[Advaita-l] The significance of the Gold and Dundubhi examples

[V Subrahmanian]

On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 1:11 PM, H S Chandramouli via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> >
> > Reg  << the special sounds can never come without the general sound
> > also being there. The special sounds (ornaments)  are only manifestations
> > of the saamaanya sound (gold, loha) of the instrument. In the same way
> > everything in the world is Brahman alone.  All individual
> > objects/events/persons etc. are only manifestations of Brahman.>>,
> >
> >
> >
> >  the variety found in jagat (kArya) can be reduced to a single
> > entity,kAraNa, namely Brahman as endowed with kAraNatva (also termed
> Iswara
> > in this context) to explain which illustrations of
> > pot-clay/gold-ornament/water-ocean-waves-froth/dundubhi  etc are
> > presented. These illustrations represent pariNAma transformation
> > ​
> > and
> >  bringout kArya-kAraNa relationship.
> >
> >
>
> > To present Brahman in its swarUpa, as kAraNa (devoid of karaNatva) for
> > the kArya that is jagat,which is the ultimate aim of advaita sidhAnta,
> > the rope-serpent illustration is presented which represents vivarta
> > transformation and does not involve kArya-kAraNa relationship.
>

I think the purpose of the Dundubhi example (also the clay, gold, etc.)
here is to drive home the idea that the vishesha, effect, cannot be grasped
without the saamaanya that is inherent in them.  यत्स्वरूपव्यतिरेकेणाग्रहणं
यस्य, तस्य तदात्मत्वमेव लोके दृष्टम् ; स यथा — स इति दृष्टान्तः  One can
profit from referring to the BGB 2.16 too where Shankara gives the example
of 'pot is, cloth is, elephant is..'  सन् घटः, सन् पटः, सन् हस्ती इति । एवं
सर्वत्र तयोर्बुद्ध्योः घटादिबुद्धिः व्यभिचरति । तथा च दर्शितम् । न तु
सद्बुद्धिः । तस्मात् घटादिबुद्धिविषयः असन् , व्यभिचारात् ; न तु
सद्बुद्धिविषयः, अव्यभिचारात् ॥ The 'sat' never goes out of experience while
the 'that which is experienced as is -pot, etc; ceases to be when some
other thing is experienced, again as 'is.'  This idea is contained in the
Dundubhi example: the saamaanya sound of the instrument is always present
in any vishesha sound of that instrument.



regards
subbu

> >
> >
> >
> > Regards
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>