[Advaita-l] Shankara accepts BhAvarUpa ajnana BSB 4.1.15

[V Subrahmanian]

In this Bhashya which is about the sanchita punya/paapa karmas alone being
dispelled by Atmajnana leaving out the prarabdha karma for being worked
out, Shankara says:

The Atmajnana destroys karma by sublating/negating mithyAjnAna.  And goes
on to demonstrate that even though the mithyAjnAna has been sublated, it
will continue for some time akin to the perception of two-moon phenomenon,
owing to samskara.  Also, it is beyond questioning whether the Jnani will
continue to be in the body for some time or not.  How indeed can one
question the experience of a Jnani who has the firm conviction that he is
Brahman and at the same time is in the body? This (being an aparoksha jnani
and still being alive) alone is spoken of as sthita prajna lakshana in the
shruti and smritis. Hence the conclusion of the Shastra, Sutra, is that
only the sanchita karma (both merit and otherwise) undergoes destruction
due to Jnana:


उच्यते — न तावदनाश्रित्य आरब्धकार्यं कर्माशयं ज्ञानोत्पत्तिरुपपद्यते ।
आश्रिते च तस्मिन्कुलालचक्रवत्प्रवृत्तवेगस्य अन्तराले प्रतिबन्धासम्भवात्
भवति वेगक्षयप्रतिपालनम् । अकर्त्रात्मबोधोऽपि हि *मिथ्याज्ञानबाधनेन*
कर्माण्युच्छिनत्ति ।
*बाधितमपि तु मिथ्याज्ञानं द्विचन्द्रज्ञानवत्संस्कारवशात्कंचित्कालमनुवर्तत
एव । अपि च नैवात्र विवदितव्यम् —* ब्रह्मविदा कञ्चित्कालं शरीरं ध्रियते न वा
ध्रियत इति । कथं हि एकस्य स्वहृदयप्रत्ययं ब्रह्मवेदनं देहधारणं च अपरेण
प्रतिक्षेप्तुं शक्येत ? श्रुतिस्मृतिषु च स्थितप्रज्ञलक्षणनिर्देशेन एतदेव
निरुच्यते । तस्मादनारब्धकार्ययोरेव सुकृतदुष्कृतयोर्विद्यासामर्थ्यात्क्षय
इति निर्णयः ॥ १५ ॥

From the expression 'mithyAjnAnabAdha' it is beyond dispute that Shankara
is accepting an ajnAna that is subject to bAdha,
negation/sublation/falsification by Jnana.  It is like the superimposed
rope that undergoes bAdha due to the rope-knowledge.  Shankara has stated
in many places that there is the bAdha of the adhyasta.
It is JnAnanivartya ajnAna according to Shankara. This is further
strengthened by his usage of the term 'samskaravashAt' to mean that the
ajnAna, even though falsified, will continue for some time due to the
samskAra, the pattern that has formed before (jnAna) that sustains the rest
of the Jnani's embodied life. An abhAva cannot 'continue' for some time.

It is worth noting that this term 'samskara' of Shankara alone has been
commented as 'avidyAlesha' by the Ratnaprabha.  From this we conclude that
the bAdhita or bAdhayogya mithyajnAna is not any abhAva but a bhAvarUpa
(akin to an existent).

It is on this basis that Advaita accepts the superimposed object to be of
the nature of anirvachaniya, sat-asat-vilakshana.  The above mithyAjnAna is
of this type since the usage of the term jnAna-bAdhita by Shankara.

Om Tat Sat