[Advaita-l] True or False

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

*Sri Anand:*  "It is important to realize that Jiva and Ishvara can only be
the same once
they shed their upAdhis or attributes. Else, it is not possible to claim the
unity of the two. That is, Ishvara as Ishvara is not the same as Jiva as
Jiva, but Ishvara as the nirvisheSha nirguNa nirAkAra niravayava nirupAdhika
Brahman is the same as Jiva as nivisheSha nirguNa nirAkAra niravayava
nirupAdhika Brahman. The Ishvara, considered with all His divine glories,
cannot by any means be the same as the mere mortal Jiva. Ishvara is the King
while the Jiva is a mere soldier. There is an apparent contradiction in
equating the two, which goes away if you drop all the attributes, qualities,
glories of Ishvara and those of the Jiva. The Sun can never be the same as
the puny glow-worm, but both considered as a *shining-object* are the same.
The VivekachUDAmaNi brings this out beautifully"
*Half truth. What about abheda bhakti where a jnani identifies Himself with
His Lord but knows the visEshas also? The disciple in Vivekachudamani says
"I am Vishnu", "I was Manu" etc. after realization.  I dont know if Sankara
wrote Vivekachudamani but concede that it is written by one who was in the
line. *
**
*Sri Vidyasankar
*I don't know whether one should feel honored or cornered, in being singled
out (or tripled out)  like this.
*On a lighter vein, when you know from Sankara's sahasranama bhashya that Ka
means Brahma, Isa means Siva and Va means Vishnu and Kesava, the curly
haired one, is the controller of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, then you dont feel
tripled out. You dont even feel singled out because there is no outside nor
insidefor you. *
Since you want pithy sound-bite true or false answers, let me restate your
statements.
brahman is sat - True.
*On a lighter vein again, good for you brahman. keep it up!*
viSesha is sat - False.
*does isvara know the existence of viSesha?*
jIva, jagat and ISvara are sat - Neither True nor False.
*Isvara has the same level of reality as jagat?  *
**
*Sri Devanathan, you have Sri Subrahmanian and Sri Vidyasankar saying that
Isvara has a level of reality lower than Brahman or worse a level of reality
same as jagat. Even opponents dont attribute such positions to Sankara. I am
keen to hear what you think is the true representation of Sankara sampradaya
according to traditional scholars. After you write, it will be clear if you
are Sri Devanathan or Sri Simhanathan! *
**