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

[Anand Hudli]

Dear Shri Chandramouliji,
I will try to address several of the points you have raised in one message.

1. DSV has several variants. I did not claim that there is only one DSV
which has been described in advaitic works. Having said that, it is also
clear to me that PrakAshAnanda has not invented a new DSV/EJV, but has only
brought all of DSV/EJV thinking in earlier works into one logical system,
employing the principle of "lAghava", trimming or eliminating weighty
assumptions such as multiplicity of avidyA, when he could readily establish
that there is only one avidyA. EJV logically follows from this. Regarding
the influence of DSV/EJV on the VivaraNa, it is unmistakable. See, for
example, the comments of Suryanarayana Sastri on page XX of his
introduction to the Vedanta Paribhasha, on the question of multiplicity of
jIvas: "On strictly non-dualist lines of reasoning, however, it is possible
to abandon this commonsense position and maintain the empirical duality of
but a single jIva, the whole world (inclusive of other jIvas) being his
dream-creation; some say that this jIva is Hiranyagarbha; others (like the
author of the VivaraNa) maintain that the inquirer himself is this single
jIva. A position like this is as intolerable as it is logically
unassailable." Needless to say, when Shri Sastri says the position is
intolerable, he is only expressing his personal opinion and perhaps the
opinion of someone thinking with "commonsense". But the noteworthy point
here is that the position of EJV was accepted by the author of VivaraNa,
i.e PrakAshAtman (not to be confused with the VSM author PrakAshAnanda) and
that it is logically unassailable. EJV is not illogical as some may
carelessly dismiss it; on the contrary it is perfectly logical.

2. The above is also consistent with what I quoted from the VivaraNa
prameya saMgraha in one of my earlier messages and what I quoted from the
anubhUti prakAsha yesterday, both authored by VidyAraNya. Further, to get
the full context of what I quoted with a good Hindi translation, the full
text of anubhUti prakAsha  with Hindi translation can be downloaded from:
http://shankaramatha.org/index.php/ebooks-audios/e-books
That SDV can be ruled out and only the DSV/EJV is meant can be understood
by reading the relevant shlokas 9.46-52. In this method, as it is made
clear, there is no need to understand the "tat" pada as in "tat tvam asi".
Just understanding the "tvam" pada is enough! What else could be a better
shortcut, the choradvAra, the back door  access to Brahman? The inquirer is
the one who has created this "prAtItikI sRShTi" (illusory creation). The
inquirer is the jagatkartA and paramAtmA. VidyAraNya implies that this
theory is so simple that even a boy can understand it.
seyaM prAtItikIsRShTistasmAjjAtA tataH svayam|
jagatkartA paramAtmeti kShaNAd bAlo .api budhyate||

However, I do agree this requires an extremely high degree of VairAgya and
shraddhA in Guru and Shastra than is normally required.

Anand