[Advaita-l] [advaitin] A smart inference by Shankara

[Michael Chandra Cohen]

aum and pranam Subrahmanianji, *What struck me in your selection was "* who
has realized himself as the Atman that does not have body, mind and
instruments.*" It seems then there is no individual to see the world as
Atman. Is this obvious or am I missing something?*



On Mon, Aug 12, 2024 at 7:27 AM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> In the commentary to the BGB for this verse:
>
> वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् ।
> कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ॥ २१ ॥
>
> (He who knows that the Atman is indestructible and eternal can never be a
> doer nor can cause any action.)
>
> Shankara makes a statement:
>
> विदुषः कर्मासम्भववचनात् यानि कर्माणि शास्त्रेण विधीयन्ते तानि अविदुषो
> विहितानि इति भगवतो निश्चयोऽवगम्यते ॥
>
> From the Lord's words that action is impossible for  the Jnani who has
> realized himself as the Atman that does not have body, mind and instruments
> (which alone are the factors involved in action) , it follows that the
> Lord's accepted position is that action enjoined by the scripture is
> directed at the ignorant one, ajnani (who identifies with the body mind
> complex).
>
> This is very significant and reminds one of the similar statement in the
> Adhyasa bhashya where he says that the scripture enjoining action and
> prohibition and that scripture concerning liberation - operates in the
> domain of avidya:
>
> तमेतमविद्याख्यमात्मानात्मनोरितरेतराध्यासं पुरस्कृत्य सर्वे
> प्रमाणप्रमेयव्यवहारा लौकिका वैदिकाश्च प्रवृत्ताः, सर्वाणि च शास्त्राणि
> विधिप्रतिषेधमोक्षपराणि ।
>
> Om tat sat
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "advaitin" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to advaitin+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAKk0Te0zttRXrQMYEUUiMC2OrDCs%3Dw-k%3Dy5E5KYjr0AfqQyP%3DA%40mail.gmail.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAKk0Te0zttRXrQMYEUUiMC2OrDCs%3Dw-k%3Dy5E5KYjr0AfqQyP%3DA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
> .
>