[Advaita-l] Shankara equating Maya - Prakriti and Avidya/Ajnana

[V Subrahmanian]

Namaste Sada ji,

The quote you give is equating Maya and Prakriti.  The quotes I have
highlighted are equating avidya, ajnana, avyakta, etc. also with
Maya/Prakriti.

warm regards
subbu

On Mon, Sep 25, 2023 at 12:24 PM Kuntimaddi Sadananda <
kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Subbuji - PraNAms
>
> That equation occurs in the Swetaaswatara Upanishat
> *maayantu prakrutim vidyaat, maaynatu maheswaram.*
>
> Hari Om!
> Sadananda
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, September 25, 2023 at 11:05:09 AM GMT+5:30, V Subrahmanian via
> Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>
> Here are a few instances where Shankara is directly equating Maya and
> Avidya as identical tattva-s:
>
> Bhagavadgita 5.14 Bhashya:
>
> , उच्यते — स्वभावस्तु स्वो भावः स्वभावः अविद्यालक्षणा प्रकृतिः माया
> प्रवर्तते ‘दैवी हि’ (भ. गी. ७ । १४)
> <
> https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Gita?page=7&id=BG_C07_V14&hl=%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%80%20%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BF
> >
> इत्यादिना
> वक्ष्यमाणा ॥ १४ ॥
>
> BGB 8.14:
>
> पूर्वोक्तात् भूतग्रामबीजभूतात् अविद्यालक्षणात् अव्यक्तात् ।
>
> BGB 9.8: Here Shankara introduces the 8th verse which has Prakriti which is
> evidently Ishwara's Mayashakti, as the first word:  For Shankara it is
> Avidya:
>
> एवम् अविद्यालक्षणाम् —
>
> प्रकृतिं स्वामवष्टभ्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः ।
> भूतग्राममिमं कृत्स्नमवशं प्रकृतेर्वशात् ॥ ८ ॥
> प्रकृतिं स्वां स्वीयाम् अवष्टभ्य वशीकृत्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः प्रकृतितो जातं
> भूतग्रामं भूतसमुदायम् इमं वर्तमानं कृत्स्नं समग्रम् अवशम् अस्वतन्त्रम् ,
> अविद्यादिदोषैः परवशीकृतम् , प्रकृतेः वशात् स्वभाववशात् ॥ ८ ॥
> BGB 9.10:  Here Maya = Prakriti = Avidya
> मम माया त्रिगुणात्मिका अविद्यालक्षणा प्रकृतिः सूयते उत्पादयति सचराचरं जगत्
> । तथा च मन्त्रवर्णः………
> BGB 3.21: Bhashya: Prakriti = Avidya, that has transformed into the
> body-mind complex. So, for Shankara Avidya is the upAdAna kAraNa for the
> body-mind complex and by extension, the universe:
> प्रकृतिस्थः प्रकृतौ अविद्यालक्षणायां कार्यकरणरूपेण परिणतायां
> BGB 13.23:  Here for Shankara Prakriti = avidya that has transformed into
> the guNa-s and which is dispelled by Vidya.  Thus for Shankara this
> Prakriti, Avidya, is vidyavirodhi:
> प्रकृतिं च यथोक्ताम् अविद्यालक्षणां गुणैः स्वविकारैः सह निवर्तिताम् अभावम्
> आपादितां विद्यया,
> BGB 13.34: Same concept as above: Avidya has Vidya for its virodhi:
> Prakriti = Avidya = Avyakta:
> भूतानां प्रकृतिः अविद्यालक्षणा अव्यक्ताख्या, तस्याः भूतप्रकृतेः मोक्षणम्
> अभावगमनं
> Brihadaranyaka Bhashya 4.4.7:  Here Shankara says desire, etc. (which have
> been designated as kShetram in the 13th Chapter Gita) are avidya products:
> अनात्मविषयाः कामा अविद्यालक्षणाः मृत्यवः इत्येतदुक्तं भवति
> Mundaka Bhashya 3.2.2: Here too avidya is dispelled by vidya and hence
> virodhi:
> परमार्थतत्त्वविज्ञानात्पर्याप्तकामः आत्मकामत्वेन परि समन्ततः आप्ताः कामा
> यस्य, तस्य पर्याप्तकामस्य कृतात्मनः अविद्यालक्षणादपररूपादपनीय स्वेन परेण
> रूपेण कृत आत्मा विद्यया यस्य,
> Chandogya bhashya 7.26.2: Tamas = Avidya. This is dispelled by Vidya,
> paramartha tattva jnanam:
> तमसः अविद्यालक्षणात् पारं परमार्थतत्त्वं
> Kenopanishad bhashya 1.4: AvyAkruta is Avidya, which is the unmanifest,
> which is the seed for the manifest:
> अविदितात् विदितविपरीतादव्याकृतादविद्यालक्षणाद्व्याकृतबीजात्
> Mandukya Karika Bhashyam 3.36: Avidya = Maya nidrA: This is Tamas = Avidya
> which causes non-cognition of Truth:
> अविद्यालक्षणानादिर्मायानिद्रास्वापात्प्रबुद्धम्...ग्रहणाग्रहणे हि
> रात्र्यहनी ; तमश्चाविद्यालक्षणं सदा अप्रभातत्वे कारणम् ;
> BGB: 8.9:  Tamas = ajnana = mohAndhakAra:
> तमसः परस्तात् अज्ञानलक्षणात् मोहान्धकारात्
> BGB 13.26: AdhyAsa is mithyAjnAna: One can see that in the foregoing
> Shankara has accepted Prakriti/Maya as avidya. Thus, mithyAjnAna will have
> to be mithyA cha tadajnAnam cha: that is false ajnana: This will apply to
> the use of this term in the AdhyAsabhAshya too, in order to be consistent
> with Shankara's usage elsewhere:
> अध्यासस्वरूपः क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञसंयोगः मिथ्याज्ञानलक्षणः ।
> Chandogya Bhashya 1.3.1: Tamas of Atma = Ajnana
> जन्ममरणादिलक्षणस्य आत्मनः तमसश्च तत्कारणस्याज्ञानलक्षणस्य भवति ॥
> Chandogya 3.17,.7:  Same as above:
> उद्वयं तमसः अज्ञानलक्षणात्
> From the above sample one can conclude that Shankara accepts explicitly
> that Maya, Prakruti, Avidya, Ajnana, Tamas, Avyakta, AvyAkruta, etc., as
> synonyms.
> The Narada Purana says:  Maya alone is known by the term AjnAna:
> मायैवाऽज्ञानशब्देन बुद्ध्यते मुनिसत्तम ।।
> तस्मादज्ञानविच्छेदो भवेद्वै जितमायिनाम् ।। ३३-७० ।। (See Kannada edition:
> https://cloudup.com/chlxvobAueh
> <
> https://cloudup.com/chlxvobAueh?fbclid=IwAR39B6p8PStQ9ucypKgSYVuqGldwtF_PdDGo9fWVKp-QlMML0wUUgop925E
> >
> p.
> 264)
> ಮಾಯೆಯೇ 'ಅಜ್ಞಾನ' ಎಂಬ ಶಬ್ದದಿಂದಲೂ ತಿಳಿಯಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ
> ಅಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನು ಹೋಗಲಾಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ ಮಾಯೆಯನ್ನು ಗೆಲ್ಲುವುದಕ್ಕೆ.
> Om Tat Sat
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