[Advaita-l] Who is Ishwara? He is NARAYANA only. Beautiful and soothing Narayana Bhajan

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Wed May 24 23:13:13 EDT 2017


There is no need to 'posit' avidya extraneously. The Br.Up. mantra 1.4. 9
and10 is there to do the job naturally:

तदाहुर्यद्ब्रह्मविद्यया सर्वं भविष्यन्तो मनुष्या मन्यन्ते । किमु
तद्ब्रह्मावेद्यस्मात्तत्सर्वमभवदिति ॥ ९ ॥

''They say that by brahmavidya one becomes infinite. What did that Brahman
realize, as a result of which It became all (infinite)?''

ब्रह्म वा इदमग्र आसीत्तदात्मानमेवावेत् । अहं ब्रह्मास्मीति ।
तस्मात्तत्सर्वमभवत्तद्यो यो देवानां प्रत्यबुध्यत स एव तदभवत्तथर्षीणां तथा
मनुष्याणां तद्धैतत्पश्यनृषिर्वामदेवः प्रतिपेदेऽहं मनुरभवं सूर्यश्चेति ।

That entity was Brahman is even before realization. It knew its Self, as
aham brahma asmi. Therefore it became infinite...

These two mantras are the vedic basis for the avidya of Brahman. And the
cessation/negation of that avidya by vidya.

So, one need not look for any extraneous 'positing' of avidya for brahman;
the Shruti itself does it on very firm basis. Non-advaitins find these two
mantras detrimental for their doctrine and so give a completely different
interpretation. That is not Advaita's problem.

regards
vs


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