[Advaita-l] Brahman alone appears as jiva-jagat-Ishwara - some more references

[Anand Hudli]

Last year, I wrote:

http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2010-March/024123.html

Now, a question arises. If Brahman, in association with mAyA, is thus the
source of
the world, can both Brahman and mAyA be held to the material cause of the
world?
Brahman is the vivarta-kAraNa while mAyA is the pariNAmi-kAraNa. The
world has mAyA as the material cause but Brahman as the transfigurative
material cause.
The crucial difference between vivarta-kAraNa and pariNAmi-kAraNa is that
the
cause and the effect belong to the same level of reality in the case of
pariNAmi-kAraNa
wheras the cause and the effect belong to different levels of reality in the
case of the
vivarta-kAraNa. mAyA, the pariNAmi kAraNa of the world has the same level of
reality,
ie. vyAvahArika satya, as the world. The world and mAyA have empirical
reality.
But, Brahman, the vivarta-kAraNa, and the effect, the world, are not of the
same level of
reality. The world is vyAvahArika satya and Brahman pAramArthika satya. Just
as the
illusory snake is superimposed on the rope, the world is superimposed on
Brahman. Here,
the superimposed snake is illusory while the rope is empirical, again
illustrating
the principle of different orders of reality.

Anand