[Advaita-l] The Foundations of Adhyāsa - 5.2 (The Siddhānta: The Self is not the Body) (Part II)

[Srinath Vedagarbha]

Namaste,

I think I can add something here from the traditional point of view.

On Fri, Nov 2, 2018 at 8:21 AM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Kartik ji
> We hear in shAstra of the (jiva)AtmA being endowed with icchAshakti and
> kriyAshakti. And thereby arise the privileges of doing karma (some action),
> or not  doing it or of doing it in some other way.


Yes, in shAstra we all (irrespective of schools) consider the laxaNa of
chaitaynya vastu is iccha, jnyAna & kriya. This is the very laxaNa which
differentiates chit from achit padArthas.




> Based on this, is
> reasonable to hold that there is such a thing called 'free will'.
>

That is quite loaded question. I will come to that point below.


>
> On the other hand, in the scientific paradigms in vogue today,
> "consciousness"( in this context we have to take it as the reflected
> consciousness or cidAbhAsa) has no *causal efficacy*. Even if
> 'consciousness' is granted some sort of existence by these scientific
> materialism/reductionism based models, it (consciousness) cannot effect any
> changes on any entity in space and time.
>

That's correct. David  Chalmers  (an Australian philosopher and cognitive
scientist specializing in the areas of philosophy of mind ) who advocates
(to scientific community) to accept a fundamental non-material entity
(whatever one may choose to call it as 'consciousness', 'jIva chaitannya'
or 'soul' or whatever) in order to solve the so called 'hard problem of
consciousness'.
In his (or any other scientific model) model, there is nothing to explain
how non-material 'stuff' affects/control material stuff.


>
> For example, if we trace the chain of cause and effect backwards, and
> analyse a simple free will-based action such as a person moving his hand.
> The causes would be muscles, motor nerve signals, motor cortex firing in
> the brain etc. And then to some other physical or neuronal stimulus etc. It
> is claimed that the causes of all human 'actions' can be explained (away?)
> without reference to consciousness which is thereby deprived of any causal
> efficacy.
>

One may explain away so if one considers the framework of ONLY causal
efficacy. But such explaining away will not solve the hard problem of
consciousness.

So how do we solve both the problems? Read on......


>
> Is this issue discussed anywhere in detail - whether in the traditional way
> or even in modern times?
>
> (I have read some modern thinkers who are in a minority , object to this
> denial of free will by pointing out that there is a 'discontinuity' in most
> models of quantum physics and this collapse of the wave function leaves the
> traditional vedantic view uncontradicted. I was looking for more loopholes
> in these materialistic free will denying models of current science.)
>
>
In advaitic model, to address the problem of how non-material Atma can have
any causal efficacy on material objects, the solution proposed is that of
to deny the existence world of material objects themselves. Only Atma is
posited as the final conclusion. So called causal effects are mere
imagination (adhyAsa) only and not  really there to solve the issue. Note
this position is quite diametrical opposite to materialistic view, where
the Atma is denied while persisting material world.

Dvaita Vedanta has a different take altogether, where both side of the
equation is persisted without denying one or the other. This is achieved by
accepting an active agency which acts as an  'agent' between non-material
chaitanya and material world under who's agency all transactions between
material and non-material happens. That 'Agent' is Brahman. That's the
spirit behind shruti's assertion 'tEna vinaH truNamapi na chalati' .  Then
the question shifts to how does 'non-material' Brahman have any causal
efficacy on material objects? The answer cannot possibly come from logic,
because since the entity we are talking is vEdavEdya only (and not
pratyaksha gammya) anumAna based on pratyaksha falls short here. Shruti is
very clear in answering that question -- iccha mAtra prabhO shriti. If the
creation (of material objects/world) is said to be from Brahman's iccha
shakti, then what to speak about causal efficacy about the world of
material objects?

So what Dvaitin's traditional position is that, Brahman is real 'doer', not
only in this material world, but also in the state of liberation in
accordance with pramAna-s 'amrutasya sEtuhu', muktAnAM parama gatiM etc...

Madhva echoes this sentiment in his Gita Tatparya;

nAham kartA hariH kartA tatpUjA karmachaakhilam.h| taThaapi matkR^itaa pUja
tatprasaadhEna naanyaThaa| tadbhakti tadphalam.h mahyam.h tatprasaadaat.h
punaH punaH | karmanyaasO harAvevam.h vishNOsthR^iptikaraH sadhA  ||

“I am not the doer, Sri Hari is the doer, all the actions that I do are His
worship. Even then, the worship I do is through His grace and not
otherwise. That devotion and the fruits of the actions that come to me are
due to His recurring grace”
/sv