[Advaita-l] Shankara accepts Avidya lesha in at least two places: BSB and BGB

[V Subrahmanian]

Shankara says in the BSB 4.1.15:

बाधितमपि तु मिथ्याज्ञानं द्विचन्द्रज्ञानवत्संस्कारवशात्कंचित्कालमनुवर्तत एव
 ।

(The mithyAjnana, the false ignorance, even though is sublated by right
knowledge, will indeed continue for a period of time, like the perception
of double-moon, owing to latent impressions - samskara.)

A corollary to the above bhashya wordings:  Since Shankara accepts that the
mithyAjnana, false ignorance, is bAdhita, sublated by right knowledge, it
follows that for Shankara avidya / ajnAna is a mithyA vastu, like the
superimposed snake on the rope-substratum. Only that which is unreal,
superimposed, can be sublated by right knowledge. Thus, the term
'mithyAjnAna' occurring in the AdhyAsa bhAshya is decidedly to be parsed as
'mithyA cha tadajnAnam cha' (ajnAnam that is mithyA) and not 'mithyA cha
tat jnAnam cha' (wrong knowledge / erroneous knowledge).

Ratnaprabha: 4.1.15 commentary glosses the word 'samskara' - latent
impression - of the Bhashya as 'avidyA-lesha')

विक्षेपकाविद्यालेश एव तत्संस्कारः ।   (The projecting power, vikshepaka
shakti, avidyAlesha alone is that samskara)

Thus, the claim that Shankara does not say or accept avidyalesha, is
baseless as the gloss points out that the concept of avidyAlesha is
expressed by the term 'samskara' by Shankara.



In the Siddhanta lesha sangraha,  Sri Appayya Dikshitendra lists a few
views/definitions of the term avidyAlesha, from the works of various
Advaita Acharyas:

अथ कोऽयमविद्यालेशः, यदनुवृत्त्या जीवन्मुक्तिः ?
आवरणविक्षेपशक्तिमत्या मूलाविद्यायाः
प्रारब्धकर्मवर्तमानदेहाद्यनुवृत्तिप्रयोजको विक्षेपशक्त्यंश इति केचित् ।
क्षालितलशुनभाण्डानुवृत्तलशुनवासनाकल्पोऽविद्यासंस्कार इति − अन्ये ।
दग्धपटन्यायेनानुवृत्ता मूलाविद्यैवेति − अपरे ।
सर्वज्ञात्मगुरवस्तु − विरोधिसाक्षात्कारोदये
लेशतोऽप्यविद्यानुवृत्त्यसम्भवात् जीवन्मुक्तिशास्त्रं
श्रवणादिविध्यर्थवादमात्रम् , शास्त्रस्य जीवन्मुक्तिप्रतिपादने
प्रयोजनाभावात् । अतः कृतनिदिध्यासनस्य ब्रह्मसाक्षात्कारोदयमात्रेण
सविलासवासनाविद्यानिवृत्तिः – इत्यपि कञ्चित् पक्षमाहुः ।
The Sankshepa shariraka takes the view that jivanmukti is only an
arthavada, eulogy, for the shravana vidhi.
Avidya lesha in the Bh.Gita bhashya:   5.13:
सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी ।
नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् ॥ १३ ॥
(The embodied man of self-control, having given up all actions mentally,
continues happily in the town of nine gates, without doing or causing
(others) to do anything at all.)
The relevant part of the Bhashya:
उत्पन्नविवेकज्ञानस्य सर्वकर्मसंन्यासिनोऽपि गेहे इव देहे एव नवद्वारे पुरे
आसनम् प्रारब्धफलकर्म*संस्कारशेषानुवृत्त्या* देह एव विशेषविज्ञानोत्पत्तेः ।
Even in the case of one in whom has arisen discriminating wisdom and who
has renounced all actions, there can be, like staying in a house, the
continuance in the body itself-the town with nine gates-as a consequence of
the* persistence of the remnants of the results of past actions which have
started bearing fruit, *because the awareness of being distinct (from the
body) arises while one is in the body itself.
It is worth noting that the Gita bhashya, just like the Brahma Sutra
bhashya cited above, has the word 'samskara' in connection with the
continuance of the Jnani to be in the body post-Jnanam.
Another similarity between the two Bhashyams is on this count:

The BSB 4.1.15 has the statement that the Jnani continues to be aware of
'being in the body'.  The BGB 5.13 too has the statement that the Jnani is
conscious of being in the body.
Thus we conclude that the concept of 'avidyAlesha' (samskara - the word
used by Shankara) is explicitly admitted by Shankara in at least these two
instances in the Prasthana traya bhashya. What is significant is that the
term 'avidyAlesha' is what corresponds to the term 'samskara' as explained
by a post-Shankara Advaitin.  This proves that the concept of 'avidyAlesha'
is not something introduced by post-Shankara Advaitins but very much there
in the Bhashya itself, although denoted by a different technical term
'samskAra'.

Om Tat Sat