[Advaita-l] Hacker on bija and creation

[Michael Chandra Cohen]

Namaste Sudhanshuji,
I replied personally without noticing your public response. So I'm
repeating.

Namaste Sudhanshuji, Hacker mentions namarupa bijashakty-avastham from
BSbh1.4.2-3 (text 2) in the abstract in my previous message.

and here's another quote of particular reference on Namarupa and Avidya
p74ff, "
The renderingol avidyii into a material thing, the prime matter of the
cosmos, was already widespread prior to S. in Vedantic and Vai�cyava
cirdes. 33 He rejected it, to be sure, not with an explicit refutation but
by means of his linguistic usage. That is to say, S. clearly always strove
to follow the Upaniiads closely in his method of thought and terminology.
But one simply cannot extricate the theory of avidyil as prime matter from
those texts. On the other hand, one can base the theory of namarripa as the
world seed on Upani�adic passages if, as shown above, one interprets them
from the standpoint of the satkaryavada. Moreover, in pural)ic thought
avidya is only another name for pralq-ti and does not connote an illusion.
S. thus could have feared that the word would have been misunderstood in a
dualistic-realistic sense had he employed it in the sense of "prime matter.'
"
Only proving Hacker's observations are FUNDAMENTALLY mistaken and not
merely topically in error can you claim a superior understanding of bhasya.
Hacker makes SSSS easy with an accounting of evidence and a technician's
exegesis.

Have you read Hacker? Maybe a point by point analysis - point you on the
map :)

regards, michael

On Thu, Aug 22, 2024 at 9:55 AM Michael Chandra Cohen <
michaelchandra108 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Raghav,
> Thanks for the appreciation.
>
> Yes, Alston's study also finds ambiguity with upadana and avidya in
> Sureswara apparently disagreeing with SSSS. However, both Alston and Hacker
> suggest upadana's use intends 'identity' rather than creation perhaps in
> the sense pratipatti krama, one presupposes the other.
>
> regards, michael
>
> On Thu, Aug 22, 2024 at 9:11 AM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> Namaste ji
>>
>> Thank you for sharing Hacker's views.
>>
>> On Thu, 22 Aug, 2024, 5:33 pm Michael Chandra Cohen via Advaita-l, <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>> >    -
>> >
>> >    Namaste Sudhanshuji,
>> >
>> >
>> >    Attached also is Hacker’s 44 page pdf on avidya, maya, namarupa and
>> >    eshwara that should be required reading for any defense of mulavidya.
>> > You
>> >    have already taken issue with Hacker but only on one or two
>> instances -
>> >    insufficient imho.
>> >    -
>>
>>
>> >    .". Nevertheless, this much can be affirmed with regard to
>> >    the differentiation of the interpretation of S. from that of all
>> other
>> >    Advaitins-that in his case avidya is never designated as material
>> cause
>> > of
>> >    the physical world. It is never referred to as upadana• karana or
>> > prakrti,
>> >    whereas even Suresvara, who is closer to S. than anyone else in his
>> >    understanding of avidya, uses the expression upadana to refer to
>> avidya.
>> >
>>
>>  It's significant that for Hacker, even Sureshvara is regarded as having
>> "diverged" from Shankara because of using the word upAdAna for avidyA.
>> From
>> an emic (I e., sAmpradAyika) perspective, this is significant that even
>> etics (sAmpradAyikEtarAH) like Hacker acknowledge that Sureshvara's stand
>> is supportive of avidyA's upAdAna kAraNatvam and on this crucial issue of
>> avidyA=mAyA, there is no daylight between vivaraNa and vArtika
>> prasthAna-s.
>>
>>
>> You also wrote quite rightly imho,  that -
>> " I suspect Hacker drew inspiration from SSSS though he only offers scant
>>    recognition"
>>
>>
>> Yes ji. Thats very reasonable to say SSS inspired Hacker. But amongst
>> etics
>> (scholars who are outside the sampradAya, it's common if not customary to
>> not acknowledge emic (sAmpradAyika) scholars from whom they borrow/derive
>> their ideas. That's sad to know that Hacker gives SSS scant recognition or
>> credit.
>>
>> >
>>
>> Om
>> Raghav
>>
>> >
>> >
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