[Advaita-l] mAyA and avidyA cannot be synonyms -2

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms 
Hare Kirshna
Below is what I had written with regard to a subsequent query from shAstri 
prabhuji. 
// quote //
avidyA : 

tAmasO hi pratyayaH, AvaraNAtmakatvAt avidyA vipareeta grAhakaH, 
saMshayOpasthApakO vA agrahaNAtmakOvA...(geeta 13-2) 
yadi jnAnAbhAvO, yadi saMshayajnAnam, yadi vipareeta jnAnaM vA uchyate 
ajnAnaM. (bruhadAraNyaka)  and this avidyA is shankara clarifies in 
adhyAsa bhAshya that : evamayamanAdiranantaH naisargikOdhyAsaH 
mithyApratyaya rUpaH katrutva bhOktrutva pravartakaH, sarvalOka 
pratyakshaH..In short, it is jeeva's ignorance about his or her true 
nature.  This is what is called avidyA in shankara bhAshya.   

mAya : 

'mAyA nAma bahiranyathA AtmAnaM prakAshya anyathaiva karyaM karOti sA 
mAyA' is the shankara's explanation on the concept of mAya in prashna 
1-16.  And without this mAya there is no creation power to parameshwara, 
insists shankara in sUtra bhAshya (1-4-3) na hi tayA vinA parameshvarasya 
srashtrutvaM siddhyati...mAyAvyapAshrayaM cha pravartakatvaM (sUtra 
bhAshya 2-2-7) without shakti or mAya how can he engage himself in 
srushti?? : shakti rahitasya tasya pravruttyanupapatteH...And this mAya is 
called sometime as prakruti, mUla prakruti (mAyAM tu prakrutiM vidyAt) 
vaishNavi mAyA (daivi hyesha guNamayi mama mAyA duratyayA says lord 
krishna in geeta, vaishNaveeM svAm mAyAM mUlaprakrutiM vasheekrutya..says 
shankara in geeta introduction),  avyakta (mahataH paraM avyaktaM in 
katha) and aksharaM (etasmin khalvakshare gArgyAkAsha Otashcha protascha 
says bruhadAraNyaka)..And this mAya  has two forms clarifies geetAchArya 
i.e. parA & aparA prakruti (geeta 7-4). 

And, now, what exactly is this mAya according to shankara??  is this word 
mAya  can be substituted to the word avidyA?? Ofcourse, Shankara  does say 
that this causal potentiality or mAyA is nothing but avidyAtmaka (of the 
nature of avidyA).  But here avidyAtmaka does not mean mAyA is identical 
with avidyA and both words can be used as 'paryAya".   shankara's 
following bhAshya vAkya-s in ArambhAdhikaraNa, clears this question beyond 
any doubt. 

sarvajnasya Ishvarasya Atmabhute iva "avidyA kalpite" nAma rUpe tatva 
anyatvAbhyAmanirvachaneeye saMsAra prapanchabeejabhute sarvajnasya 
Ishwarasya mAya, shaktihi, prakruti iti cha shrutismruttOrabhilapyete.. 

It is quite evident from the above bhAshya vAkya that shankara calls this 
mAya, shankti, prakruti etc. as 'avidyA kalpita' and this mAya (illusory 
appearance) cannot be defined to be identical with Ishvara or quite 
distinct from Ishwara.   

So, according to shankara, mAya is anirvachaneeya and it is shakti, 
prakruti,avyakta, akshara etc. when we have taken into consideration the 
creation.  Can we explain avidyA also in the same lines??  can we say 
avidyA lakshaNa also same as mAya??  can we say avidyA also causal 
potentiality of Ishwara like mAyA despite shankara himself says mAya is 
avidyAkalpita, avidyApratyupasthApita, avidyAkruta, avidyAkArya, 
avidyAlakshana etc.??   

Moreover, for avidyA, vidyA is the pratiyOgi,  what is the pratiyOgi for 
the mAya??  mAya lakshaNa is anirvachaneeya and avidya is nirvachaneeya. 
So, noway, we can use both these terms alternatively.   
//unquote//
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar