[Advaita-l] RE: Dasa Avatars(In response to Shri B. Shankar)

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Mon, 19 May 2003, kalyan chakravarthy wrote:

> Vaitathya prakaraNa. 19. *sammohitam svayam*.
>

prANAdibhiranantaishcha bhAvairetairvikalpitah |
mayaiShA tasya devasya yayA saMmohitam svayam || 19 ||

[The self is] imagined to be infinite [universals] such as prana.
This is the maya of that God by which He deludes Himself.

Previous to this shloka Gaudapadacharya had given the famous example of
the rope which in the darkness appears to be a snake but whose true nature
is revealed in the night.  The question is how did this false projection
come about?

In the present shloka he answers.  The self (which is called God to
emphasize the glory of its true nature) imagines itself to be infinite
universal objects like prana.  Let me emphasize It is the self as God
(paramatma) which is being called the cause of Maya not the individual
selves (atmas).

The confusion sets in because at the paramarthic level atma and paramatma
are one and the same.  But at the vyavaharic level they appear to be
different.  This is why it says He (paramatma) deludes Himself (atma.)
But because we are the same as the creator of maya we can destroy
it without having to wait for some external entity by realizing their
oneness.

How does a finite being conceive of such oneness.  For this purpose the
shastras teach certain upasanas such as the meditation that "I am prana"
through such practices, one learns to let go of false limitations.  To
take the final step, one must realize that even things such as prana are
just imagined (vikalpita.)

I don't see anything in such notions that contradicts what Shankaracharya
or later Advaitins have said.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/