[Advaita-l] [advaitin] How jnAnAbhAva can cause adhyAsa !!??

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Sudhanshu ji

On Sat, 14 Sept 2024, 20:14 Sudhanshu Shekhar, <sudhanshu.iitk at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> //whereas for us, abhAva is only known through anupalabdhi//
>
> We can have abhAva-jnAna through anumAna, arthApatti as well. Isn't that
> so?
>
I meant the asAdhAraNa kAraNa is anupalabdhi pramANa. In my view, the
cognition of present abhAva has to be by anupalabdhi only.

>
> For example, in advaita siddhAnta, jnAna-abhAva is known through either
> anumAna pramANa or arthApatti pramANa. Neither pratyaksha nor anupalabdhi
> no sAkshi-vedyatA can work here. Please share your views.
>

The vivaraNa example that you shared is talking of the recollection in the
waking state of the ajnAna anubhava in suShupti and through that, inferring
that there was jnAna abhAva in deep sleep through arthApatti. That is, it
is an inference of past abhAva.

SAkshI-jnAna is always an aparoksha-jnAna. Meaning thereby, sAkshI-jnAna
>> must have aparoksha-vishaya. BAla-bodhinI so beautifully presents it - यः
>> प्रमाणान्तराविषयोऽपि *साक्षात्स्फुरति*, तस्यैव अनात्मवस्तुनः
>> साक्षिवेद्यत्वमङ्गीक्रियते.
>>
>
> Now, abhAva is paroksha-vishaya. BAla-bodhinI says - *अभावस्तु न
> साक्षात्फुरति*, परोक्षज्ञानमात्रवेद्यत्वात्‌ । अनुपलब्धिप्रमाणगम्यत्वाच्च
> । *अतोऽभावः परोक्ष एव*।
>
> Hence, sAkshI-jnAna can never have abhAva as vishaya. [SAkshI-jnAna has to
> have aparoksha-vishaya AND abhAva is a paroksha-vishaya].
>

Indeed.

One point that I wish to add. The viShayatva of the vRtti by the sAkshi is
because of an AdhyAsika sambandha (see the chapter dRg-dRshya-sambandha).

So if the sAkshi needs to have sambandha with the object for it to perceive
it, it follows that there is an object there! How can there be a sambandha
between the sAkshi and nothing? A connection is always between two things.

As the bhAShyakAra argued in the ghaTa bhAShya, sambandha is always
dviniShTha - किञ्चान्यत् ; प्रागुत्पत्तेः शशविषाणवदभावभूतस्य घटस्य
स्वकारणसत्तासम्बन्धानुपपत्तिः, द्विनिष्ठत्वात्सम्बन्धस्य ।



> It also leads to sarvajnatva Apatti. That is, if abhAva can be viewed by
>> the sAkshi, then what is to stop every object in the entire universe being
>> viewed by the sAkshi without the intervention of a vRtti.
>>
>
> True. But then he could very well say that indeed, everything is known by
> SAkshI, [by following VivaraNa - sarvam vastu jnAtatayA ajnAtatayA..]. One
> more ingredient in the hotchpotch!!
>

There is a difference though - for the sAkshi to know anything, it needs a
vRtti (either as an object or as a means to objectify).  For the perception
of "internal" things such as thoughts, the sAkshi needs the thoughts
(vRtti) as an object of the sAkshi, or for "external" things like pots, the
sAkshi needs the vRtti to bring that object into contact with the sAkshi.
Absence of thought cannot be an object of the sAkshi, because the process
of objectification is the creation of a sambandha with the sAkshi. And a
sambandha needs two sambandhI-s.

So yes, sAkshi has the *capacity* to know everything, but there has to
be a *vRtti
for each thing.* Ishvara has the vRtti (mAyA) for each thing, so He is
sarvajna. We don't - so we are not. The sAkshi is the same, whether it is
Ishvara or you and I.

If you say that without the vRtti itself the sAkshi can see (Sri SSS holds
that the sAkshi can see abhAva, without a vRtti objectifying abhAva), then
you or I can be sarvajna too!

Kind regards,
Venkatraghavan