[Advaita-l] Advaita / Dvaita Clarification requested contd.

[Vishnu]

Rameshji,

Based on your response to the email from Karthikji  the following thought
which i have highlighted in bold and also not enclosed in parentheses comes
to my mind.

""I<<n the advaita system, something is said to be true or real only if it
remains unsublated across space & time. In other words, anything
transient is not true. So this seems to be more a matter of definition
and emphasis. If one adopts the dvaitic definition of 'true' being
that which exists at any one point in time, then the world is true
even for an advaitin.>>>>""

If according to the advaita system, all things that are transient are not
true, then following on the same line of thoughts would it be appropriate or
fair  to say that any disease or other bodily injury for instance,
experienced by an individual is not true, because the disease or pain in
some cases could be either cured or healed may be at a later point of time .
Would this therefore mean that the pain or suffering the individual went
through until he was cured  of it is an unreal  experience since the
suffering  itself is transient.


<<Suppose, we mistake a rope to be a snake. After close inspection, we
realize that it is not a snake but only a rope. Now, the knowledge
regarding the snake is a false one and hence the snake is also
'false'. Since the knowledge regarding the world is not as said in the
above illustration, the world is 'true'.">>

Well, the snake was perceived in the past, wasn't it? So according to
the dvaitins, the snake is real?
Also, no analogy is perfect. The problem with the rajju-sarpa analogy
is that the snake is not perceived at all once the rope is cognized.
However, advaitic realization is somewhat different in the sense that
the world is perceived even after realization (otherwise jivanmukti
would not be possible), though it is known to be unreal. A better
analogy is that of a mirage in the desert. Even after the traveller
understands that it is a mirage, the water is still perceived. But the
traveller is no longer enamoured of it. The mirage is mithya (that
which is perceived but not inherently real), just as the world is>>>>.

If the world is unreal then why does one have to work his way up towards
salvation or mokhsha by only following good karmic deeds as mentioned in our
holy scriptures and constantly be in fear of deviating from the good deeds.
What ever good or bad (deeds) karma one does again could be treated as a
perception since the world itself is unreal and all things/actions good or
bad therefore are neither real too, since we are living in an unrealistic
world. After all, the individual is going to be united with Brahman anyways
as there is no such thing then, which differentiates between the good or bad
deeds as they are all unreal too.

Pranams,
Vishnu.