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

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste Venkatraghavan ji.

Many thanks for your comments.

//I guess the implication of this is that avidyAkArya is anirvachanIya
because it is sadasatvilakshaNa, while continuing to be "bhAva". avidyA is
anirvachanIya while it is bhAva-abhAva-vilakshaNa!//

Precisely.

//This is the main charge that SSS and his followers and dvaitins level
against vyAkhyAnakAras and advaita, respectively - their argument is that
if something is abhAva-vilakshaNa, it must be contradictory to advaita.

To dvaitins, the answer is that despite the world being bhAva, it is still
only sadasatvilakshaNa.

When that is the case, the answer to SSS is even more straight forward -
avidyA is not even bhAva in our construct, so for it to contradict
sat-advaita is a complete impossibility!//

True. MAdhvAs are replied by avidyA being sat-asat-vilakshaNA while SSS'
are replied by showing avidyA to be bhAva-abhAva-vilakshaNA.

What surprises me is this -- despite so clear articulation by AcharyAs
following VivaraNa -- that even a class eight student can understand ---
why do they keep on repeating same merit-less argument mindlessly, even
after being shown the argument.

I mean siddhAnta says -- avidyA is bhAva-vilakshaNA and abhAva-vilakshaNA.
How can someone (SSS') say that "look here --- vyAkhyAnakAra is saying
avidyA is bhAva. They are violating advaita."

Isn't it hilarious?

I wonder if it is absence of cognitive capacity to understand the argument
adduced, or stubborn refusal to put the intellectual faculties to use or
sheer unconcern for knowledge or a combination of all of these!

Regards.
Sudhanshu Shekhar.