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

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Chandramouli ji,

On Wed, 27 Dec 2023, 01:46 H S Chandramouli, <hschandramouli at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> In my understanding, the phrase buddhiparikalpitena does not apply to
> snake per se. It refers to bheda buddhi amongst different forms the
> appearance could take place instead of the rope (vivarta as in
> सर्पाद्याकारेण illustration), namely snake, stick, garland, crack on the
> ground etc. In case of clay (pariNAma as in मृद्घटाद्याकारेण
> illustration), the forms could be pot, lump of clay etc. While all of them
> are rope (or clay) only, buddhi distinguishes them as different entities.
> This bheda buddhi amongst the forms instead of unity is addressed by the
> phrase buddhiparikalpitena.
>
I think the above explanation is also possible. Even so, in the above
explanation, the focus of the meaning of the phrase lies in the bheda
buddhi being buddhyA parikalpitena rather than buddhau parikalpitena -
Shankaracharya wishes to convey that they are viewed as different *by* the
mind - there is no reason to take away from that phrase that these are
viewed differently *in* the mind.

In my explanation, the meaning of the phrase buddhiparikalpitena, is
slightly different when there is anvaya with mRtghaTa than when there is
anvaya with rajjusarpa, because they represent two types of bheda buddhi
with respect to multiplicity. That is why Shankaracharya mentions the
mRtghaTa and the rajjusarpa examples in the same sentence (because there is
something additional he wishes to convey with the second example).

To explain, the former represents the bheda buddhi between the kArya and
kAraNa and the latter represents the bheda buddhi of the adhyasta with
respect to the adhiShThAna. In the former, the anvaya of the mRt happens
during the perception of the ghaTa (ie one continues to see the clay when
seeing the pot, leading to the buddhi mRt-ghaTa) and in the latter, one
only sees the sarpa and not the rajju during the time of the adhyAsa (ie no
one sees it as rajju-sarpa, one sees it only as sarpa). In both cases,  the
bahutva is buddhyA parikalpitena - the multiplicity is seen by the mind and
not a truth in reality.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan