[Advaita-l] The concept of atyanta-abhAva

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Hari Om,

advaita vedAnta does not prefer the four-fold classification of abhAva and
accepts atyanta-abhAva alone. At places, such as in anupalabdhi
parichchheda of VedAnta ParibhAshA and in
निषेधप्रतियोगित्वानुपपत्त्याऽनिर्वचनीयत्वसमर्थनम् of Advaita Siddhi, the
four-fold division is accepted. However, the preferred view is that of
singular atyanta-abhAva as explained in ajnAna-pratyaksha-vichArah of
Advaita Siddhi.

Further, this atyanta-abhAva is manadatorily adhikaraNa-swarUpa in case the
atyanta-abhAva is not contradictory to the pratiyOgI.

In case atyanta-abhAva is contradictory to the pratiyOgI, it can be either
adhikaraNa-swarUpa or different therefrom, depending on prakriyA.

In case atyanta-abhAva-contradictory-to-pratiyOgI is accepted as
adhikaraNa-swarUpa, anupalabdhi pramANa is either not accepted, or accepted
to enable knowing the adhikaraNa "abhAvatva-prakAraka-tvena".

A detailed analysis of concept of atyant-abhAva in proper format and
tabular representation in PDF can be accessed at
https://sudhanshushekhar.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/the-concept-of-atyanta-abhava.pdf.
The write-up is large and hence cannot be posted here in entirety.

I request learned members to go through the write-up and share their views
which will help me in further understanding of this pivotal topic.

Regards.
Sudhanshu Shekhar.