[Advaita-l] Sringeri AchAryas on the vivaraNa - the cause of adhyAsa (2)

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

praNAms Sri Anand Hudli prabhuji
Hare Krishna

As said in my previous post, in this mail I shall try to show how
vyAkhyAnakAra-s try to treat bhagavadpAda himself as pUrvapaxin to their
siddhAnta!!! surprising??  no its a fact!!! Let's see how...

AH prabhuji:

The next question that arises is: what if adhyAsa is due to some defect in
organs, instruments, etc., not due to something called ajnAna?

The vivaraNa-prameya-saMgraha addresses this doubt.

(You) should not say "What is the need for this ajnAna while it is possible

for defects such as a disease of the eye to be the material cause of
adhyAsa?" This is because of the rule that adhyAsa and its material cause
must have the same Ashraya, substratum (locus). Here, adhyAsa has the Self
as the locus, but defects have organs, etc. as the locus, and hence they
(defects) cannot be the material cause of adhyAsa.

bhaskar :

Shankara without any ambiguity quite clearly says that the ignorance
(adhyAsa) does not pertain to the self and it should be understood that
this adhyAsa pertains to the mind/organs...Without giving any importance to
bhagavadpAda's vAkya-s VivaraNa pramEya saNgraha (VPS) taken the same
examples given by bhagavadpAda & proved it otherwise & declared brahman is
the *ashraya* (locus) for both adhyAsa & its upAdAna kAraNa...Let us see
what shankara says in gIta bhAshya.  Going by common experience of life
shankara takes the example of cataract of eyes...Due to this problem, with
regard to forms & its colours the seer suffers the problems such as
agrahaNa, anyaTha grahaNa & saMshaya...as we know, this is due to the
defect of instruments used by *the user*...when this cataract removed the
seer sees the forms and colours as they really are...So the defect pertains
to the instrument alone and not to its user...Hence, here also the
ignorance pertains to the instrument i.e. the mind / antaHkaraNa.  Shankara
further confirms that the knower who is the *kshEtrajna* whose very nature
is pure consciousness, for him there is no business such as ignorance and
knowledge etc.  He is absolute consciousness.  Here, from the trasactional
view point shankara clearly says the ignorance (adhyAsa) pertains to the
antaHkaraNa (a subjective defect) and that should be as it is always...That
is why shankara says in sUtra bhAshya : anAdiH, anantaH naisargikaH
adhyAsaH mithyApratyayarUpaH.....sarvalOka pratyakshaHa...Shankara does not
speaking about anirvachanIya mUlAvidyA which is sitting pretty with brahman
since the time immemorial here...point to be noted here is he is talking
about *sarva lOka pratyaksha vyavahAra*...

And in taitirIya bhAshya there is a question " Are knowledge and ignorance
the qualities of the self??  shankara's express answer is a big NO...coz.
they are perceived...knowledge & ignorance are directly perceived like
colours etc...(please note this is not in *bhAva rUpa* sense)as attributes
of mind...Accordingly both knowledge & ignorance (vidyA and avidyA)are to
be ranked with nAma & rUpa.  They are not attributes of the self since
there is no dealings such as vidyA and avidyA in Atman/brahman/self. Then
to whom is this ajnAna (ignorance)?? shankara answers this question in
sutra bhAshya that " to YOU who is asking this question...but are we not
brahman according to shruti??  shankara concludes, if you have realized
that truth then to no one there is ajnAna whatsoever...

It is really unfortunate to see the Locus of avidyA is brahman & it
existence since time immemorial in Atman alone in advaita vEdAnta despite
shankara clearly saying that in our vyavahAra avidyA appears to be the
quality or attribute of antaHkaraNa..

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar