[Advaita-l] Paul Hacker on Avidya in Brahma Sutras

[Vinodh]

Sri Michael Cohen,

The primal ignorance is the cause of the world according to the traditional
(Shankara) view, as far as I understand.

The pertinent question is where that avidya exists. If it be argued that it
exists in the Brahman, then that appears contradictory because then even
after becoming one with Brahman avidya will persist. On the other hand, if
it be argued that it exists in the Jiva’s mind, then again it appears that
this cannot be the case because avidya is the cause for the Jiva’s
existence as an entity separate from others.

The traditional answer that I have seen to this conundrum starts by asking
to whom this question (of where avidya exists) arises. It cannot be one who
knows Brahman and hence has become one with Brahman because for him there
is no avidya and hence no question of where it exists. Therefore, avidya
has to be said to exist in the one who is posing this question being
unaware of Brahman. As an analogy, consider an illusion of a snake on a
rope or of silver in a conch shell. For the one who knows the truth, the
snake or the silver does not even exist. The one who sees the snake or
silver does not see the underlying substratum of truth because of
ignorance. When he is told that he does see the truth out of ignorance, he
may ask where is this ignorance? It is of course within him who is posing
this question! :)

Of course, fundamentally, neither does the world nor does the ignorance
that is said to have caused it exist. What exists is one without a second
(advya), changeless (avyaya), and never born (aja). All the explanations
about the cause of the world etc is given only to point to this one truth.
They are all ultimately negated by the ‘neti neti’ vaakyas (‘not so’). This
is the method of the Vedanta — adhyaaropa apavaada or false superimposition
followed by negation. The ignorance is falsely superimposed on the truth to
seemingly give an explanation for the cause of the world to the beginner
student, only to later negate the existence of the world and its cause.

Om tat sat


On Sun 15. May 2022 at 23:31, Michael Chandra Cohen via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Sri Venkatesh, pranam. I don't know how you can say that mulAvidya - the
> material seed, present in deepsleep, a bhavarupa shakti -  is not
> considered in traditional circles to be the cause of the world and thus
> "relatively real". Here is a link to a recent eminent encyclopedic entry
> repeatedly referring to a relative real satta.
>
> https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/shankara/
>
> On Sun, May 15, 2022 at 11:23 AM Venkatesh Murthy via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Namaste
> >
> > The question of Mula Avidya is discussed extensively in traditional
> circles
> > also. It is a misconception to think Mula Avidya as a really existing
> thing
> > giving rise to all Avidyas. No disciple of Sankara has said it really
> > exists. For explaining the world and vyavahara this Avidya is used.
> >
> > On Sun, May 15, 2022 at 6:41 PM Michael Chandra Cohen via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > > It seems to me any defense of Mulavidya vada would have to account for
> > > Hacker's exhaustive study. Sengaku Mayeda performed the same analysis
> on
> > > Upadesa Sahasri and came to similar conclusions
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nE0s2sFIqc0fYdgto0rGlW16xx6lsNEDJKsWVr6CJPw/edit?usp=sharing
> > > _______________________________________________
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> >
> > --
> > Regards
> >
> > -Venkatesh
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