[Advaita-l] [advaitin] SSSS on the controversy between mulav7idya and abhavarupa - directly and simply explained as per SSSS

[H S Chandramouli]

Resending following post without the links as earlier post was heldup due
to size restriction

Namaste Venkat Ji,

Reg //  In the mANDUkya bhAShya 1.11, Shankaracharya says -

तत्त्वाग्रहणान्यथाग्रहणाभ्यां बीजफलभावाभ्यां तौ यथोक्तौ विश्वतैजसौ बद्धौ
सङ्गृहीतौ इष्येते । प्राज्ञस्तु बीजभावेनैव बद्धः ।

Here he is describing tattvAgrahaNa as a bIja, and that while the vishva
and taijasa are bound by this and anyathAgrahaNa, the prAjna is bound only
by the bIja, tattvAgrahaNa.

Further, he describes the relationship between tattvAgrahaNa and
anyathAgrahaNa as the relationship between a bIja (seed) and a phala
(fruit).

It is difficult to imagine how an abhAva-rUpa tattva-agrahaNa can be said
to be the basis for the prAjna to be bound, especially so because Shankara
explicitly raises the possibility of tattva-agrahaNa to be abhAva-rUpa in
mANDukya kAruka bhAShya 1.2 and dismisses it //,

I am copying below from वेदान्तप्रक्रियाप्रत्यभिज्ञा of Sri SSS page 185
which I thought briefly touches upon your observation

// तस्माद्वस्तुस्वरूपविवेकाभावेन निमित्तेन मृषाविकल्पन रूपाध्यासस्य लोके
दृष्टत्वात् इहाप्यात्मानात्मस्वरूपविवेका भावनिबन्धन एव तदन्योन्या- ध्यास
इत्यवगम्यत इत्यनवद्यम् । सोऽयं विवेकाभाव:, अज्ञानम्,अग्रहणम्, अनवबोधः,
अनवगमः, अप्रतिबोध: - इत्यादिपर्यायशब्दैरपि ज्ञानाभावबोधकैर्व्यपदिश्यते
भाष्ये । कचिच्च मिथ्याज्ञानकारणत्वात् कारणं ,बीजम्, निद्रा, सुप्तिः - इत्यपि
 । तदपेक्षया मिथ्याज्ञानमेव कार्यम् फलम्, स्वप्न इति च व्यवहृतोऽभियुक्तैः ।
तद्यथा

कार्यकारणबद्ध ताविष्येते विश्वतैजसौ । प्राज्ञः कारणबद्धस्तु द्वौ तौ तुर्ये न
 सिध्यतः ॥ 12 ॥

द्वैतस्याग्रहणं तुल्यमुभयोः प्राज्ञतुर्ययोः । निद्रायुतः प्राज्ञः सा च
तुर्ये न विद्यते ॥ १३ ॥

स्वमनिद्रायुतावाधौ प्राज्ञस्त्वस्वननिद्रया । न निद्रां नैव च स्वयं तु
पश्यन्ति निश्चिताः ॥ १४ ॥

अन्यथा गृह्णतः स्वप्नो निद्रा तत्वमजानतः | विपर्यासे तयोः क्षीणे तुरीयं
पदमश्नुते  ॥ १५ ॥

इति चागमप्रकरणे श्रीगौडपादाचार्याः || //.

While I am not happy with the translation by Alston, for want of a better
alternative, I am copying below from his translation, for the benefit of
readers who may need it.

// Thus we observe in worldly experience that superimposition as false
imagination has absence of discrimination of the true nature of some
reality as its prior condition. So we may say that the mutual
superimposition of the Self and the not-self has absence of discrimination
of the true nature of the Self and the not-self as its sole prior cause.
And this absence of discrimination is taught in Sri Sankara's commentaries
by a variety of synonymous words implying want of knowledge, such as
absence of knowledge (ajñāna), failure to perceive (agrahana), not being
aware of (anavagama), not being awake to (anavabodha, apratibodha). Because
it is the cause of wrong knowledge, it is sometimes also called cause
(kāraņa), seed or sleep (nidra, supti). Wrong knowledge is referred to in
the authoritative texts as the 'effect of absence of knowledge, or as its
'result' or as 'dream'.

For example, we find in the First Book of the Karikas of Gauḍapada:

 'Viśva (Consciousness associated with the waking state) and Taijasa
(Consciousness associated with the dream- state) are both accepted as being
conditioned as cause (nonperception of the Self) and as effect (wrong
perception of the Self). Prajña (Consciousness associated with dreamless
sleep) is conditioned solely as cause.

Neither cause nor effect (neither nonperception of the Self nor wrong
perception of the Self) are found in Turiya (pure Consciousness as such,
transcending all states).... Neither Prajña nor Turiya are aware of
duality. In this respect they are equal. But Prajña is associated with the
seed called sleep. Sleep does not exist in Turiya. Viśva and Taijasa are
associated with both sleep and dream (where the word 'dream' is used in a
broad sense to include waking experience as well as dream, each being
regarded as a species of wrong knowledge). Prajña has sleep, but is free
from dream (in the above broad sense). But the enlightened ones see neither
sleep nor dream in Turiya. Dream is the state of one who perceives wrongly
(anyatha-grahana); sleep (nidra) is the state of one who does not know the
truth. When the delusion of these two states no longer occurs, one reaches
the plane of Turiya (G.K. 1.11, 13-15)' //.

I would once again stress that I am not a follower of Sri SSS. I am just
copying what I thought were relevant responses from the texts of Sri SSS
since there have been no such responses so far from others.

Regards



>>
>>