[Advaita-l] Power of Brahman

[Srinath Vedagarbha]

Namaste.

On Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 8:52 AM Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
> Yes, advaita does not permit kartr karma virodha, but this is a fallacy
> only when the subject is objectified by the action. However advaita does
> not talk of the knowledge of Brahman as objectification of the self by
> knowledge.
>

There is no rule that object of knowledge has necessarily a non-chaitanya
vastu. When I know myself, both the subject and object are me, and very
much sentient being. Shruti clearly say nArAyaNaM mahajnyEyaM. So?


>
> So what does knowing Brahman mean in advaita?
>
> The Kena mantra नाहं मन्ये सुवेदेति नो न वेदेति वेद च illustrates this
> beautifully. The student says - I do not consider that I know Brahman, nor
> do I consider that I do not know Brahman at all, for I do know it.
>
> Thus when the student says नो न वेदेति वेद च, he is saying I the Self, am
> Brahman, the knower of Brahman - ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति परम्.
>
>
This contradicts Shankara's assertion in BU 2.4.14:
taM kena vijAnIyAt" yena vijAnAti, tasya karaNasya, vij~neye viniyuktatvAt.
j~nAtushca j~neya eva hi jij~nAsA, na Atmani; na ca
agneriva AtmA Atmani viShayaH; na ca aviShaye j~nAtuH j~nAnamupapadyate;
tasmAt yena idaM sarvaM vijAnAti, "taM vij~nAtAraM"
kena karaNena ki vA anyaH vijAnIyAt, yadA tu punaH paramArthavivekini
brahmavidi vij~nAtaiva kevali.advayi vartate, taM vij~nAtAraM are kena
vijAnIyAditi.

Please note the explicit denial "na cha agneriva AtmA Atmani viShayaH:"
(The Self is not an object of knowledge for the Self.)

In case if you argue (not sure you do so) that what Shanakara is talking
about pAramArthika state not vyavahAra state; the difficulty does no go
away. Your above quote "I the Self, am Brahman, the knower of Brahman -
ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति परम्" cannot be said in vyavahAra either, for in vyavahAra
there is no pratIti of kind "I am Brahman" to anyone.

/sv