[Advaita-l] Relationship between Brahman and avidyA

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sun, Jun 23, 2019 at 7:42 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Hari Om,
>
> What exactly is the relationship between Brahman and avidyA?


It is AdhyAsika sambandha like the one between a real rope and the imagined
snake. In BGB 13.26 Shankara says: Sambandha can be samyoga or samavaya.
Both these cannot be with Atman + something else. It is only Aadhyasika
sambandha:

कः पुनः अयं क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोः संयोगः अभिप्रेतः ? न तावत् रज्ज्वेव
घटस्य अवयवसंश्लेषद्वारकः
सम्बन्धविशेषः संयोगः क्षेत्रेण क्षेत्रज्ञस्य सम्भवति, आकाशवत्
निरवयवत्वात् । नापि समवायलक्षणः तन्तुपटयोरिव क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोः
इतरेतरकार्यकारणभावानभ्युपगमात् इति, उच्यते — क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोः
विषयविषयिणोः भिन्नस्वभावयोः इतरेतरतद्धर्माध्यासलक्षणः संयोगः
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञस्वरूपविवेकाभावनिबन्धनः, रज्जुशुक्तिकादीनां
तद्विवेकज्ञानाभावात् अध्यारोपितसर्परजतादिसंयोगवत् । सः अयं अध्यासस्वरूपः
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञसंयोगः मिथ्याज्ञानलक्षणः ।

Again in BGB 13.20-
प्रकृत्या भोग्यया पुरुषस्य तद्विपरीतस्य भोक्तृत्वेन
*अविद्यारूपः संयोगः स्यात्* , तदा संसारः स्यात् इति ।

regards
subbu



> Brahman is
> changeless, activity-less. It cannot be the upAdAna or nimitta in the
> primary sense. This is so because kArantva implies change and Brahman being
> changeless, there cannot be kAranatva for Brahman.
>
> So, it results that avidyA alone is upadAna and nimitta and the kAranatva
> stated for Brahman in Upanishads is adhyAropita. There just cannot be any
> other possibility.
>
> However, it leaves us with two distinct entities. Brahman and avidyA. What
> is the relationship between them? If one says that two entities, Brahman
> and avidyA, will violate advaita then it is answered that avidyA is mithyA
> and it is avastu and non-existent and hence advaita is not violated. Should
> that mean that the inquiry for relationship between Brahman and avidyA is
> meaningless.
>
> Sudhanshu.
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