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

[V Subrahmanian]

On Thu, Nov 21, 2024 at 5:30 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar <sudhanshu.iitk at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Namaste.
>
>
>> BTW, the subject heading of this thread is quite interesting.  What best
>> explanation the author of this article, would going to offer about
>> Advaita’s famous slogan i.e. :  jeevO brahmaiva na aparaH, if jeeva is
>> mithya??
>>
>
> Same as स्थाणुरयं पुरुषः. JIva is the ghost, Brahman is the post. Simple!
> This is called bAdhAyAm-sAmAnAdhikaraNya and is admitted in AbhAsavAda
> explained by Bhagvan VartikakAra. VedAnta 101!!
>

Dear Sudhamshu ji,

In the article I had quoted a large part of the Bhashyam on the Sutra
1.3.19.  There we see such statements:

तत्रायमभिप्रायः — नित्यशुद्धबुद्धमुक्तस्वभावे कूटस्थनित्ये एकस्मिन्नसङ्गे
परमात्मनि तद्विपरीतं *जैवं रूपं **व्योम्नीव** तलमलादि परिकल्पितम्*;

The jiva is imagined in Brahman just like dirt, etc. are imagined in ether.

अपरे तु वादिनः पारमार्थिकमेव जैवं रूपमिति मन्यन्तेऽस्मदीयाश्च केचित् ।
तेषां सर्वेषामात्मैकत्वसम्यग्दर्शनप्रतिपक्षभूतानां प्रतिषेधायेदं
शारीरकमारब्धम् — एक एव परमेश्वरः कूटस्थनित्यो विज्ञानधातुरविद्यया, मायया
मायाविवत् , अनेकधा विभाव्यते, नान्यो विज्ञानधातुरस्तीति ।

Some hold that the jiva is paramarthika.  One Brahman alone appears to be
many out of Maya, just as a Magician...there is no other sentient entity.

I think while the avaccheda and pratibimba concepts are explicitly found in
the Bhashya, the aabhaasa idea is implicit.

In the Sutra आभास एव च ॥ ५० ॥ 2.3.50 the Bhashya says:

आभास एव च एष जीवः परस्यात्मनो जलसूर्यकादिवत्प्रतिपत्तव्यः, न स एव साक्षात्
, नापि वस्त्वन्तरम् ।   .... आभासस्य च अविद्याकृतत्वात्तदाश्रयस्य
संसारस्याविद्याकृतत्वोपपत्तिरिति, तद्व्युदासेन च पारमार्थिकस्य
ब्रह्मात्मभावस्योपदेशोपपत्तिः ।

He says that the Jiva is AbhAsa alone. And AbhAsa is avidyAkrita.


Here's an example - When the knowledge of the rope underneath (the
illusion) arises, the falseness of the superimposed snake is established -
'This is not a snake, but indeed this is a rope.' Similarly the
knowledge/realization, 'I am not a jiva (individual soul), but indeed I am
Brahman.'"  arises upon the arising of the Brahman knowledge.

There are some popular Vedantic works where the Jiva is denied:

ऋभुप्रोक्तं नामरूपनिषेधनिरूपणम्

(नाहम्)

*नाहं जीवो *न मे भेदो नाहं चिन्ता न मे मनः ।

नाहं मांसं न मेऽस्थीनि नाहङ्कारकलेवरः ॥ २२.३४॥


अवधूतगीता  https://sa.wikisource.org/s/j

न घटो न घटाकाशो* न जीवो न जीवविग्रहः।*
केवलं ब्रह्म संविद्धि वेद्यवेदकवर्जितम्॥३२॥
warm regards
subbu





> When I said, when the brahma is the only satya why we should not say both
>> jeeva and jagat are mithya??!!
>>
>
> Jagat is mithyA is accepted in whole of VedAnta. There is no VedAnta if
> one says jagat is pAramArthika-satya.
>
> JIva is satya in pratibimbavAda being pratibimba. Here tat-tvam-asi is
> mukhya-sAmAnAdhikaraNaya.
> JIva is mithyA in AbhAsavAda. Here tat-tvam-asi is bAdha-sAmAnAdhikaraNya.
>
> Jagat is mithyA in all prakriyAs. So, sarvam-Brahman is always
> bAdha-sAmAnAdhikaraNya.
>
>
>> There was huge roar from all corners of this group that :  NO NO, jeeva
>> is brahman and jagat cannot be said like that!!  Despite the fact that
>> shruti itself says jagat is also brahman 😊
>>
>
> Sir ji. Jagat is also Brahman -- just as sthAnu is purusha.
>
> Regards.
> Sudhanshu Shekhar.
>
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