[Advaita-l] Some basic questions on Advaita

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

"Brahma satyam jagan-mithya jivo-brahmaiva naparah" attributed to Shri Adi
Shankara, brahman is "real" and the jagat is unreal. THe jiva is not said
to be unreal (the case b above). So, saying jiva is unreal while brahman is
real is not
what Shankara says

>  praNAm prabhuji
>  Hare Krishna

>  Prabhuji, as I understand & said earlier,  this hypothetical jIva can be
accepted from the empirical stand point to do vyavahAra in dvaita
prapancha.  But at any point of time, we cannot conclude that there is a
separate entity called jIva apart from brahman which merges with
parabrahman after the dawn of knowledge in a deterministic way.  Since
brahman is one without second (EkamEvAdvitIyam) there is no second opinion
on only notional reality of jIva which is engrossed in avidyA. Shruti
confirms this by saying ajAyamAno bahudhA vijAyatE.  Shruti teaches this
ultimate reality in various methods i.e avasthA traya, panchakOsha
prakriya, by method of creation, by distinguishing vidyA & avidyA etc.
shankara adopts traditional method of vedAnta i.e.adhyArOpa apavAda
(deliberate superimposition & rescission)to give us the clear picture of
shruti purports. Otherwise, it would have been a tedious task for advaitins
to find  samanvaya in shruti vAkyAs.

Hence prabhuji, in the above shankara's statement *brahma satyaM
jagan-mithyA jIvO-brahmaiva naparaH* should be understood by applying the
method of adhyArOpa apavAda viz..avidyA kruta jagat & jIva superimposed on
brahman for the clear understanding of essential non-duality nature of
brahman.

>  prabhuji, kindly correct me if my understadning is wrong.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar