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

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Sudhanshu Ji,


> See, the ekadeshI can argue like the following:
>
> I accept that jnAna-abhAva cannot be known by anupalabdhi on account of
> reasons adduced by you.
>

To clarify, for a bhAvarupa ajnAna vAdin, it is not a problem that
anupalabdhi (or any vRtti for that matter) is needed for the cognition of
jnAna abhAva, because for me there is a bhAvarUpa ajnAna that is not jnAna
abhAva.

I hold that the object of the cognition "I don't know anything" is a
bhAvarUpa ajnAna, not jnAna abhAva. So, even if anupalabdhi reveals that
there is jnAna abhAva, what is revealed is bhAvarupa ajnAna only! Therefore
the existence of anupalabdhi vRtti does not invalidate the cognition "I
don't know".

Whereas the jnAna-abhAvavAdin who holds that there is no bhAvarUpa ajnAna,
cannot have any means of explaining the cognition of jnAna abhAva. It
cannot be done by sAkshi alone. If done with a vRtti, there is no longer
jnAna abhAva. It is self defeating.



> But what is preventing me to accept an abhAva-AkArA-avidyA-vritti? After
> all, when there is an abhAva-bhrama, say ghaTa-abhAva-bhrama in a place
> where ghaTa is present --- there, both you and me do accept
> ghaTa-abhAva-AkArA-avidyA-vritti.
>
> Similarly, let me accept sAkshi-vedyatA of ghaTa-abhAva through
> ghaTa-abhAva-AkArA-avidyA-vritti as well. (Please note that this can be
> said by bhAvarUpa-avidyA-vAdI. SSSS ji cannot use this option because
> abhAva-avidyA cannot have vritti)
>

If it is avidyAvRtti that is needed to know ghaTa abhAva, such an abhAva
jnAna cannot be a pramA.  Every cognition of absence would end up being a
bhrama.

Kind regards,
Venkatraghavan


> To this, the only logical response which appears to me is to distinguish
> the nature of abhAva -- that it is a paroksha-vishaya and hence cannot be
> subject to aparoksha-jnAna of sAkshI. {abhAva-bhrama, on the contrary,
> would be aparoksha}. Kindly share your view.
>
> Regards.
> Sudhanshu Shekhar.
>
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