[Advaita-l] Fwd: [advaitin] what is abhava?

[Michael Chandra Cohen]

Namaste Bhaskarji,
Yes, I am aware mulavidyavada/mvv posits darkness as something contrasting
light and logically play with abhava in ways I frankly cannot nor wish to
follow. Let them call it anything but by giving avidya a positive
existential identity, they corrupt the teachings.

Please, how is avidya a tamasa pratyaya rupa for us? Avidya is purely an
epistemolgical klesha - as adhyasa, it precedes guna, pratyaya and rupa
respectively.

sAkshi vedya IS everything existing. But vedya is dualism and sAkshi is
nondual svarupa. So sakshi vedya is a concession to superimposition. That
which exists with eyes closed is sAkshi alone/svarupa. Why stretch to
conclude there is something else there called darkness or absence of light
or direct/indirect knowledge? That was what I was trying to say.

On Wed, Sep 25, 2024 at 6:34 AM Bhaskar YR via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> praNAms Sri MCC prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
>
> Great example but isn't the 'darkness' you experience with your eyes
> closed just another name for 'absence of light'?
>
>
>   *   No, according to some, the darkness is some kind of veil which
> objectively existing like table. Chair in a room it is not mere prakAsha
> abhAva or absence of light.  Hence avidyA too like darkness has an
> objective existence ( anyway there is dispute among themselves, one say,
> when it is said bhAva rUpa it is kinchit abhAva,  another say it is
> something that is existing another would argue when it is said avidyA is
> bhAva rUpa is bhAvAbhAva vilakshaNa always invariably 😊 Anyway for us
> avidyA is tAmasa pratyaya ‘rUpa’ and it is not an existing objective thing
> hence it is destroyable.  Any amount of prakAsha cannot remove the really
> existing table chair in the room whereas we cannot search darkness by
> holding the torch 😊   darkness is the absence of light but certain things
> can be seen by some animals (like owls, cats etc.) even in pitch dark when
> human can hardly see.  But for those animals also table and chair are
> existing and would try to avoid them whereas darkness is just not existing
> for them.
>
> Rather, it's better to understand "it" as sakshi observing the absence of
> objects and light - all just names for the 'it' you are calling darkness.
>
>
> Ø     I am not able to understand this business of only sAkshi vedya in
> this avidyA vyavahAra …BTW is there anything existing that is NOT sAkshi
> vedya??
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
>
>
>
>
>
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