[Advaita-l] [advaitin] The nature of mUlAvidyA as per mUlAvidyAvAdins

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Sudhanshu Shekhar prabhuji
Hare Krishna

> Long time not seen you, how are you prabhuji?? 

A shloka by Sureshwar puts to rest all confusions regarding nature of avidyA

>  I am afraid it is not that much easy prabhuji as per my limited understanding of this Sanskrit verse 😊 

अस्य द्वैतेन्द्रजालस्य यदुपादानकारणम्।
अज्ञानं तदुपाश्रित्य ब्रह्मकारणमुच्यते।। (BrihadAraNyaka BhAshya VArtika by SureshwarAchArya)

>  asya dvaitendrajAlasya yadupadAnakAraNaM, ajnAnaM tadupAshritya brahmakAraNamuchyate.  As per this vArtika ajnAnam, which is the upAdAna kAraNam for the dvaita indrajAla, has the Ashraya in brahman hence brahman is said to be the cause (brahmakAraNamuchyate). Here if you literally translate this verse it does not talk anything about adhyArOpa (superimposition) instead it is talking about Ashraya (locus) ajnAna which is the material cause for magical duality.  So, strictly speaking as per your contention brahman is giving  the Ashraya to  bhAva rUpa ajnAna (since you already insisted that it is not abhAva rUpa)  which is material cause for the subsequent indrajAla.  If that is the cause in the brahman itself the bhAvarUpa avidyA taking shelter even before the indrajAla (vyAkruta dvaita prapancha) it (brahman) has to be endowed with this bhAvarUpa avidyA which is upAdAna kAraNam.  Is this what this vArtika conveying !!??  

>  If you think Sri SSS has not addressed this vArtika, I am sorry to say you are missing something here.  If I remember right Sri jnAnaanandendra saraswati (in pUrvAshrama Sri Vittala Shastri) while addressing the issues raised in a small work called " mulAvidyA bhAshya vArtika sammata" written by some Shrungeri traditional scholar ( shrungagiri Narasimha Bhatta?? Not sure though) has explained in details how mUlAvidyA is bhAshya vArtika virOdha by comprehensively quoting other vartika-s from br.up. & tai.up. & NS.  If my memory serves me right, the vArtikakAra has not accepted mUlAvidyA like vivaraNakAra, barring the three aspects of ajnAna (abhAva, anyathaagrahaNa, saMshaya) he has not attributed  any other special status to avidyA, ajnAna (abhAvAtmaka) itself is the essence of the other two variants (anyathAgrahaNa & samshaya) and from the ajnAna drushti only we assume two divisions of Atma and anAtma, and it exists in sushupti also ( against very fine deliberation on this what type of ajnAna that exists in sushupti) etc. etc.   Its long back I had read this very small work (around just 60 pages I think)  when I visited kAryAlaya library couple of decades back.  Would like to fetch more details if possible. 

People who posit ajnAna to be abhAva need to explain how abhAva can be upAdAna kAraNam (of anything).

>  my absence at home tempting my kids to make all the noises.  So should I say my absence is the material cause for their noises ??  or my absence at home is nimitta for the clamors of my kids??  Which one is better ??  more of this later as this is month end revenue closing time at office.  

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar