[Advaita-l] Debunking Drishti-Srishti Vada and Eka Jiva Vada - part 1

[V Subrahmanian]

On Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 3:59 PM, Bhaskar YR via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> (Similarly Shankara considers brahman as the sole cause of creation at one
> place and at another place he inexplicably brings in a shakti without which
> brahman cannot do anything.)
>
> praNAms Sri Kalyan prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
>
> I picked the coffee cup or my hand picked the coffee cup or by controlling
> (moving) my hand I picked the coffee cup or I used my hand to pick the
> coffee cup up or without using my hand I cannot pick the coffee cup up
> ...can we assume different persons in these statements?? No, it is the
> 'act' of single person defined differently that's it.   When brahman is
> depicted as srushtikarta his svabhAva of sarvajnatvaM and sarvashaktitvaM
> will be highlighted, when there is no srushti or prior to creation this
> Shakti is inherent and invisible (avyakta) in him.  In short, mAya is not
> the borrowed power of brahman or external tool of brahman to do the
> creation work.



Dear Sri Bhaskar ji,

In the ānumānikādhikaraṇam there is the sutra 'tadadhīnatvādarthavat'
1.4.4. It is there that Shankara says what Sri Kalyan ji has stated. I
shall give below the relevant passage:

तदधीनत्वादर्थवत् ॥ ३ ॥
भाष्यम्
<http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/BS?page=1&id=BS_C01_S04_V03&hlBhashya=%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%A7%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A5%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D#bhashya-BS_C01_S04_V03>
अत्राह — यदि जगदिदमनभिव्यक्तनामरूपं बीजात्मकं
प्रागवस्थमव्यक्तशब्दार्हमभ्युपगम्येत,
तदात्मना च शरीरस्याप्यव्यक्तशब्दार्हत्वं प्रतिज्ञायेत, स एव तर्हि
प्रधानकारणवाद एवं सत्यापद्येत ; अस्यैव जगतः प्रागवस्थायाः
प्रधानत्वेनाभ्युपगमादिति । अत्रोच्यते — यदि वयं स्वतन्त्रां
काञ्चित्प्रागवस्थां जगतः कारणत्वेनाभ्युपगच्छेम, प्रसञ्जयेम तदा
प्रधानकारणवादम् ; परमेश्वराधीना त्वियमस्माभिः प्रागवस्था जगतोऽभ्युपगम्यते,
न स्वतन्त्रा । सा चावश्याभ्युपगन्तव्या ; अर्थवती हि सा ; न हि तया विना
परमेश्वरस्य स्रष्टृत्वं सिध्यति, शक्तिरहितस्य तस्य प्रवृत्त्यनुपपत्तेः ।
मुक्तानां च पुनरनुत्पत्तिः । कुतः ? विद्यया तस्या बीजशक्तेर्दाहात् ।
अविद्यात्मिका हि सा बीजशक्तिरव्यक्तशब्दनिर्देश्या परमेश्वराश्रया मायामयी
महासुषुप्तिः, यस्यां स्वरूपप्रतिबोधरहिताः शेरते संसारिणो जीवाः ।
तदेतदव्यक्तं क्वचिदाकाशशब्दनिर्दिष्टम् — ‘एतस्मिन्नु खल्वक्षरे गार्ग्याकाश
ओतश्च प्रोतश्च’ (बृ. उ. ३ । ८ । ११)
<http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Brha?page=3&id=BR_C03_S08_V11&hl=%E0%A4%8F%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%81%20%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%87%20%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B6%20%E0%A4%93%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9A%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9A>
इति श्रुतेः ; क्वचिदक्षरशब्दोदितम् — ‘अक्षरात्परतः परः’ (मु. उ. २ । १ । २)
<http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Mundaka?page=2&id=MD_C02_S01_V02&hl=%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%83>
इति श्रुतेः ; क्वचिन्मायेति सूचितम् — ‘मायां तु प्रकृतिं विद्यान्मायिनं तु
महेश्वरम्’ (श्वे. उ. ४ । १०)
<http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/svt?page=4&id=SV_C04_V10&hl=%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%81%20%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%81%20%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D>
इति मन्त्रवर्णात् ; अव्यक्ता हि सा माया, तत्त्वान्यत्वनिरूपणस्याशक्यत्वात् ।

The highlights of the above passage are:

1. This 'shakti' is not svatantra but 'adhīnā', subservient, to Brahman

2. Without this shakti Brahman can't even be the creator.

3. If this shakti is not admitted, Brahman cannot act at all

4. And there can be no cessation of rebirth for the liberated

5. Why? Since by vidyā, this bījashakti is burnt/destroyed

6. That shakti is avidyātmikā.

7. In that shakti do jiva-s remain during mahapralaya.

8. It is called by various names such as 'ākāśa, māyā, akṣara, etc.

9.  It is avyakta, unmanifest, since it cannot be stated as 'tattva' or
'atattva'.


From  the above how can one say that it is non-different from Brahman? Can
something that is non-different from Brahman be adhīna, subservient, to
Brahman? And it is taught that it is destroyed through vidyā. That shows
that the Brahman that the upanishads want us to realize is that which is
free of this shakti. If it is non-different from Brahman, how can one know
Brahman as nirupādhika? In the BG the Lord says: *mama *māyā duratyayā.
7.15: Shankara says

दैवी देवस्य मम ईश्वरस्य विष्णोः स्वभावभूता हि यस्मात् एषा यथोक्ता गुणमयी मम
माया दुरत्यया दुःखेन अत्ययः अतिक्रमणं यस्याः सा दुरत्यया । तत्र एवं सति
सर्वधर्मान् परित्यज्य मामेव मायाविनं स्वात्मभूतं सर्वात्मना ये प्रपद्यन्ते
ते मायाम् एतां सर्वभूतमोहिनीं तरन्ति अतिक्रामन्ति ; ते संसारबन्धनात्
मुच्यन्ते इत्यर्थः ॥ १४ ॥  :

Here the Lord says 'mama' māyā. If that were non-different from Him, can he
say 'mama', 'my' ? Is not the object of 'my' different from oneself as in
'my house'? Also, the Lord says, 'those who surrender to Me alone, can
overcome 'her'. Here again he is making a clear distinction between himself
and 'her', as one would do with a third person.

In the Vivekachudamani is a verse that brings out the nature of this
'shakti':

sannāpyasannāpyubhayātmikā no

bhinnāpyabhinnāpyubhayātmikā no |

saṅgāpyanaṅgāpyubhayātmika no

mahādbhutānirvacanīyarūpā ||


The second line says: It is neither different (from Brahman), nor
non-different and not both (different-cum-non--different from Brahman).





> Both Shakti and Shakta abhinnatvaM quite evident in shankara's sUtra
> bhAshya.


In the above bhashya?

regards
subbu


> And mAya and avidyA are not synonyms atleast in my Advaita dictionary :-)
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
>
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