[Advaita-l] Sleep, tamas and brahman

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Praveenji, Kalyanji,

If we look at the context of the sentence quoted by Kalyan ji (BUB
4.3.21 - अत्र
च एतत् प्रकृतम् — अविद्याकामकर्मविनिर्मुक्तमेव तद्रूपम् , यत् सुषुप्ते
आत्मनो गृह्यते प्रत्यक्षत इति), the meaning that Shankara wishes to convey
becomes clearer.

The bhAShya to this mantra starts off thus:

*प्रकृतः स्वयञ्ज्योतिरात्मा अविद्याकामकर्मविनिर्मुक्त इत्युक्तम् ,
असङ्गत्वादात्मनः, आगन्तुकत्वाच्च तेषाम् ।*
The self effulgent Atma is said to be free from ignorance, desire and
action - because the Atma is never in association with anything, and
because they (ignorance, desire and action) are transient / incidental.

The same adjective (अविद्याकामकर्मविनिर्मुक्त) is used in the later
sentence quoted by Kalyan ji - अत्र च एतत् प्रकृतम्
— अविद्याकामकर्मविनिर्मुक्तमेव तद्रूपम् , यत् सुषुप्ते आत्मनो गृह्यते
प्रत्यक्षत इति ;
That the nature of Atma is really free from ignorance, desire and action is
what is perceived during deep sleep.

Thus Shankara is not saying that ignorance is absent in deep sleep, but
that the Atma is absent from ignorance can be understood from the
experience of deep sleep. The self effulgent Atma is ever asanga, whereas
the other 3 are merely incidental, Agantuka.

The force of the words is in freeing Atma of ignorance eternally (not just
in deep sleep), not of the absence of ignorance in deep sleep per se.
Viewed thus, there is no contradiction in saying that the bIja shakti for
names and forms (the seed like potential for the world) is present in deep
sleep.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On 4 May 2018 3:55 a.m., "Praveen R. Bhat via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

On Thu, May 3, 2018 at 11:00 PM Kalyan via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
>
> This is from B U bhAshya -
>
> ​​
> अत्र च एतत् प्रकृतम् — ***
> ​​
> अविद्याकामकर्मविनिर्मुक्तमेव तद्रूपम् ***, यत् ***सुषुप्ते***
> ​​
> आत्मनो गृह्यते प्रत्यक्षत इति ; 4.3.22
>
​What is this गृह्यते verb doing here in निर्गुणब्रह्म of your
interpretation?
​ This should at least prod one towards a possibility of misunderstanding.
The right understanding is that its a recollection of आप्तकामम् आत्मकामम्
which went by in 4.3.21.


तत्र च सर्वात्मभावः स्वभावोऽस्य, एवम्
> ***अविद्याकामकर्मादिसर्वसंसारधर्मसम्बन्धातीतं रूपमस्य, साक्षात् सुषुप्ते
> गृह्यते*** — इत्येतद्विज्ञापितम्  4.3.34
>
>
> तत्र चैतन्यज्योतिःस्वभावत्वे कस्मादिह न जानातीति यदप्राक्षीः, तत्र अयं
> हेतुः मयोक्तः एकत्वम् , यथा स्त्रीपुंसयोः सम्परिष्वक्तयोः । तत्र अर्थात्
> नानात्वं विशेषविज्ञानहेतुरित्युक्तं भवति ; नानात्वे च कारणम् — आत्मनो
> वस्त्वन्तरस्य प्रत्युपस्थापिका अविद्येत्युक्तम् । ***तत्र च अविद्याया यदा
> प्रविविक्तो भवति, तदा सर्वेण एकत्वमेव अस्य भवति ***;  4.3.21
>
>
> यत आत्मकामम् — आत्मैव कामाः यस्मिन् रूपे, अन्यत्र प्रविभक्ता इव अन्यत्वेन
> काम्यमानाः यथा जाग्रत्स्वप्नयोः, तस्य आत्मैव
> अन्यत्वप्रत्युपस्थापकहेतोरविद्याया ***अभावात्*** — आत्मकामम् ; अत एव
> अकाममेतद्रूपम् काम्यविषयाभावात् ; शोकान्तरम् शोकच्छिद्रं शोकशून्यमित्येतत्
> , शोकमध्यमिति वा, सर्वथापि अशोकमेतद्रूपम् शोकवर्जितमित्यर्थः ॥4.3.21
>
>
​ And all the following examples show ​that just as when one desires
something, there is lack of desire of everything else, one knows nothing
else (=avidyA of everything else and even the nature of that object of
desire too), similarly in deep-sleep desiring only AtmA one sleeps, there
is objectification of this Ananda alone and one has avidyA of everything
else, including the real nature of Atma also which cannot be objectified.
This is my understanding which you will point as wrong. So I shall take
support of Bhagavan Anandagiri, who if pointed out as wrong would just show
more of the person's ignorance and ashraddhA towards sampradAya. Here goes
TIkA under it:

यद्यपि सुषुप्ते अविद्या विद्यते तथापि न सा अभिव्यक्ता अस्ति इति
अनर्थपरिहारोपपत्तिः इत्यर्थः। There is avidyA of everything really,
including Atma, but it is not manifest since it is is bIjAvasthA.
​
gurupAdukAbhyAm,
--Praveen R. Bhat
/* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one know
That owing to which all this is known! [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */ ​

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