[Advaita-l] Shankara equating Maya - Prakriti and Avidya/Ajnana

[Kuntimaddi Sadananda]

Thank you Subbuji for clarification.
Hari Om!Sadananda

 

    On Monday, September 25, 2023 at 12:32:53 PM GMT+5:30, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Namaste Sada ji,
The quote you give is equating Maya and Prakriti.  The quotes I have highlighted are equating avidya, ajnana, avyakta, etc. also with Maya/Prakriti.  
warm regardssubbu
On Mon, Sep 25, 2023 at 12:24 PM Kuntimaddi Sadananda <kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com> wrote:


 Subbuji - PraNAms
That equation occurs in the Swetaaswatara Upanishatmaayantu prakrutim vidyaat, maaynatu maheswaram. 
Hari Om!Sadananda

 

    On Monday, September 25, 2023 at 11:05:09 AM GMT+5:30, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:  
 
 Here are a few instances where Shankara is directly equating Maya and
Avidya as identical tattva-s:

Bhagavadgita 5.14 Bhashya:

, उच्यते — स्वभावस्तु स्वो भावः स्वभावः अविद्यालक्षणा प्रकृतिः माया
प्रवर्तते ‘दैवी हि’ (भ. गी. ७ । १४)
<https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Gita?page=7&id=BG_C07_V14&hl=%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%80%20%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BF>
इत्यादिना
वक्ष्यमाणा ॥ १४ ॥

BGB 8.14:

 पूर्वोक्तात् भूतग्रामबीजभूतात् अविद्यालक्षणात् अव्यक्तात् ।

BGB 9.8: Here Shankara introduces the 8th verse which has Prakriti which is
evidently Ishwara's Mayashakti, as the first word:  For Shankara it is
Avidya:

एवम् अविद्यालक्षणाम् —

प्रकृतिं स्वामवष्टभ्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः ।
भूतग्राममिमं कृत्स्नमवशं प्रकृतेर्वशात् ॥ ८ ॥
प्रकृतिं स्वां स्वीयाम् अवष्टभ्य वशीकृत्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः प्रकृतितो जातं
भूतग्रामं भूतसमुदायम् इमं वर्तमानं कृत्स्नं समग्रम् अवशम् अस्वतन्त्रम् ,
अविद्यादिदोषैः परवशीकृतम् , प्रकृतेः वशात् स्वभाववशात् ॥ ८ ॥
BGB 9.10:  Here Maya = Prakriti = Avidya
मम माया त्रिगुणात्मिका अविद्यालक्षणा प्रकृतिः सूयते उत्पादयति सचराचरं जगत्
। तथा च मन्त्रवर्णः………
BGB 3.21: Bhashya: Prakriti = Avidya, that has transformed into the
body-mind complex. So, for Shankara Avidya is the upAdAna kAraNa for the
body-mind complex and by extension, the universe:
प्रकृतिस्थः प्रकृतौ अविद्यालक्षणायां कार्यकरणरूपेण परिणतायां
BGB 13.23:  Here for Shankara Prakriti = avidya that has transformed into
the guNa-s and which is dispelled by Vidya.  Thus for Shankara this
Prakriti, Avidya, is vidyavirodhi:
प्रकृतिं च यथोक्ताम् अविद्यालक्षणां गुणैः स्वविकारैः सह निवर्तिताम् अभावम्
आपादितां विद्यया,
BGB 13.34: Same concept as above: Avidya has Vidya for its virodhi:
Prakriti = Avidya = Avyakta:
भूतानां प्रकृतिः अविद्यालक्षणा अव्यक्ताख्या, तस्याः भूतप्रकृतेः मोक्षणम्
अभावगमनं
Brihadaranyaka Bhashya 4.4.7:  Here Shankara says desire, etc. (which have
been designated as kShetram in the 13th Chapter Gita) are avidya products:
अनात्मविषयाः कामा अविद्यालक्षणाः मृत्यवः इत्येतदुक्तं भवति
Mundaka Bhashya 3.2.2: Here too avidya is dispelled by vidya and hence
virodhi:
परमार्थतत्त्वविज्ञानात्पर्याप्तकामः आत्मकामत्वेन परि समन्ततः आप्ताः कामा
यस्य, तस्य पर्याप्तकामस्य कृतात्मनः अविद्यालक्षणादपररूपादपनीय स्वेन परेण
रूपेण कृत आत्मा विद्यया यस्य,
Chandogya bhashya 7.26.2: Tamas = Avidya. This is dispelled by Vidya,
paramartha tattva jnanam:
तमसः अविद्यालक्षणात् पारं परमार्थतत्त्वं
Kenopanishad bhashya 1.4: AvyAkruta is Avidya, which is the unmanifest,
which is the seed for the manifest:
अविदितात् विदितविपरीतादव्याकृतादविद्यालक्षणाद्व्याकृतबीजात्
Mandukya Karika Bhashyam 3.36: Avidya = Maya nidrA: This is Tamas = Avidya
which causes non-cognition of Truth:
अविद्यालक्षणानादिर्मायानिद्रास्वापात्प्रबुद्धम्...ग्रहणाग्रहणे हि
रात्र्यहनी ; तमश्चाविद्यालक्षणं सदा अप्रभातत्वे कारणम् ;
BGB: 8.9:  Tamas = ajnana = mohAndhakAra:
तमसः परस्तात् अज्ञानलक्षणात् मोहान्धकारात्
BGB 13.26: AdhyAsa is mithyAjnAna: One can see that in the foregoing
Shankara has accepted Prakriti/Maya as avidya. Thus, mithyAjnAna will have
to be mithyA cha tadajnAnam cha: that is false ajnana: This will apply to
the use of this term in the AdhyAsabhAshya too, in order to be consistent
with Shankara's usage elsewhere:
अध्यासस्वरूपः क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञसंयोगः मिथ्याज्ञानलक्षणः ।
Chandogya Bhashya 1.3.1: Tamas of Atma = Ajnana
जन्ममरणादिलक्षणस्य आत्मनः तमसश्च तत्कारणस्याज्ञानलक्षणस्य भवति ॥
Chandogya 3.17,.7:  Same as above:
उद्वयं तमसः अज्ञानलक्षणात्
From the above sample one can conclude that Shankara accepts explicitly
that Maya, Prakruti, Avidya, Ajnana, Tamas, Avyakta, AvyAkruta, etc., as
synonyms.
The Narada Purana says:  Maya alone is known by the term AjnAna:
मायैवाऽज्ञानशब्देन बुद्ध्यते मुनिसत्तम ।।
तस्मादज्ञानविच्छेदो भवेद्वै जितमायिनाम् ।। ३३-७० ।। (See Kannada edition:
https://cloudup.com/chlxvobAueh
<https://cloudup.com/chlxvobAueh?fbclid=IwAR39B6p8PStQ9ucypKgSYVuqGldwtF_PdDGo9fWVKp-QlMML0wUUgop925E>
p.
264)
ಮಾಯೆಯೇ 'ಅಜ್ಞಾನ' ಎಂಬ ಶಬ್ದದಿಂದಲೂ ತಿಳಿಯಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ
ಅಜ್ಞಾನವನ್ನು ಹೋಗಲಾಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ ಮಾಯೆಯನ್ನು ಗೆಲ್ಲುವುದಕ್ಕೆ.
Om Tat Sat
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