[Advaita-l] BhAvarUpatA of avidyA

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Thanks Praveen ji.

I had posted another question also. I will also again reframe the questions
after your view on this.

1. Is pot-abhAva triguNatmaka?

Regards.






On Thu, 1 Feb, 2024, 5:29 pm Praveen R. Bhat, <bhatpraveen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Sudhanshuji,
>
> On Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 10:37 AM Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> In the lakshaNa of avidyA,  अनादिभावरूपं यद्विज्ञानेन विलीयते ।
>> तदज्ञानमिति
>> प्राज्ञा लक्षणं संप्रचक्षते ॥, the word bhAvarUpa is explained to mean
>> abhAva-vilakshaNa. Here, what exactly does the abhAva in
>> "abhAva-vilakshaNa" refer to?
>>
>
> I suppose this lakShaNa is from Chitsukhi and I think it covers both of
> the following, with na~n in virodhArtha.
>
>> 1. Does it refer to nirvishesha-abhAva like horns of hare or does it refer
>> to vishesha-abhAva such as pot-abhAva, cloth-abhAva?
>>
>> 2. Is abhAva-vilakshaNa intended to distinguish avidyA from asat OR is it
>> to distinguish avidyA from prAgabhAva, pradhvansAbhAva, anyonyAbhAva,
>> atyantAbhAva etc.
>>
>
> Since there is a pratiti of avidyA, it is atyAntAsatvilakShaNa and since
> it also covers tUlAvidyA, it is also ghaTAbhAvAdivilakShaNa. I am not sure
> how 2 is seeking anything different from 1, because if abhAva covers both
> meanings then bhAvarUpa being abhAvavilakShaNa also covers both meanings.
> Naiyayikas' four abhAvas are w.r.t. viShaya not jnAna and their ajnAna is
> abhAva of jnAna, not virodhi, so Vedanti's bhAvarUpatva of ajnAna has to be
> vilakShaNa to their abhAva.
>
> gurupAdukAbhyAm,
> --Praveen R. Bhat
> /* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one know
> That, owing to which all this is known! [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */
>