[Advaita-l] A lucid explanation of Advaita

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Jay Kumar Prabhuji
Hare Krishna

We all (seekers of the Truth)  know that neither the appearance of the world  (names, forms & functions) around us nor our perceiving or even experiencing them as they are is not samsara. Our own superimposition  of undue values, attraction or fantasy towards the pleasant and the fear or aversion of unpleasant cause sufferings, lacking and missing in an ignorant person’s  life is only samsara. This ‘blessed’ feeling of lacking’ itself should teach a thinking person that he or she is ‘complete’ as otherwise, every ignorant person will be comfortable with ‘incompleteness’, isn’t it?.   

If the above is not a fact, from where the attraction towards likings and aversion towards the dislikes come? 

>  This is very good point / observation.  Understanding something as something else which it is not is the adhyAsa (atasmin tad buddhiH).  Hence thinking his self as the body which he is not is adhyAsa.  Similarly recognizing others through 'their' bodies' and seeing nAnAtvA in place of ekatva is adhyAsa.  Thinking oneself as husband, wife, son, daughter etc. is the consequence of this dehAdhyAsa.  Thinking oneself as house owner in relation to the house is also an adhyAsa.   And the point to be noted here the stree, purusha, giri, nadi samudra, the material used to construct the building etc. etc.  is NOT the creation of jeeva / himself.  He is recognizing himself wrongly through these existing things. Which have been created by brahman by its power mAya.  The rAga-dvesha, shOka-mOha etc. is the result of this wrong recognition of himself as BMI.  Giri,nadi, samudra etc. are Ishwara srushti whereas rAga-dvesha, shOka-mOha etc. are jeeva srushti which has the Asare in Ishwara srushti.  Hence jnAnAbhAva rUpa avidyA is not the direct cause for this suffering, the adhyAsa is the root cause of this jeeva's suffering.  Shankara hence talked about this adhyAsa elaborately in adhyAsa bhAshya called itself as avidyA.  jnAnAbhAva type of avidyA (absence of knowledge that he is brahman) is uniform in all jeeva-s and it is not responsible for nAnAtvA.  It is only when coupled with desire (eshaNa kAma) leads to karma and resultant katrutva and bhOktrutva.   It is not that mere existence of field of kurukshetra, bheeshma, drONa etc.  cause of vishAda for the arjuna.  Thinking he is royal warrior, thinking that he is the killer of his relations, teacher, grandfather etc. is the cause of arjuna's vishAda.  

>  I donot want to strain you further prabhuji.  I shall stop here.  

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar