[Advaita-l] Shankara and DrishTi-SrishTi vAda - eka jeeva vaada

[Anand Hudli]

Dear Shri Chandramouliji,

*>It is also clear that in both PDSV and the Bhashya (Sri Bhagavatpada) *>*
pAramArthika status is identical. The issue would then be the status of *>*
creation for which there are three options namely satya, mithya or *>*
asat(tuccha). In my understanding mithya has been chosen for this in the *>*
Bhashya while asat(tucccha) has been chosen in PDSV. Elaborate and *>*
comprehensive reasons have been advanced in the Bhashya for rejecting the *>*
other two options. Elaborate reasons have been advanced in PDSV also in *>*
support of its stand. This being of fundamental significance, it is in my *>*
view an unbridgeable difference between the two and hence PDSV cannot be *>*
considered as just a prakriya bheda within the ambit of the Sidhanta *>*
advanced by Sri Bhagavatpada.It needs to be recognized as an entirely *>*
different prakriya. *> >

I would like to clarify this. One should not confuse asat (tuccha) for
prAtibhAsika satya. It is true that PrakAshAnanda debunks the notion of
vyAvahArika satya. But this does not mean that he relegates the status of
the world to a mere tuccha entity, such as a hare's horns (unless of course
he is speaking from a pArAmArthika viewpoint). Again, the key operating
principle to remember here is the svapna dRShTAnta. Nobody equates dream
objects to totally nonexistent objects such as a hare's horn. Why? As the
dream objects are *perceived*, whereas a hare's horns are never perceived.
If PrakAshAnanda had denied *perception* itself, he would have been open to
the charge of making the status of the world tuccha. But he does not deny
perception. What he does is to use dream perception as the basis to
interpret perception in the waking state.

That said, it is also true that DSV/EJV leads to several
"counter-intuitive" results that seem to run against the "common sense"
view of the world. For instance, PrakAshAnanda argues that the continuity
of the waking state which is experienced by every individual, as opposed to
the lack of continuity in the dream state, is itself an illusion. We see
that when we wake up from sleep, the waking state reveals the world remains
the same as before, with all the relationships, people, things, intact. For
example, if I had completed 90% of a job before I went to sleep, when I
wake up, the job is still 90% complete. However, the dream state experience
is not necessarily this. When we dream, it is not necessarily a
continuation of the dream we had earlier (with an intervening waking
period). PrakAshAnanda holds that this "continuity" of the waking state is
an illusion!

The DSV/EJV is the main Advaita doctrine as confirmed by MadhusUdana
Sarasvati in the SiddhAnta bindu. and also Sadananda Yati in the Advaita
Brahma Siddhi, where he agrees with MadhusUdana.
अयमेव एकजीववादाख्यो मुख्यो वेदान्तसिद्धान्तः. This is also borne out by
Nana Dikshita's statement (quoted earlier) that PrakAshAnanda's school had
numerous followers all over India at one point. However, as Sadananda Yati
points out, only those (rare) individuals who had performed good deeds in
many lives, who, with dedication to God and with God's grace, have attained
shraddhA in advaita, and who have practiced shravaNa, manana, and
nididhyAsana can grasp it in the mind.  इदं च् अनेकजन्मार्जितसुकृतस्य
भगवदर्पणेन भगवदनुग्रहफलाद्वैतश्रद्धाविशिष्टस्य
निदिध्यासनसहित-श्रवणादिसम्पन्नस्यैव चित्तारूढं भवति। Perhaps, it is for
this reason this theory is a well-kept secret and not many contemporary
Advaita teachers teach this or even discuss it.


Anand