[Advaita-l] Question about Avaccheda vada

[Aditya Kumar]

 The term upadhi does not have any
 negative connotation. It only shows Nirguna Brahman as
 someone with certain attributes, visheshas. NB with maaya
 shuddha sattva as upadhi is Ishwara. It need not and does
 not limit Ishwara. 


A: But can trigunatmika maya be found in NB? If there is guna, then there is karma and hence the cycle of samsara. So ishwara is also a samsarin?


 In fact he is admitted to be Sarva
 Shakta and Sarvajna. The mahavakya 'Tat tvam asi'
 straightaway means 'tat = the jagatkaaranam which is
 omniscient and omnipotent. tvam is the jiva who is embodied,
 samsari, etc.  Since 'asi', identity cannot happen,
 the upadhis on both sides are negated. What remains is pure
 consciousness. Thus the identity. So, both jivatva and
 Ishwaratva are negated.  

A: No confusion here. But the key is, it is the jiva who is superimposing karanatvam on tat and as such tat itself is free from all attributes.


This verse of the Viveka chudamani
 demonstrates this well:
 
 
 एतावुपाधी
 परजीवयोस्तयोः.
 सम्यङ्निरासे न परो न
 जीवः . राज्यं
 नरेन्द्रस्य
 भटस्य खेटकः.
 तयोरपोहे न भटो न राजा
 ..  These upadhis of Ishwara and Jiva,
 when well negated, there is neither Ishwara nor
 jiva...kingdom of the king and the shield of the
 sentry...when the two are separated from those individuals,
 neither of the titles remain. Nothing to distinguish them is
 there. That is the idea.