[Advaita-l] Swami Nischalananda Saraswathi replies to ISKCON's claims of Advaita being a Mayavadi

[Srinath Vedagarbha]

Although I am not arguing for Iskonites, but would like to express some
philosophical points;



On Sat, Jul 7, 2018 at 10:59 PM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
> The main points that emerge from his talk are:
>
>
>    - Advaita is Brahma sahita maayaa vaada and not brahma rahita maayaa
>    vaada.  This means, Advaita admits maya as a shakti of Brahman.
>

That makes Brahman saviShESha Brahman. Sri.Swamiji seems to forget Advaita
holds atyanta-nirviShEsha Brahmn.




>    - This is amply validated in the Upanishads and Bh.Gita.
>

If so, then  saviShESha Brahman is the reality.



>    - 'Indro maayaabhih puru rupa iyate' - Brahman, through maya takes many
>    forms.  Br.Up. / Shvetashvatara
>

Same,  shruti is talking about saviShESha Brahman


>    - 'mayaa adhyakshena prakritih suuyate sa caraacaram..'  Bh.gita. With
>    me as presiding consciousness, prakritis creates this world.
>

Sama again, gItaAchraya is talking about His nature as  saviShESha (by
qualifying 'under my adhyakshttva'). Maayavaada is nothing to do with such
Brahman.



>    - So, It is Brahma vaada along with shakti.  Without shakti Brahman
>    cannot do anything.
>

But all such "doing" are said to be mithya due to avidya only. Why is
Sri.Swamiji arguing based on such mithyA creation anyways?

brahma satyaM jaganmithyetyevaMrUpo vinishchayaH  |
so.ayaM nityAnityavastuvivekaH samudAhR^itaH  ||  (vivekachUDAmaNi)

sarva-vyavahArANAmEva prAk brahmatma-avijnyAnAt satyatva upapattEhe
svapna-vyavahArasya prAk prabOdhat" - Sri Shankara BSB (II.1.14)

So, I would argue Sri.Swamiji's refutation is in fact a case of
apasiddhAnta.

/sv