done Brahman can only be the locus of Avidya.

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Excellent answer.  There is a vAkya in adhyAtma-rAmAyaNa to support 
the above stance.

vikalpamAyArahitE chidAtmakE ahamkAra ESa prathamaH prakalpitaH
adhyAsa EvAtmani sarvakAraNE nirAmayE brahmaNi kEvalE parE .....38th sloka of rAma-gIta

The rough meaning:

That brahman which is devoid of vikalpa & mAyA; in that adviteeya parabrahman, the adhyAsa in the form of "ahamkAra" is contemplated / imagined.  

regs,
sriram