[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Fwd: jivas' abode during deep sleep/praLaya

[Jaishankar Narayanan]

Namaste,

Even those who claim that avidya is non-existence (abhAva) accept the
avyakta (unmanifest) as a potential / causal state during mahApralaya for
all jIvas, in which the jIvas remain till they reemerge during the next
cycle of creation. They accept that this avyakta is also called mAyA,
avyAkrta, prakrti etc. and it is tattva-anyatbhyAm-anirvachanIyA (mithyA).
Now why should every day sleep be any different as a potential / causal
state? Since the potential / causal state does not have any divisions /
differences, the total potential state cannot be distinguished from
individual potential state. Although from individual's / jIva's standpoint
we call the bIja as avidya and from the total / Isvara's standpoint we call
the bIja as mAyA, it is the same. We need not unnecessarily differentiate
between these two and create an illogical prakriyA because of the
misunderstanding of some people.

BSB 1.4.3 bhashya makes it clear.

मुक्तानां च पुनरनुत्पत्तिः । कुतः ? विद्यया तस्या बीजशक्तेर्दाहात् ।
अविद्यात्मिका हि बीजशक्तिरव्यक्तशब्दनिर्देश्या परमेश्वराश्रया मायामयी
महासुषुप्तिः, यस्यां स्वरूपप्रतिबोधरहिताः शेरते संसारिणो जीवाः ।
तदेतदव्यक्तं क्वचिदाकाशशब्दनिर्दिष्टम् — ‘एतस्मिन्नु खल्वक्षरे गार्ग्याकाश
ओतश्च प्रोतश्च’ (बृ. उ. ३ । ८ । ११) इति श्रुतेः; क्वचिदक्षरशब्दोदितम् —
‘अक्षरात्परतः परः’ (मु. उ. २ । १ । २) इति श्रुतेः; क्वचिन्मायेति सूचितम् —
‘मायां तु प्रकृतिं विद्यान्मायिनं तु महेश्वरम्’ (श्वे. उ. ४ । १०) इति
मन्त्रवर्णात् । अव्यक्ता हि सा माया, तत्त्वान्यत्वनिरूपणस्याशक्यत्वात् ।
तदिदं ‘महतः परमव्यक्तम्’ इत्युक्तम् — अव्यक्तप्रभवत्वान्महतः, यदा
हैरण्यगर्भी बुद्धिर्महान् । यदा तु जीवो महान्
तदाप्यव्यक्ताधीनत्वाज्जीवभावस्य महतः परमव्यक्तमित्युक्तम् । अविद्या
ह्यव्यक्तम्; अविद्यावत्त्वेनैव जीवस्य सर्वः संव्यवहारः सन्ततो वर्तते ।

Without that latent / potential causal state, the absence of birth for the
freed individuals cannot be explained. Why? Because liberation comes when·
the potential power (of Maya) is burnt away by knowledge. That potential
power, constituted by ignorance, is mentioned by the word unmanifest. It
rests on Isvara, and is comparable to magic. It is a kind of deep slumber
in which the transmigrating individuals sleep without any consciousness of
their real nature. This thing, that is avyakta, is sometimes referred to by
the word space / AkAsha, as stated in the text, "By the Immutable, O Gargi,
is (the unmanifest) space / AkAsha pervaded" (Br. Up. III. viii. 11).
Sometimes it is called the immutable as in, "Higher than the higher
immutable" (Mu. Up. II. i. 2); sometimes it is called Maya as in, "Know
Maya to be prakriti / Nature and the master of Maya to be the great
maheshvara" (Sv. IV. 10). That Maya is surely unmanifest, for it can
neither be ascertained as real nor as unreal. This is why it has been
stated that "Avyakta is higher than mahat" (Ka. I. iii. 11); for if the
cosmic intelligence of Hiranyagarbha be meant by the word mahat, then
avyakta is higher than mahat, for mahat springs from the former. If,
however, the individual being be the meaning of mahat (vide end of
commentary on I. iv. 1), still the statement, "Avyakta is higher than
mahat", is admissible, since the state of becoming an individual depends on
avyakta (Maya as upAdhi). For ignorance is avyakta; and it is because of
the possession of ignorance by the individual  that all kinds of empirical
behaviour continue for ever.

with love and prayers,
Jaishankar


On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 12:29 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> Re-posting an old post on the above topic.
>
>
> Namaste
>
> For the Bh. Gita verse 15.7 ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: ।
> मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥
> the commentary, in part, of Sri Sridhara Swamin is:
>
> अयं भावः -- सत्यं सुषुप्तिप्रलयोरपि मदंशत्वात्सर्वस्यापि जीवमात्रस्य मयि
> लयादस्त्येव मत्प्राप्तिः तथाप्यविद्ययावृतस्य सानुशयस्य सप्रकृतिके मयि लयो न
> तु शुद्धे। तदुक्तम् -- 'अव्यक्ताद्व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्ति'
> (8.18).इत्यादिना।
>
> Translation:
>
> This is the purport: It is true that the entirety of the jivas, being My
> amshas, will resolve into Me during deep sleep and dissolution and
> therefore they 'attain' Me.  Yet, owing to the fact that the jiva-s are
> under the spell of AvidyA, owing to the continuance of avidyA, they resolve
> into My prakRti-associated form (another word could be: mAyAshabalite mayi)
> and NOT My Pure form (uncontaminated by mAyA).  Thus it is said by the Lord
> 'from the unmanifest all the manifest beings emerge' (8.18).
>
> This is a fine explanation to the question: In deep sleep (and
> dissolution) whether the jiva-s merge in Brahman?  The question becomes
> important since if it is held that they do merge in Brahman, how indeed can
> they emerge later as the Bh.Gita itself teaches: 'यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते
> तद्धाम परमं मम ॥१५- ६॥' [Having attained That,  jiva-s do not return to
> samsara]
>
> So, since such a question/doubt deserves to be answered, the commentators
> have taken special effort to make a clarification of the above stated
> nature (Sridhara swamin's commentary).
>
> It would be beneficial to note that Bhagavatpada Shankara has said this in
> the Mandukya Upanishad (mantra 2) bhashya:
> (I am quoting a fairly lengthy part of this bhashya so that the purport
> thereof is appreciated fully -  the red-highlighted sentences below
> translate to the Sridhara Swamin's commentary cited above.  One can read
> the translation of the below-cited bhashya in Sw.Gambhirananda's book.)
>
> कथं प्राणशब्दत्वं अव्याकृतस्य  ।  "प्राणबन्धनं हि सोम्य मनः"(छा.उ६  । ८  ।
> २) इति श्रुतेः  ।
>
> ननु तत्र"सदेव सोम्य"(छा.उ६  । २  । १) इति प्रकृतं सद्ब्रह्म
> प्राणशब्दवाच्यम्  ।
>
> नैष दोषो बीजात्मकत्वाभ्युपगमात्सतः  । यद्यपि तद्ब्रह्म प्राणशब्दवाच्यं
> तत्र तथापि जीवप्रसवबीजात्मकत्वं अपिरत्यज्य एव प्राणशब्दत्वं सतः
> सच्छब्दवाच्यता च  । यदि हि निर्बीजरूपं विवक्षितं ब्रह्माभविष्यत् "नेति
> नेति"(बृ.उ.४.४.२)"यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते"(तै.उ.२.९)"अन्यदेव
> तद्विदितादथाविदितात्"(के.उ१.३) इत्यवक्ष्यत् । "न
> सत्तन्नासदुच्यते"(गीता.१३.१२) इति स्मृतेः  । निर्बीजतयैव चेत्सति लीनानां
> सुषुप्तप्रलययोः पुनरुत्थानानुपपत्तिः स्यात् । मुक्तानां च
> पुनरुत्पत्तिप्रसङ्गो बीजाभावाविशेषात् । ज्ञानदाह्यबीजाभावे च
> ज्ञानानर्थक्यप्रसङ्गः  ।
>
> तस्मात्सबीजत्वाभ्युपगमेन एव सतः प्राणत्वव्यपदेशः सर्वश्रुतिषु च
> कारणत्वव्यपदेशः  ।
>
>
>
> अत एव"अक्षरात्परतः परः"(मु.उ२.१.२)  ।
>
> "सबाह्याभ्यान्तरो ह्यजः" (मु.उ२.१.२)  ।
>
> "यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते"(तै.उ२.९)  ।
>
> "नेति नेति"(बृ.उ४.४.१२) इत्यादिना बीजवत्वापनयनेन व्यपदेशः  ।
>
> तां बीजावस्थां तस्यैव प्राज्ञशब्दवाच्यस्य तुरीयत्वेन
> देहादिसंबन्धजाग्रदादिरहितां पारमार्थिकीं पृथग्वक्ष्यति  ।
>
> बीजावस्थापि न किञ्चिदवेदिषमित्युत्थितस्य प्रत्ययदर्शनाद्देहेऽनुभूयत एवेति
> त्रिधा देहे व्यवस्थितेत्युच्यते  । ।२ । ।
>
>
> regards
>
> subrahmanian.v
>
>
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