[Advaita-l] Definition of Ashrayatva and Vishayatva

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, Jan 27, 2024 at 2:01 PM Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Subbuji
> Thank you.
>
> The Ashraya of avidyA in the bhAmati prasthAna is the jIva.
>
> Some examples:
>
> 1) in the adhyAsa bhAShya commentary he says that the locus of avidyA is
> the samsAri jIvAtma - तदनेनान्तःकरणाद्यवच्छिन्नः प्रत्यगात्मा
> इदमनिदंस्वरूपश्चेतनः कर्ता भोक्ता कार्यकारणाविद्याद्वयाधारोऽहङ्कारास्पदं
> संसारी सर्वानर्थसम्भारभाजनं जीवात्मा इतरेतराध्यासोपादानः, तदुपादानश्चाध्यास
> इत्यनादित्वाद् बीजाङ्कुरवन्नेतरेतराश्रयत्वमित्युक्तं भवति ।
>
> 2) नाविद्या ब्रह्माश्रया, किं तु जीवे, सा त्वनिर्वचनीयेत्युक्तम् , तेन
> नित्यशुद्धमेव ब्रह्म ।
>
> 3) He addresses the charge of the samkshepa shAriraka of पूर्वसिद्धतमसो हि
> पश्चिमो नाश्रयो भवति नापि गोचरः by saying that as both the jIvabhAva and
> avidyA are beginningless, it is possible for the jIva to be the locus of
> avidyA while at the same time being dependent on it for his jIvabhAva, like
> the seed and the sapling -
>

Thanks for the passages from the Bhamati.  Maybe the two, Vachaspati Misra
and Sarvajnatman were somewhat close contemporaries. In the Brihadaranyaka
bhashya 1.4.10 there is a discussion where Bhagavatpada raises a question:
How can Brahman be the avidyAkartR?  And replies that since no other
sentient entity other than Brahman is there as per the mantra, by default
Brahman has to be the locus (and object) of avidya.  This mantra is about
Brahman getting the aham brahmasmi jnana and shedding its finite jiva bhava
and acquiring the sarvatma bhava.

warm regards
subbu

>
> न चाविद्यायां सत्यां जीवात्मविभागः, सति च जीवात्मविभागे
> तदाश्रयाविद्येत्यन्योन्याश्रयमिति साम्प्रतम् । अनादित्वेन
> जीवाविद्ययोर्बीजाङ्कुरवदनवकॢप्तेरयोगात् ।
>
> Kind regards,
> Venkatraghavan
>
> On Sat, 27 Jan 2024, 13:01 V Subrahmanian, <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> In the Panchadashi, 6th chapter too the concept is mentioned:
>>
>> जलव्योम्ना घटाकाशोयथा सर्वस्तिरोहितः ।
>> तथा जीवेन कूटस्थः सोऽन्योऽन्याध्यास उच्यते ॥ २४॥
>>
>> अयं जीवो न कूटस्थं विविनक्ति कदाचन ।
>> अनादिरविवेकोऽयं मूलाविद्येति गम्यताम् ॥ २५॥
>>
>> विक्षेपावृतिरूपाभ्यां द्विधाविद्या प्रकल्पिता ।न भाति नास्ति कूटस्थ इत्यापादनमावृतिः ॥ २६॥
>>
>> अज्ञानी विदुषा पृष्टः कूटस्थं न प्रबुध्यते ।न भाति नास्ति कूटस्थ इति बुद्ध्वा वदत्यपि ॥ २७॥
>>
>> स्वप्रकाशे कुतोऽविद्या तां विना कथमावृतिः ।
>> इत्यादितर्कजालानि स्वानुभूतिर्ग्रसत्यसौ ॥ २८॥
>>
>>
>> From the other Acharyas that have spoken on this, can we conclude that
>> this concept of ashrayatva-vishayatva is of the Vivarana school?  Does not
>> the Bhamati bother about this at all?
>>
>> regards
>> subbu
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 26, 2024 at 5:59 AM Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Namaste Sudhanshu ji,
>>> Are you interested in Ashrayatva / viShayatva definitions in general or
>>> definitions of ajnAna's Ashrayatva / viShayatva in particular?
>>>
>>> Where something is located is its Ashraya - does there need to be
>>> anything
>>> more to it? That being the case, where ignorance is located is its
>>> Ashraya.
>>> I think we can define the object of ignorance (viShaya) as the locus of
>>> non-cognisance arising due to ignorance of an otherwise cognisable
>>> entity.
>>>
>>> Have you looked at the TIkA's to the sankshepa shAriraka in this regard?
>>> I
>>> briefly referred to the tattvabodhini TIkA of nRsimhAshrama (
>>>
>>> https://archive.org/details/434_Wthe-samkshepa-shariraka-with-tattva-bodhini-sarasvati-bhavana-granthmala-no.-69-_202012_/page/n9/mode/2up
>>> ).
>>>
>>> The commentary to the sloka 20 on Page 34 defines anavabhAsa as नास्ति न
>>> प्रकाशते इति स्वरूपविपरीतव्यवहारविषयत्वयोग्यत्वं, and that can be used
>>> for
>>> ajnAnaviShayatva also.
>>>
>>> The siddhAnta leSha sangraha also says something similar ‘नास्ति न
>>> प्रकाशते’ इत्यादिव्यवहारयोग्यत्वमिति परम्परया अज्ञानविषयत्वाभ्युपगमात्.
>>>
>>> A similar approach is taken in the advaita siddhi chapter on ajnAna
>>> viShayopapattih in defining AvaraNakRtyam - नास्ति न प्रकाशत इति व्यवहार
>>> एवाभिज्ञादिसाधारणः; अस्ति प्रकाशत इत्येतद्व्यवहाराभावो वा आवरणकृत्यम् ।
>>> आवरणं
>>> च तद्योग्यता अज्ञानसंबन्धरूपा सुषुप्त्यादिसाधारणी आब्रह्मज्ञानमवतिष्ठते ।
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Venkatraghavan
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 4:39 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l <
>>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Hari Om,
>>> >
>>> > In Samkshepa ShArIraka, it is said that Ashraya and vishaya of ajnAna
>>> is
>>> > shuddha chaitanya.
>>> >
>>> > It is to request the learned members that precise definitions of
>>> Ashrayatva
>>> > and vishayatva may kindly be shared along with citations, if possible.
>>> >
>>> > Regards.
>>> > Sudhanshu Shekhar.
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>>