[Advaita-l] Advaithic Question on the Nature of MAYA and Illusory nature of Reality

[H S Chandramouli]

Namaste.

Reg  << The yoga sutra says “yoga chitta vritti nirodhah” means the goal of
yoga is to make mind free of chitta (mind) vritti.

Even Vedanta says when mind is still, through the still mind the Brahman
shines. If there is vritti in mind Brahman can never be realised through
chitta vritti. The whole sadana is about controlling the mind and making it
still >>,

In Yoga Sidhanta, Mind should be stilled. In the sense, there should be no
chitta vrittis. In Advaita Sidhanta, mind should be unwavering. There
should be only one vritti which is constantly centred on Brahman/Atman.
That is a very significant difference between the two sidhantas.

Reg  << Now lets take the statement “Chaitanya/Brahman associated with the
object, ball in this case.“

In this statement the Brahman is associated with a ball (that means there
is two objects Brahman and ball)and giving identity to ball, if only
Brahman exists there can’t be separate identity to ball also identity of
ball  calls for acceptance of creation but Gowdapada in Mandukyakarika
clearly states there is nothing apart from Brahman and he has also rejected
all creation >>,

The difference is in the levels of Reality. Brahman is PAramArthika and
objects like ball is vyAvahArika. Between rope and rope-serpent, there is
only one object in reality, but two are experienced, one at a time.

Reg  << “it does so along with Chaitanya/Brahman which remains
veiled/concealed (partially). This veiling needs to be removed for the
object to be cognized“

In this case its stated that maya as veiled/concealed the Brahman and
veiling needs to be removed. Now if the veiling is removed the Brahman gets
identified (eg if a cat is covered with box and when box is opened cat gets
revealed and not box) and not ball because ball was never concealed it’s
always Brahman is concealed and ball is projected >>,

For the object like ball to be cognized, light is essential. It also gets
cognized along with the object. As per advaita sidhAnta, the light of
Chaitanya/Brahman/Consciousness is required for both the object (ball) as
well as light itself to be cognized. In the process Brahman is also
cognized. But it is veiled by mUlAjnAna or mUlAvidyA. That is not removed
by the mental vritti. What is removed is the veiling of Chaitanya (which
itself is veiled by mUlAjnAna) as limited by the object,  by the avidyA
located in that Chaitanya. In all cognitions, this Brahman/Chaitanya(
veiled by mUlAjnAna) is cognized. But because it is veiled by mUlAjnAna,
 its svarUpa as satyam jnAnam anantam is not cognized. This cognition takes
the form of “object exists”. The existence aspect relates to Brahman.

I have kept the response as brief as possible. But as I said earlier it
would be necessary to refer to the detailed texts for further clarity.

This is not to claim that my understanding only is the correct one. It is
just that. My understanding. That is all.
Regards



<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail>
Virus-free.
www.avast.com
<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail>
<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>