SSS on "Effort after GYAna" (was Re: [Advaita-l] Re: Pa~nchapAdikAchArya)

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

praNAms Sri Karthik prabhuji
Hare Krishna

Kindly pardon me for the belated response...I was bit busy with office
work.

KJ prabhuji:

I will answer all of your questions if you can answer the following
question for me:

"If all that exists is Brahman, where is the "room" for such as a
thing as avidyA?"

bhaskar :

Everything is brahman is not our knowledge or intuitive experience right
now...Hence, vEdAnta has adopted an unique method of teaching called
adhyArOpa apavAda (superimposition & recession) & bring us the teaching of
the nature of reality.  The teaching of the true nature of the self/brahman
through the superimpositions of knowledge and ignorance (vidya & avidyA) is
also one of the various methods of adhyArOpa apavAda.

KJ prabhuji:

In case you think I'm "objectifying avidyA", how about answering the
equivalently posed question from a "subjective" perspective:

"Who or what is the locus of avidyA?"

bhaskar :

prabhuji, dont you think shankara himself answered this question in gIta &
taitirIya upanishat bhAshya??  Every advaitin firmly believes that there is
no transaction such as vidya and avidyA in brahman...then which is the
Ashraya sthAna of avidyA (locus of avidyA)??  shankara going by common
experience says that ignorance we should understand pertains to the mind &
we should not say that this avidyA pertains to the self...shankara gives
the example of cataract in gIta bhAshya & explains *the defect* pertains to
the instrument alone and NOT to the user of instruments. And in taitirIya
bhAshya shankara deals exactly  with the problem of objectifying avidyA (as
bhAva rUpa or any such other positive thing). So in shakara bhAshya it is
clear that different aspects of avidyA are mere modifications of the
antaHkaraNa (internal instrument or mind).

KJ prabhuji:

Let us first accept that fitting avidyA into a two-fold logic is
IMPOSSIBLE. It is not for nothing that advaitins have declared avidyA
to be anirvachanIya.

bhaskar :

Strictly speaking, avidyA is NOT anirvachanIya, it is quite natural to
human mind. In adhyAsa bhAshya shankara exclusively deals with the term
*adhyAsa/avidyA and goes on to explain it is naisargika (quite natural) &
he never say adhyAsa is anirvachanIya....Infact,  shankara attributes
anirvachanIyatva to *mAya* which is in turn explained as *avidyA kalpita or
avidyAkruta*...

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar