[Advaita-l] Sringeri AchAryas on the vivaraNa - the cause of adhyAsa (3)

[S Jayanarayanan]

--- bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com wrote:

[..]

> AH prabhuji:
> 
> But before we hear what the shruti has to say, we need a definition
> for
> this
> bhAva-rUpa ajnAna.
> [...]
> While 1) having no beginning (anAdi), that which is of a 2)
> positive
> nature,bhAvarUpa, (not merely absence of something else) and which
> is 3)
> dispelled by knowledge (vijnAnanirasya) is called ajnAna. This is
> the
> intended  definition.
> 
> bhaskar :
> 
> I have a problem here...If ajnAna is of a positive nature, a solid
> entity
> (bhAvarUpa) then how can this be possible to remove it by
> knowledge??
> jnAna can only give us the right knowledge of a thing & it cannot
> change/destroy the *already existing thing* in a solid
> form...

You seem to imagine that all things bhAva-rUpa must be "solid" --
indicating a material basis for reality. This is incorrect. For
example, there are entities such as the MEANING of a sentence that
are decidedly non-material, but can still be conceived of as
existing, or bhAva-rUpa. In fact, the mImAmsakas hold this very view.

The MEANING of a statement can be viewed in both epistemic as well as
ontic terms:

Epistemic: "What is the TRUE MEANING of that statement?"
Ontic: "Does the MEANING of that statement EXIST physically?"

Both of the above questions are philosophically legitimate.


http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/platonism/

"Platonism is the view that there exist such things as abstract
objects — where an abstract object is an object that is wholly
non-spatial and non-temporal (i.e., that doesn't exist in space or
time) and, hence, is entirely non-physical and non-mental.
...some people claim that propositions are abstract objects.
Intuitively, a proposition is the meaning of a sentence, or as some
would rather put it, that which is expressed by a sentence on a
particular occasion of use. Thus, for instance, we can say that the
English sentence 'Snow is white' and the German sentence 'Schnee ist
weiss' express the same proposition, namely, the proposition that
snow is white."

Regards,
Kartik


 
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