[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Karika bh 3.27 'Atman is born only seemingly as the world'

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, May 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar <sudhanshu.iitk at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Namaste Subbu ji.
>
>
> The Upanishad teaches that the Atman/Brahman is never an object for
>> comprehension/perception.
>>
>
> I somehow feel that such a statement is often misunderstood and prevents
> us from seeing the nearness of Atman. It is everywhere. It is in-built in
> all our perceptions. It pervades all experiences.
>

Dear Sudhanshu ji,

I fully agree with the concern you have expressed.  The basis of my making
such a statement is this Bhashya passage for the Karika 3.27:

एवं हि श्रुतिवाक्यशतैः सबाह्याभ्यन्तरमजमात्मतत्त्वमद्वयं न ततोऽन्यदस्तीति
निश्चितमेतत् । युक्त्या चाधुनैतदेव पुनर्निर्धार्यत इत्याह — *तत्रैतत्स्यात्
सदा अग्राह्यमेव चेदसदेवात्मतत्त्वमिति* ; तन्न, कार्यग्रहणात् ।

That Brahman can be cognized through the 'is-ness' of objects has been well
demonstrated by Shankara in BGB 2.16.

warm regards
subbu

>
> When we say pot-is, cloth-is, there is a perception of is-ness which is
> nothing but Brahman. The is-ness does not belong to pot. It belongs to
> Brahman. Hence, is-ness is indeed an object of comprehension and
> perception. That is why Brahman is said to be sarva-indriya-grAhya and
> sarva-pratyaya-vedya. (Not having rUpa, rasa, shabda are not hindrance in
> perception of Brahman because these are hindrance only for those entities
> which are niyata-indriya-grAhya. Brahman, which is sarva-indriya-grAhya,
> can be perceived by all indriyAs.)
>
> This is the sum and substance of eka-sattA-vAda wherein pratyaksha is
> san-mAtra-grAhI and no other entity is accepted to have any sort of
> existence. I feel that it is extremely important in a meditative living.
> Our day to day perception of table and cloth etc involve perception of
> san-mAtra. We just have to do us our attention is-ness.
>
> Objection: Are you saying that shuddha Brahman is the vishaya of the
> perception "pot is"?
>
> Answer: No. Shuddha Brahman is covered by mUla-ajnAna. That covering is
> removed only with Brahma-jnAna. So, it is only pot-tAdAtmya-Apanna-Brahman
> which is the vishaya of perception. And this pot-tAdAtmya is born along
> with the birth of pot. Just as when illusory silver is born, idam-tAdAtmya
> is also born. Similarly, with the birth of pot, sat-tAdAtmya (pot-tAdAtmya
> with sat is also known as sat-tAdAtmya) is also born.
>
> Thus, while shuddha Brahman is not a vishaya of chAkshusha-pratyaksha,
> pot-tAdAtmya-Apanna-Brahman is indeed a vishaya of chAkshusha-pratyaksha.
>
> Here, the mechanism is as under. While Ananda is covered by mUla-ajnAna,
> sat and chit are covered not by mUla-ajnAna but only by avasthA-ajnAna. So,
> due to pramANa-vritti, there is nAsha of avasthA-ajnAna, and
> ArOpya-tAdAtmya-Apanna-sat is revealed. Thus, pot-avachchhinna-chaitanya is
> covered by asattva-ApAdaka-ajnAna, abhAna-ApAdaka-ajnAna and
> anAnanda-ApAdaka-ajnAna. When there is nAsha or abhibhava of these, there
> is perception of ArOpya-tAdAtmya-Apanna-sat.
>
> Thus, Ananta Krishna Shastri ji says in Advaita Siddhi, page 322 - [एवं च
> घटाद्यवच्छेदेन ब्रह्मणःचाक्षुषतावादॊ युक्त एव]
>
> This attitude turns out daily experience of table and cloth in meditative
> living wherein our attention is centred on is-ness and not on pot and
> cloth. And we can feel the nearness and directness of sat and chit.
>
> Regards.
> Sudhanshu Shekhar.
>
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