[Advaita-l] A matter for Adjudication

[Ravisankar Mayavaram]

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 3:03 AM, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:
> Namaste.
>
> In the recent few days the List has witnessed a wave of posts on the topic
> of 'Avidya'.  Several dimensions of the subject came up for discussion and
> study.  A number of source material was also presented in support of the
> different aspects of 'Avidya'.

...
> I request all the interested members and the Moderators to give a serious
> thought to this, especially in view of the posts from Shri Bhaskar ji.  An
> adjudication based on the facts that are clearly available to us at this
> point of time will go a long way in preventing students of Advaita, both
> members who are present here and those who might view these discussions in
> the archives in the future,  from arriving at (1) wrong conclusions and / or
> (2) resting with the feeling that 'this is a point of contention, not
> decidable for eternity'.
>
> If this post from me is considered uncivil in this forum in any respect, I
> seek your pardon; the Moderators may prevent it from remaining in the
> archives.
>
> With warm regards,
> subrahmanian.v

Respected Sri Subrahmanianji

You write exceedingly well and you have summarized the discussions
nicely.  I do not see anything uncivil about this.

First of all - I am grateful to your posting this series and with a
lot of supporting quotations.  You have written this series also in a
simple and elegant style making it accessible for an ordinary reader
like me.

I went re-read all the three parts of your post, Anand's initial post,
Sri SN Sastri's clarificatons, Anand's followup, and Bhaskar's
objections.  As you point out in your summary, you have spent enough
effort to make a complete and coherent presentation. Even after that,
if someone has lingering questions about the third AkAra you presented
- it can only blamed on the very advanced nature of this subject and
not your presentation.   I personally think Sri Sarvaj~nAtman brings
enormous clarity (as posted by Sri Satri) in highlighting this issue
from points of eka jIva and aneka jIva vAda. Comparing this with the
concept of apUrva, Sri Madhusudana Sarasvati Swamin gives an amazing
insight into this. From the presentation, it is amply clear that this
avidya lesha is neither derogatory to the jnAni nor it brings down the
completeness of his jnAna.  If one accepts in the non-dual state of
liberation and also accepts jIvana mukti, then I think one has no
option but to accept something the effect of avidya lesha (by whatever
name one wishes to call it).    If we do not have that, then we will
have to end up accepting  duality in the  state of liberation.

It will be nice if Bhaskar can post how Sri Satchitanandendra
Sarasvati Swamin understands the term "avidya lesha" and if he gives
further reasoning on why BSB 4.1.15  is not same as that.

Most readers will appreciate and understand that these topics are
quite advanced; and even when a future reader goes through the
archives - I feel that he/she will be only be grateful that
counterpoints were raised and discussions went into a good depth for
him/her to think more about it.

At least I see no reason for moderators to intervene and conclude one
way or other. I feel that responsibility rests squarely on the
shoulders of the reader.

I again thank your for all your contributions to the list.  You should
probably compile your postings in well formatted PDF format and we can
host it on the website.

With thanks and respects,
Ravi