[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Upadesha SAhasrI 18.43

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 10:13 AM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Bhaskar ji
>
> sakShI svarupa is not being disputed as Chaitanyam and yes of course that
> is not avidyakRta.
> (You might say “thank heavens for small mercies!)
>
> But sAxitvaM goes hand-in-hand with sAxyaM the witnessed which in this case
> is avidya and its karya ie antaHkaraNam etc.
>
> When we say something (starting with avidyA) is sAxI-bhAsya etc., such
> vyavahAra is within avidyA alone. That is the starting point but not the
> last word on sAxI.
>
> Because upon enquiry sAxI’s Svarupa is arrived at as nirguNam nirvisheSha
>  brahma etc and even sAxitvaM is understood as an upadhi.
>
> Therefore sAxI is brahman (svarUpataH) but that cannot be the starting
> point of any teaching or discussion
>
> The starting point is the sAxI is antaHkaraNa-upahita-caitanyaM
>
> The context is all important.
>
> Om
> Raghav
>

Dear Raghav ji,

The Advaitamakaranda of Lakshmidhara Kavi puts this so beautifully:

चेत्योपरागरूपा मे साक्षिताऽपि न तात्त्विकी ।

उपलक्षणमेवेयं निस्तरङ्गचिदम्बुधेः ॥

The concept of sAkShI, which is of the form of a connection between the
anAtmA, the seen, and the Me, the Pure Consciousness (PC), too, is not
ultimately real.  It is only an indicator, upalakShaNa, for the waveless
ocean that is the Pure Consciousness.

A detailed discussion of this verse is available here:

http://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/advaita-makaranda-a-blog-in-sanskrit/

Since the PC, being devoid of all attributes, is extremely difficult to
realize, the shastram conceives of a sort of via media between the anAtmA
and the PC.  By showing that the entire anAtmA is apprehended by the
sAkShI, the shAstram wants us to turn our attention away from the anAtma
and focus on the sAkShI, the seer.  For the time being the sAkshI is even
taught as the 'I'.  But once the aspirant has started appreciating the
sAkShI concept, he is taken forward, higher, to the PC by even discarding
sAkShI, for it is only relative to sAkShya.  In the ultimate advaitic
perspective no sAkShya is there, there is no longer any need to talk about
the sAkShI.

Thus, the concept of sAkshi is within the adhyAropa - apavAda prakriyA.  In
the adhyAsa bhAshya end Shankara uses the sAkshi to define it and one can
easily see how he has connected it, the viShayI, with the viShaya (anAtmA):

एवमहंप्रत्ययिनमशेषस्वप्रचारसाक्षिणि प्रत्यगात्मन्यध्यस्य तं च प्रत्यगात्मानं
 सर्वसाक्षिणं तद्विपर्ययेणान्तःकरणादिष्वध्यस्यति । The two-way connection
statement is inevitable whenever we talk about the sAkshi.


warm regards

subbu





>
>
>
> On Tue, 25 Mar 2025 at 9:28 AM, Bhaskar YR via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > praNAms Sri Sudhanshu prabhuji
> > Hare Krishna
> >
> > SAkshI is not avidyA-krita. SAkshi-tva is avidyA-krita.
> >
> >
> >   *   I asked this query to Sri Raghav prabhuji also, what is sAkshitva
> > without sAkshi or in other words what is sAkshi without sAkshitva??  This
> > would help me to draw the line between sAkshi and sAkshitva.
> >
> > Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> > bhaskar
> >
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