[Advaita-l] Gaudapada and Shankara hold the waking objects to be mithya

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Bhaskar ji
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I will certainly check the
Swamiji's works in Sanskrit and English.

"*The frame of reference for this adhyAsa is the day to day transactional
world (lOkavyavahAra) and mithyAjnAna in this context is knowledge that is
unreal or false knowledge mithyAbhUtaM tat jnAnam Sri SSS clarifies in one
of his works).  So with this backdrop mithyAjnana nimittaH simply means
caused by misconception, as said, mistaking one thing for another owning to
the non-discrimination between the satya and anruta which is again all too
natural.*"

I think the above directly attempts to answer the question, what does
mithyAjnAna nimittah mean?

But I think such an explanation is tautological - i.e.
viShaya-viShayiNor-itaretara bhAvah...mithyAjnAna-nimittah -  this phrase
would mean: the subject being mistaken for the object and vice versa, is
caused by mistaking one for another. One need not say the reason A exists
is because of A - that is not saying anything at all.

The bhAShyakAra wants to address the objection in the first sentence that
such a mistake is impossible owing to the great difference between the two.
For this, he says this mistake occurs naturally (naisargikoyam
lokavyavahArah), owing to a lack of discrimination between the two
(itaretara avivekena), and then adds the phrase mithyAjnAnanimittah, i.e.,
caused by mithyAjnAna.

The commentators take itaretara avivekena to be the nimittakAraNa for such
an adhyAsa, leaving mithyAjnAna-nimittah to mean the upAdAna-kAraNa. It is
clear that Sri SSS objects to this, but what is unclear is a convincing
alternative explanation for the phrase mithyAjnAna-nimittah which is unique
(ie not already referred to by other words in the sentence) and
non-tautological.

Will look at Swamiji's works for an explanation when I free up from my
current backlog of study.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On Thu, 3 Aug 2023, 15:04 Bhaskar YR, <bhaskar.yr at hitachienergy.com> wrote:

> praNAms Sri Venkatraghavan prabhuji
>
> Hare Krishna
>
>
>
> For the purpose of this discussion, I just have one question. How does the
> AchArya explain the first sentence of the adhyAsa bhAShya, which
> essentially says Atma anAtma adhyAsa is mithyAjnAna *nimittah*? It
> appears to me that in the view of Sri SSS, Atma anAtma adhyAsa is not
> mithyAjnAnanimittah but mithyAjnAnameva.
>
>
>
> Ø     Perhaps you may get more clarity when you study Sri SSS’s original
> works.  In short as per my understanding (adhyAsa bhAshyArtha vimarshe in
> Kannada by Sri SSS) here mithyAjnAna is natural in the sense that the
> behavior which consists of taking one thing for another is unlearnt and
> quite evident from our day to day transactions from the very birth of an
> individual hence words like svAbhAvika, naisargika used in adhyAsa
> bhAshya.  One need not go to investigate the reason and explanations for
> this and one should not question such behavior and ascertain the validity
> of it.  It is avichArita siddha it is an in born tendency of the human
> being ( animals as well) it is spontaneous and required no special effort
> or required any special cause. The frame of reference for this adhyAsa is
> the day to day transactional world (lOkavyavahAra) and mithyAjnAna in this
> context is knowledge that is unreal or false knowledge mithyAbhUtaM tat
> jnAnam Sri SSS clarifies in one of his works).  So with this backdrop
> mithyAjnana nimittaH simply means caused by misconception, as said,
> mistaking one thing for another owning to the non-discrimination between
> the satya and anruta which is again all too natural.  Here only he takes
> vyAkhyAnakAra’s explanation for refutation.  And argues against statements
> like mithyA ajnAna (false ignorance, mithyA cha tad ajnAnam cha) and
> nimitta as ‘material cause’, the mithyA also taken as indescribable
> anirvachaneeya avidyA etc.).
>
>
>
>    - Sri SSS’s works like sugamA, mUlAvidyAnirAsa, prakriya pratyabhigjna
>    etc. would shed more light on this.  Kindly study it in your free time
>    prabhuji.  I am noway an authority to present correct perspective of Sri
>    SSS.  Since nobody defending him in this list,  I am just taking the
>    liberty to share whatever I know / understand from his works.
>
>
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
>
> bhaskar
>
>
>