[Advaita-l] Ishvara in advaita vEdAnta

[Amuthan]

namo nArAyaNAya!

On 11/22/06, Annapureddy Siddhartha Reddy <annapureddy_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
> ... Thus, it seems that the Ishvaratva of shrI rAma or shrI kR^iShNa
> is based on common acceptance/faith rather than on the pramANas

what is the pramANa that you are looking for? it cannot be pratyakSha
or anumAna since there is no possible way to prove the existence of
Ishvara by using them, let alone proving that rAma or kRShNa is
Ishvara. it cannot be shruti pramANa either since shruti's prAmANya
itself is based on faith. in other words, even quotes from vedAs that
rAma or kRShNa is Ishvara do not provide a better solution than
acceptance of the same by faith.

On 11/22/06, Annapureddy Siddhartha Reddy <annapureddy_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> ... (Please note
> that "pramANas" like the rAmAyaNa and the mahAbhArata are authored by people
> whose omniscience (or capability of judging omniscience) itself is under
> question here.) ...

does the bhagavadgItA lose it's prAmANya just because it is found in
the mahAbhArata which is pauruSheya? accepting the prAmANya of shruti
because it is apauruSheya and rejecting at the same time all smRti-s
(which do not contradict shruti) as apramANa because they are
pauruSheya and hence require faith for accepting what they say doesn't
really make any sense.

the mImAmsaka's argument misses the possibility of Ishvara
sAkShAtkAra. (Ishvara sAkShAtkAra is accepted by the shruti-s; 'sadA
pashyanti sUrayaH', 'tasmin dRShTe parAvare' etc.) maharShi-s like
vyAsa and valmIki are indeed omniscient and their words are definitely
accepted as pramANa.

digressing a bit, it only adds to the greatness of these mahAtmAs to
note that inspite of their omniscience, they give primary prAmANya to
the vedAs and not to their svAnubhava, see for instance "vedAsya
upabrahmaNArthAya" (shrImadrAmAyaNam) or "nigamakalpatarorgalitaM
phalaM" (shrImadbhAgavatam) etc.

On 11/22/06, Annapureddy Siddhartha Reddy <annapureddy_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Or is the notion of Ishvara like shrI mahAviShNu in vaikunTha?

that is also accepted though that is not the only form. Ishvara is
accepted as both sarUpa and arUpa. see for instance shruti-s like
'sahasrashIrShaM devaM', 'hrIshcha te lakShmIshcha patnyau', 'yA te
rudra shivA tanUH..' etc. which speak of the sarUpa aspect of Ishvara
and shruti-s like 'apANipAdo javano grahItA pashaytachakShuH...' which
speak of the arUpa aspect of Ishvara.

(i haven't provided the exact references. if necessay, i'll search and
provide them.)

vAsudevaH sarvaM,
aparyAptAmRtaH.