[Advaita-l] ***UNCHECKED*** Re: [advaitin] rope has some problem in rope snake analogy :-)

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 10:08 PM Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Bhaskar ji,
> I meant the locus of the snake is not the mind, it is the place outside.
>
> In my opinion, bhAShyakAra's phrase buddhiparikalpitena, should mean
> buddhyA parikalpitena and not necessarily buddhau parikalpitena, ie, the
> snake is imagined *by* the mind, not that that snake is located *in* the
> mind.
>

Yes, even the Vedanta Paribhasha, I have heard, says that the 'illusory
snake is 'produced' at that moment in the mind. We can say '*प्रतिपन्नोपाधौ
विद्यमानत्वेन* बुद्ध्या परिकल्पितः सर्पः' The snake is imagined '*as
present in the locus, rope*' at that moment.

warm regards
subbu

>
> The context of my comment is, as you rightly point out, the
> pratikarmavyavasthA that has been elaborately discussed by post Shankara
> AchArya-s, involving artha and jnAna adhyAsa. I don't think merely that one
> phrase in the bhAShya rules out the entire support structure, when there
> are alternative explanations available.
>
> The reason for the adhyasta object to be postulated to be *outside* is
> because of the perceptual experience "I saw it *there*" and the pravRtti
> towards (shell silver) or away from it (rope snake). Even though after the
> sublation one knows that there is no object outside in reality, one does
> not deny the fact that one had perceived it outside. One denies the
> validity of that perception in the past because there is no corresponding
> object outside in reality.
>
> It is not like a memory where even during the recollection one is aware
> that one is not perceiving a memory and one is merely recollecting what was
> seen. In the adhyAsa, there are certain perceptual elements - ie there is
> sensory contact with the locus of the adhyAsa (samprayoga). It is a product
> of a defect in the mind (doShajanyatva) - which differentiate it from
> memory, which is purely a mental construct, located in the mind.
>
> That is why in the adhyAsa bhAShya, the bhAshyakAra uses the phrase
> smRtirUpah, like a memory, to indicate that the adhyAsa shares with smRti
> the characteristic of arising due to samskAra, but is not smRti itself,
> because it is also doShajanya and has  samprayoga. It is also the reason he
> adds the word paratra in that bhAShya (smRtirUpah paratra
> pUrvadRShTAvabhAsah), to indicate that the object was seen to be elsewhere,
> a particular location outside where something else was present.
>
> On that basis I agree that it is the doSha located in the mind which acts
> as a nimitta for the adhyAsa, but in my view that is not sufficient to make
> the adhyAsa itself located in the mind.
>
> Kind regards,
> Venkatraghavan
>
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