[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Kilogram not yet concluded after all

[Michael Chandra Cohen]

Namaste Sudhanshuji,

//Anything which is mithyA is adhyasta. MUlAvidyA is mithyA, hence it is
adhyasta//
I repeat my issue: what causes the cause? If mulavidya is adhyasta,
something had to bring it about.

//False means something which is not at all there. Just appears.//
False means incorrect, not according to fact. You must be defining mithya
as false appearance. What do you mean by appearance? Is this appearance the
same as Brahman or different? Is it bhavarupa or 'not at all there'?

// While mUlAvidyA appears even when kArya-adhyAsa isn't there, it itself
being adhyasta, cannot be said to survive adhyAsa.//
Sorry, I am not following. If MV is adhyastha/effect how will it appear
without effect? If you are saying mulavidya/mithya is both cause and
effect, please define mulavidya as cause. How is it a 'mula' if its an
effect.

//And hence mUlAvidyA is mithyA and is hence ever non-existent.//
We have been discussing how even absence is a bhavarupa, how then is
bhavarupa mulavidya, bija shakti, jada mithya, said to be non-existent?
That seems to oppose the vyakhyana kara vada. What am I missing?

//All adhyAsa starting from aham-adhyAsa are kArya-adhyAsa //
I find no cause/effect relationship depicted in Adhyasa Bhasya. Rather
vishayi/vishaya or asmat/yusmad are instinctually superimposed, birthless
and due to indiscrimination rather than some effect or event. Please find a
more precise example where Bhasyakara describes karana adhyasa as opposed
to karya adhyasa

//...Wherever BhAshyakAra talks of AvaraNa, it is ajnAna-adhyAsa//
You mention avarana but indiscrimination is enough to cover the truth
according to Adhyasa Bhasya and that is not spoken of as an effect but just
the nature of superimposition.

And finally, you found my statement incoherent - I will try to clarify. I
said,
 "and btw, absence and darkness are buddhi only - the only bhavarupa of
buddhi is Atma. The bhavarupa of absence of jar is the svarupa of jar which
is only Atma. The point of satkaryavada is to distinguish Existence from
existence/non-existence. Darkness as a bhavarupa does not denote a physical
fact.  i

Satkaryavada argues that the One Brahman is what appears as both cause and
effect without changing its nature. The implication is that Brahman alone
exists and that the appearance of presence and absence of existence and
non-existence of objects, of clay and unmanifested jar, are mistaken
notions. AS NOTIONS, object and its absence both appear as bhavarupa
entities. Bhavarupa however pertains to the jar's svarupa and whether it is
present or absent (of course, the only svarupa is Brahman). Absence, per
se, is only a bhavarupa when it refers to an actual object but in and of
itself cannot denote a physical fact.

Thus, darkness also is not 'something' opposed to light - it is solely
dependent upon light and may be only spoken of metaphorically as
covering/avarana light. Light is the only svarupa. SSSSji brought this out
briefly in one of the footnotes to the Ghata Bhasya that I shared in a
previous email.

Regards,
Michael

On Fri, Sep 6, 2024 at 12:25 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar <sudhanshu.iitk at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Namaste Dennis ji.
>
>> I tend to ignore all references to gods, supernatural events, etc. unless
>> Śaṅkara’s commentary elicits clear metaphorical relevance to something
>> useful. I’m sure all such things had their relevance to past cultures, but
>> I suggest they are superfluous to today’s seekers. (Rinse my mouth out with
>> vinegar!)
>>
> Why this exclusivity to ShankarAchArya? Any emotional reason? 😀
>
> Regards.
> Sudhanshu Shekhar.
>
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