[Advaita-l] ***UNCHECKED*** RE: Sattva, Rajas, Tamas - Maayaa/Prakriti and Avidya - Shankara

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

MAyA and prakriti are unambiguously stated to be triguNAtmikA. There is no confusion here.

> yes, and as per geeta both para and apara prakruti belongs to Lord.  The lord confirms crossing over this is mOksha and in its svarUpa it is non-different from brahman therefore it is somewhat co-existent in nature (shakti-shaktivant abedha).  There is no confusion here.  

In PTB, avidyA is not so directly stated to be triguNAtmikA. 

>  Yes, OTOH it is explained as it is weakness of jeeva, and its effect is adhyAsa and its pratiyOgi is vidyA, clearance of this (nishesha nirmUlanaM of avidyA) is mOksha  and till jeeva gets this vidyA/mOksha he suffers from rAgAdi klesha.  

However, there should not be any confusion here because the word 'Atmak' means 'mAtra'.

>  Sorry to say and disappoint you this interpretation is ONLY in your books, however for us 'Atmika' means and implies only link or blend.  avidyA coupled with avyakta  implies that mAya containing the fault of avidyA in it, avidyA lakshaNa prakruti means there is coupling (saMyukta) any concocted and convoluted interpretation of this with any permutation and combination would be mere stretch and a desparate attempt to equate mAya with avidyA.  According to us, mAya and avidyA are not synonyms at any stretch of imagination ( either you take this mAya concept as brahma shakti or take it as avidyA Kalpita / pratyupasthApita / avidyAtmaka nAma rUpa).  In short mAya is in Ishwara as shakti and avidyA is in jeeva as his weakness (not in Ishwara to be precise).  As explained by Lord mAya is divine (daivika) it is brahman's vishesha darshana hence Lord's special affection and assertion mama svarUpabhUta mAya.   And most importantly there is no substantial purpose served in Advaita vedAnta by illogically equating mAya with avidyA.  Hence sorry to say any further discussions on your justification with regard to mAya=avidyA is fruitless.  Hope you don’t mind I am saying this directly.  

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar