[Advaita-l] 'world' is not the mental creation of tiny soul !!

[V Subrahmanian]

It would be worth remembering/knowing/noting that in advaita it is wrong to
say 'Ishwara is endowed with avidya' since Ishwara is an entity admitted to
be sarvajna, sarvashakta, jagatkAraNam, etc.  But there is nothing wrong to
the siddhAnta if avidyA is admitted to Brahman which is distinct from
Ishwara/jiva.  That is what Shankara does in the Br.up.1.4.10 in two
explicit bhashya sentences.  He holds Brahman, due to avidyA, imagines
itself to be a finite jiva, etc.  And taking this to the adhyAsa bhashya,
it is this sentient entity, which can be no other than Brahman that has
imagined a body-mind, relating itself to 'others', etc. and is kartA-bhoktA
samsArin.

Thus, avidya cannot and should not be admitted to Ishwara.  Shankara
distinguishes Ishwara the jagatkAraNam from Brahman in the BSB by saying:
'This pradhAna-like shakti has to be admitted by Vedantins.  It is only by
associating with this shakti Brahman can be jagatkAraNam and without this
shakti brahman *cannot do anything*.

So, according to the shruti 'mAyAm tu prakRtim vidyAt mAyinam tu
maheshwaram', and based on this, according to Shankara, without this
shakti, Brahman is incapable of engaging in creation etc., for by
definition Brahman is niShkriya.  In BG too the Lord explicitly points to
prakRti/mAyA to be the shakti with which alone creation takes place.  He
denies kartRtvam for Himself saying 'tasya kartAram api mAm viddhi
akartAram avyayam.'

regards
subrahmanian.v


On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Venkatesh Murthy <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Namaste Sri Bhaskar
>
> I am happy you have agreed Avidyaa is in Jeeva but not Brahma.
> The next step is Jeeva endowed with Avidyaa has created all the Universe
> out of his Avidyaa Kalpita Maayaa only.
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 1:51 PM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:
>
> > I am really not keen on a response to this. It is only to express my
> views
> > on the observation " frustratingly evasive " .
> >
> > praNAms
> > Hare Krishna
> >
> > I am also bit surprised after reading this 'visheshaNa'  frustratingly
> > evasive in Sri subhAnu prabhuji's clarification.  Why at all bhagavatpAda
> > should be 'evasive' that too frustratingly ??  Is the question on
> 'avidyA'
> > is so frustrating for the Acharya who has exclusively & elaborately dealt
> > with this very subject in the preamble of sUtra bhAshya??  It is a normal
> > and general question that every pUrvapaxi asks when he hears from
> advaitin
> > that  jeeva is nothing but brahma and all the duality is due to 'avidyA'.
> > So, IMHO, shankara's clarification with regard to locus of avidyA at
> > places like, 4th adhyAya in sUtra bhAshya,  taitireeya bhAshya, geetA bh
> > Ashya etc. is not frustratingly evasive, it is categorically conclusive.
> >
> > To the  arjuna's query aparaM bhavatO janma, paraM janma vivasvataH,
> > kathametadvijAneeyAm tvamAdau prOktavAniti??  in geeta lord says : bahUni
> > me vyateetAni, janmAni tava cha arjuna, 'tAnyahaM veda sarvANi' etc. who
> > he knows this and arjuna does not??  shankara clarifies in the bhAshya :
> > tAni ahaM veda jAne sarvANi na tvaM vettha jAneeshe na
> > dharmAdharmAdipratibaddha jnAnashaktitvAt.  ahaM punaH 'nitya shuddha
> > buddha mukta svabhAvatvAt anAvaraNa jnAna shaktihi....it is clear in this
> > bhAshya that since arjuna being a jeeva cannot remember all his pUrva
> > janmA-s whereas the lord who is brahma svarUpa is always (nitya) shuddha,
> > buddha, mukta svArUpa could remember all these things since he has the
> > complete control of his mAya (please note the word avidyA cannot be used
> > here).  It is clear here Ishwara is never ever entangled in avidyA it is
> > only jeeva that is endowed with avidyA.  This has been elsewhere (sUtra
> > bhAshya) very clearly clarified my bhAshyakAra by asserting : Ishwarasya
> > ..nityanivruttAvidyatvAt.  The br.up. 1.4.10 should be understood in this
> > light of shankara's clarification.  Because before saying there is no
> > other chaitanya other than brahman who has avidyA shankara clarifies na
> > avidyA kartru bhrAntancha brahma.  So, it is again from jeeva drushti,
> who
> > is asking question about avidyA shankara says avidyA pertains to brahma
> > svarUpi jeeva. jeeva svarUpa is brahma but we should not forget that
> > brahma svarUpa is NOT jeeva, we should not use this interchangeably and
> > say brahma has the avidyA...ring, bangle etc. is gold only but gold is
> NOT
> > ring, bangle etc. And since jeeva is in his svarUpa is nothing but
> brahman
> > shankara says avidyA/adhyAsa is karaNa dOsha of that jeeva.  Shankara in
> > geeta bhAshya gives the cataract example to drive home the point that
> > avidyA does not pertains to the cognizer.
> >
> > Anyway, all the above has been discussed comprehensively in this list
> > itself, I think there is no need to re-kindle these issues once again for
> > the fresh debate :-))
> >
> > Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> > bhaskar
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>
> --
> Regards
>
> -Venkatesh
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