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

[Praveen R. Bhat]

Namaste Anandji,

Thanks for mentioning an important point about the experience of
continuity. I'd just like to share my thoughts somewhat building on your
reply.

On Sun, Jun 12, 2016 at 10:36 PM, Anand Hudli via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Jun 12, 2016 at 10:17 PM, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> >
> > 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.
>

I am assuming that you make this statement *when compared to SDV*, else for
that matter, advaita vision itself is counter-intuitive against the
commonsense 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!
>

This अभिज्ञा that brings the feeling of continuity exists for the dreamer
also. The dreamer thinks that he is living in a continuous life of some
kind, he doesn't doubt the dream creation. As such, the waker's अभिज्ञा is
no different to the dreamer's. I think it can be seen that a dream is a
like an entire life. Across lives, the waker doesn't see continuity, so too
the dreamer doesn't see continuity across dreams. We tend to apply the
waking rules, the only ones we somewhat know through some kind of logic, to
the dream world. For example, we assume that the world is created with a
meticulous order that is followed through. However, the dream world is
spontaneously created still without the dreamer doubting as to how the
world was created and what rules are followed. The dreamer sees some logic
in the creation (if at all he thinks about it) and sees continuity and
order.

gurupAdukAbhyAm,

--praveen