[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Bhavarupa Ajnana Tamas (Ignorance) - Nrsimha Tapini Upanishad and Gita Bhashya

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste Venkatraghavan ji.

If we see the bhAshya vAkya, it says - आवरणात्मकत्वात् अविद्या
विपरीतग्राहकः, संशयोपस्थापको वा, अग्रहणात्मको वा ;

Now while avidyA is said to be viparIta-"grAhaka" and
samshaya-"upasthApaka", it is stated to be agrahaNa-"Atmaka". The suffix
"Atmaka" is also used for AvaraNa. The use of suffix "Atmaka" for agrahNa
and AvaraNa seems to suggest that agrahaNa and AvaraNa are the very swarUpa
of avidyA. This also corroborates from KArikA 1.12.

Anandagiri TIkA says in this context -
तमश्शब्दिताज्ञानोत्थवस्तुप्रकाशप्रतिबन्धकः तिमिरकाचादिदोषः, तस्मिन् सति
#अज्ञानं मिथ्याधीः संशयश्च इति त्रयस्य उपलम्भात्. Here also, while writing
the three, it places the word ajnAna directly at the places of agrahaNa.

So, these seem to indicate that agrahNa = ajnAna = avidyA =AvaraNa

However, Anandagiri further says -- विपर्ययादेः सत्योपादानत्वे
सत्यत्वप्रसङ्गात् न आत्मा तदुपादानम् , किन्तु दोषस्य
चक्षुरादिधर्मत्वग्रहणात् #अग्रहणादेरपि दोषत्वात् करणधर्मत्वे, करणम्
#अविद्योत्थम् अन्तःकरणम् ।

Here, he says that agrahaNa etc are karaNa-dharma wherein karaNa is born of
avidyA. This seems to suggest that agrahNa is born of avidyA and is hence
different from avidyA.

BhAshyakAra also says - न विपरीतादिग्रहणं #तन्निमित्तं वा
#तैमिरिकत्वादिदोषः ग्रहीतुः, चक्षुषः संस्कारेण तिमिरे अपनीते ग्रहीतुः
अदर्शनात् न ग्रहीतुर्धर्मः यथा ; तथा सर्वत्रैव
#अग्रहणविपरीतसंशयप्रत्ययास्तन्निमित्ताः करणस्यैव कस्यचित् भवितुमर्हन्ति, न
ज्ञातुः क्षेत्रज्ञस्य.

Here, the nimitta of agrahNa, viparIta-grahaNa and samshaya is
distinguished.

A comparative analysis shows that:

agrahNa, viparIta-grahaNa and samshaya-jnAna are all products of ajnAna.
And hence neither of the three can be equated to ajnAna. The usage of word
ajnAna for the three can be very well done as gold-ornament can as well be
referred by the word gold.

Regards.

On Sat, 20 Jul 2024, 03:21 Venkatraghavan S, <agnimile at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Sudhanshu Ji,
>
> The gItA bhAShya quote is distinguishing the tAmasarupA avidyA from
> agrahaNa, the experience of not knowing (agrahaNasya upalabdhi). Here the
> tAmasarUpA avidyA is a 'thing', which leads to the experience of agrahaNa.
> That is the crux of the bhAvarupA / abhAvarUpA debate.
>
> The mANDUkya is equating the name of the thing - it is referred to /
> denoted by the terms agrahaNa / tamas / avidyA. The veil is referred to as
> agrahaNa, because one experiences agrahaNa because of it. It is not "not
> knowing" itself, as alleged by the abhAvavAdins.
>
> Regards,
> Venkatraghavan
>
>
>
> On Fri, 19 Jul 2024, 20:02 Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l, <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> Namaste Venkatraghavan ji.
>>
>> //Thus, the phrase तामसे... आवरणात्मके सति अग्रहणादेः अविद्यात्रयस्य
>> उपलब्धेः is also evidence of the AvaraNa being different to agrahaNa.//
>>
>> Indeed the phrase reads out like AvaraNa being different from avidyA-traya
>> on account of सति सप्तमी.
>>
>> However, in MAnDUkya KArikA 1.12, agrahaNa and anyathA-grahaNa have been
>> postulated as kAraNa and kArya respectively. Also, agrahNa has itself been
>> stated to be darkness. तत्त्व-अग्रहण, तम and अन्यथाग्रहणबीज are equated in
>> 1.12.
>>
>> कथं पुनः कारणबद्धत्वं प्राज्ञस्य तुरीये वा तत्त्वाग्रहणान्यथाग्रहणलक्षणौ
>> बन्धौ न सिध्यत इति ? यस्मात् — आत्मानम् , विलक्षणम् , अविद्याबीजप्रसूतं
>> वेद्यं बाह्यं द्वैतम् — प्राज्ञो न किञ्चन संवेत्ति, यथा विश्वतैजसौ ;
>> ततश्चासौ #तत्त्वाग्रहणेन #तमसा #अन्यथाग्रहणबीजभूतेन बद्धो भवति ।
>>
>> So, from this, can it be deduced that avidyA which is AvaraNa is itself
>> agrahaNa and samshaya-jnAna/viparIta-jnAna are anyathA-grahaNa? Since
>> agrahaNa is the seed of anyathA-grahaNa, it cannot be abhAva and has to be
>> bhAvarUpa. So, the bhAvarUpatva of ajnAna is admitted.
>>
>> This results in AvaraNa being identical to agrahaNa on account of being
>> its
>> very swarUpa and not separate therefrom. Sati saptamI can be explained in
>> this manner also.
>>
>> Regards.
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