[Advaita-l] [advaitin] 'The Jiva is Mithya' - an article in English

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste Subbu ji.

Nice write-up.

Some points however I wish to highlight.

JIva is mithyA only if jIva is considered to be AbhAsa. (AbhAsa has
vyApya-vritti)

JIva is satya in case it is considered to be pratibimba. (Pratibimba has
avyApya-vritti).

Pratibimba is same as kalpita-upaadhi-sambandha-vishsihTa-bimba.
उपाधिसम्बन्धेन कल्पितेन विशिष्टस्य बिम्बस्य एव प्रतिबिम्बत्वम् (page 847 -
Laghu chandrika. Old edition).

Basically, pratibimba and bimba have identical ontological status. The
anumAna is presented as under:

प्रतिबिम्बो बिम्बाभिन्नः, तद्गतसाधारणधर्मवत्त्वात् ,
तद्विरुद्धधर्मानधिकरणत्वात् , बिम्बाजनकाजन्यत्वाच्च.

(Advaita Siddhi: Bimba-pratibimba-vichArah).

AbhAsa has different ontological status. Like redness-of-crystal is AbhAsa
and not pratibimba on account of being pervaded throughout crystal. And
hence, redness-of-crystal is not vyAvahArika but prAtibhAsika.

So, in pratibimbavAda, jIva and Brahman have identical ontological status
i.e. Satya.

And that is why, here mukhya samanadhikaraNya is taught whereas in
AbhAsavAda, it is bAdha-sAmAnAdhikaraNya.

Regards.
Sudhanshu Shekhar.