[Advaita-l] Power of Brahman

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste
On Wed, Sep 19, 2018 at 2:32 AM Srinath Vedagarbha via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
>
> 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?
>

For Advaitis Suddha Caitanya cannot be Vishaya of a Knowledge. Why? Because
pure Consciousness cannot be captured  by a mental Vrutti. Therefore we say
Suddha Brahman can never be object of knowledge. OTOH Suddha Brahma with
Upadhis like Narayana with Shankha and Chakra can be captured in a mental
Vrutti. Therefore we say Upahita Brahma can be Vishaya of knowledge. When
Upadesha of Tat Twam Asi is given also the Tat is Upahita Brahman only. It
is object of Akhandakara Vrutti and that Akhandakara Vrutti will destroy
all Dvaita Prapancha. Then it will destroy itself. Remainder is Suddha
Brahma only.


>
>
> >
> > 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
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-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh