[Advaita-l] Maya and Sunrise Example

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,

Thus mentioned in 3rd chapter of BG as:

dhUmEnAvriyatE vahniryathAdarshO malEna cha
yathOlbEnAvrutO garbhastathA tEnEdamAvrutaM 

Just as 

1) fire is camouflaged with it's smoke; 
2) the mirror is covered with dust; 
3) embryo is covered with membrane;

similarly, the jnAna is camouflaged with kAma

And the locus of this kAma is indriyAs and antahkaraNa vide the subsequent sloka:

indriyANi manO buddirasyAdhiSTAnamuchyatE
EtaivimOhayatyESa jnAnmAvrutya dEhinAM

Subsequently, Acharya Sankara says that:

jnAnaM shAstrataH AchAryataH cha AtmAdInAM avabOdhaH; vijnAnaM vishESataH
tadanubhavaH tayOH jnAnavijnAnayOH shrEya prApti hEtvOH nAshanaM prajahi
hi AtmnaH parityaja ityarthaH

With the help of shAstra and Acharya upadesha, one gets the knowledge (jnAna) about what is self and what is non-self; what is vidya and what is avidya.  After contemplating on these principles, the he abides in swa-swarUpa sthiti which is called "vijAna".  Thus, these two ie., jnAna (shAstra jnAna) and anubhUti (vijnAna) both destroys the kAma which is seated in antahkaraNa. 

regs,
sriram