[Advaita-l] Advaita vEdAnta - Unit (28)

[S Jayanarayanan]

--- "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 10 May 2007, Krishnamurthy Ramakrishna wrote:
> 
> > I hope, if we engage in a discussion, we can be cordial, of value
> to other
> > members instead of fanning our ego; The fundamental objective of
> advaita is
> > to annihilate this ego.
> >
> 
> Well said.  For some reason I don't understand, tempers have been
> flaring 
> in the group lately and it is lowering the quality of discussion. 
> Readers, kindly take a deep breath before making an  intemperate
> remark!
> 

Jaldhar, your point is well-taken, and this will be my final posting
on this issue.

As a matter of fact, I was indeed cordial in my first two or three
postings with K.Ramakrishna (KR), and only when it became very
evident that he is making some statements in the "Advaita vEdAnta"
series without any solid references from the basic advaita vedAnta
texts did I lose my temper (for which I apologize).

My only concern is this: for something to be labeled "advaita
vedAnta", there must be *some* concrete quotes from
Sruti/smR^iti/Sankara's works to support the conclusions made.
Quoting later advaitins is good too -- and I include SSS here. It is
not good to write one's own opinions and pass it off as "advaita
vedAnta" with no sanction from any advaita vedAnta achAryas anywhere.
One might say that it is only KR's perspective of advaita vedAnta,
but wouldn't that also require at least a few quotes from Sankara's
works for each of its conclusions for it to be called "advaita
vedAnta"?

For the specific questions that I've raised and requested quotes,
I've not received any answers so far. ***It bothers me that someone's
fantasies are being taught in the name of "advaita vedAnta'!***

KR made a weighty statement:

  abhAvarUpa avidyA (Cause) --> bhAvarUpa adhyAsa (Effect)

The above is conspicuous for two reasons:

  (i) It essentially says that "Existence can arise out of
non-existence" (abhAvarUpa Cause -> bhAvarUpa Effect), which
definitely requires SOME quotes from any of the countless advaita
vedAnta texts (including SSS!), but KR is unable to produce a single
one!

  (ii) It speaks of "bhAvarUpa adhyAsa", which is a strange animal
that I've not come across so far in my readings. Even SSS, who I
believe endorses "abhAvarUpa avidyA" does not endorse "bhAvarUpa
adhyAsa". So I asked KR for a reference for that particular use of
terminology, and here's what he came up with:

  "vEdAnta sAra by swami SadAnanda (33) - vastu saccidAnanda 
  advayam brahma; ajnyAnAdi sakala jaDa samUhah avastu (further 
  in 34, swami SadAnanda clarifies that when ajnyAna is presented
  as bhAvarUpa, he explains that it is not 'sat'; if it is 'sat',
  it cannot be destroyed and there is no benefit of mumukShatva;
  it is not abhAva for an ajnyAni, so it is described as
  bhAvarUpa. Because ajnyAna has to be illuminated by Pure
  Consciousness, being experienced by us ajnyAnis, it is 
  described as bhAvarUpa)."

Note that KR's quote speaks of *bhAvarUpa avidyA* and NOT *abhAvarUpa
avidyA*. Nor does it speak of *bhAvarUpa adhyAsa* being caused by
*abhAvarUpa avidyA*. It seems that it is a fabrication of KR!

Regards,
Kartik


 
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