[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Re: Bhagavad Gita - As it actually is | Sanatana Dharma | Sri Shankara Bhagavatpada & Bhakti | Sringeri

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Raghava prabhuji
Hare Krishna

I do appreciate your crusade to prove avidya is abhAva while mAyA is anirvacanIyA.


Ø     And this effort to prove that avidyA is NOT mAya needs to be continued to save the bhAshya from the clutches of vyAkhyAna 😊

But sadly, the 14.27 bhAShya cannot be used to prove their difference.


Ø     I am not saying this bhAshya would prove the difference (there are plenty of other sources to prove that 😊) but I am sure if one can understand this bhAshya cannot conveniently use avidyA and mAya (shakti) interchangeably till that one is deliberately and awkwardly twisting and turning this bhAshya in the name of logic to accommodate his pet theories 😊

You can see Sudhanshu ji’s post where it was shown how the mAyA/avidyA equivalence does not get affected even if Shakti (Ishvara) is asserted as having ananyatvaM with shuddha brahman.


Ø     I agree with above if you remove the word avidyA as the term avidyA is an unwanted fabrication to the above bhAshya.

Note that in this context  BGB 14.27, the word Shakti is not being used for inert mAyA but for Ishvara. And that Ishvara (who is Shakti) is non-different from Brahman (this latter fact is I think accepted by all).


Ø     Even though you may say it is Ishwara as shakti (not Ishwara’s shakti) non different from brahman by keeping mAyA aloof from this bhAshya IMO at any stretch of imagination, the avidyA cannot be intruded here.

Sudhanshu ji had written -
“Shakti i.e. mAyA i.e. avidyA has shuddha NirguNa Brahman as its Ashraya.


Ø     NB Ashrita avidyA is just an unwanted contribution from later vyAkhyAnakAra-s, no place for it in shankarAdvaita.  When we start talking NB we should stop talking everything else. As it is Shuddha and nirvikAra and nirvishesha.   SiddhAnta hAni already started here by propagating brahmAshrita avidyA.

Ishwara is bimba, jIva is pratibimba, mAyA = avidyA is the reflecting medium.


Ø     Ishwara is sarvajna, sarvashakta, jeeva is avidyAvanta, mAya is IshwarAdheena, jeeva lives in this mAyA jagat as per his karma phala.  And Ishara through his mAya shakti creates this jagat for the sake of jeeva-s.  This is what theistic approach to Advaita.  And in this Ishwara is with mAyOpAdhi whereas jeeva has the upAdhi bandhana due to avidyA.

Both Ishwara and jIva require avidyA.


  *   Ishwara gives the phala as per jeeva’s karma (karmAdhyaksha, karmaphaladaata, sAkshi cheetah, kevalO nirguNascha), jeeva prays for IshwarAnugraha to get rid of his avidyA.  Does it not look divine prabhuji!!??

Their very conception is dependent on avidyA. Hence, avidyA cannot have them as the Ashraya. Only shuddha Brahman can be logically said to be Ashraya of avidyA.


Ø     You cannot drag the brahma tattva within the shackles of logic.  yatO vAchO nivartante aprApya manasa saha.  You have to first think brahma tattva is something beyond the reach of logic as it transcends the deha, indriya, manObuddhi ahamkara.  If at all you want to talk anything about avidyA and mAya let that be within the sphere of vyavahAra and in that vyavahAra there is a valley of difference between Ishwara and jeeva and Ishwara and jagat and jeeva and jagat.

So, bimba without bimba-tva is shuddha Brahman. And avidyA has that shuddha chit as the Ashraya.”


Ø     I am sorry to say, mere statements like above does not going to help us to understand anything worthy.  I only pray may the IshwarAnugraha guide the dry logicians in the right path.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar