[Advaita-l] Samvadi Bhrama

[Anand Hudli]

On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 6:35 PM H S Chandramouli via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 5:45 PM Anand Hudli via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> << I don't see why only a bhrama whose results are agreeable or desirable
> must
> be a saMvAdi bhrama.>>
>
>
>
>
>
>   That is how it is termed in Panchadashi.  Verse 9-6.
>
> Translation by Swami Rama  << 6. Mistaking the gleam of a lamp for a gem is
> called a Visamvadi Bhrama, ‘misleading error’ (or an error that does not
> lead to the goal). Mistaking the gleam of a gem for a gem is called a
> 'leading’ or ‘informative’ error, though both are errors (or wrong
> observations). >>.
>
> Quote from The Panchadashi  by Sri TMP Mahadevan  Ch 9 pp 149
>
> << SamvAdibhrama is a delusion which yields a fruitful result >>.


We must bear in mind that the context of discussion in the cited portion of
the Panchadashi is that the upAsana of nirguNa Brahman also yields the
result of Moksha. Yes, in this context, a saMvAdi bhrama is one that yields
a fruitful result, because moksha is a desirable result, IpsitArtha, in
this case. However, if we broaden the context and consider other
situations, in the interest of defining saMvAdi bhrama to cover all cases,
the term fruitful result must be replaced by "expected result", where
"expected" includes both beneficial/good and otherwise. Else, we cannot
explain cases of bhrama where the result is as expected but not necessarily
beneficial. I have already given an example.  Another example is of a
student who has turned in a blank answer sheet in the exam. If he sees the
results of the exam for the wrong class and concludes he has failed because
his registration number is not among the list of students who have passed,
it is a case of saMvAdi bhrama. He is bound to discover later, by seeing
the correct result sheet, that he has indeed failed.

Perhaps, with this distinction in mind, the commentator of panchadashI,
Ramakrishna has rightly pointed that in a saMvAdi bhrama there is
arthakriyAkAritva, a capacity to produce a useful result. He does not just
say the result is desirable or agreeable.

Anand

On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 5:44 PM Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I don't see why only a bhrama whose results are agreeable or desirable
> must be a saMvAdi bhrama. Consider this example. One has constructed a
> house on top of a mountain. One day, he is at the foot of the mountain
> viewing the top casually. He happens to see smoke coming from the top of
> the mountain, which in fact, turns out to be dust, not smoke. However,
> there is actually fire- his house is burning. In this case, the saMvAdi
> bhrama is to mistake the dust for smoke. This is followed by an inference
> of fire on the mountain. There is doSha-janyatva, in the case of seeing the
> dust as smoke. There is  no viShayabAdha, the fire is really found.
> However, the result is not agreeable/desirable to the person, because it is
> his house that is burning!
>
> Anand
>
> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 5:24 PM Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> In a saMvAdi bhrama, there is doSha-janyatva, arising from a defect
>> (mistaking the light from a gem to be the gem itself), but there is no
>> viShaya-bAdha, negation of the object (gem), whereas in a visaMvAdi bhrama,
>> there is both doShajanyatva and viShaya-bAdha.
>>
>> Anand
>>
>