[Advaita-l] A Vichara on the terms 'Avidya' and 'Maya' Part 1

[Br. Pranipata]

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From: "V Subrahmanian" <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2010 3:06 PM
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" 
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Subject: [Advaita-l] A Vichara on the terms 'Avidya' and 'Maya' Part 1

Hari Om Shri Subrahmanianji, Pranaams!

>To start with, the brahma sUtra bhAShya 1.3.19 passage as below is taken 
>up:

> एक एव परमेश्वरः कूटस्थनित्यो विज्ञानधातुः अविद्यया मायया मायाविवत्
> अनेकधा विभाव्यते, नान्यो विज्ञानधातुरस्ति इति ।
> The bhAShya-ratnaprabhA commentary says:
>
> अविद्यामाययोर्भेदं निरसितुं सामानाधिकरण्यं,
> आवरण-विक्षेपशक्तिरूप-शब्दप्रवृत्तिनिमित्तभेदात् सहप्रयोगः ।
>
You are right when you say that Ratnaprabha makes no distinction between 
Maya and Avidya.

This is not valid reason for you to conclude for those who feel that Maya 
and Avidya are different cannot maintain their stance.

1. sahaprayoga itself distinguishes them to imply different meanings and 
here Ratnaprabha takes AvaraNa and vikShepa as the difference.

2. sAmAnAdhikaraNya when applied makes the denoted as one and not the 
denoting words as one and same and more importantly does not rule out the 
denoting words having a separate individual meaning of their own.

satyam-jnAnam-anantam,  praNipAtena - pariprashnena - sevayA, satyena - 
tapasA - brahmacaryena - samyagjnAnena -- few set of words used in 
sAnAdhikaraNa. In case you feel seva and praniprashna have same meaning and 
not different; or satya or tapas does not have its own different meanings, 
let know.




> The second Sutra Bhashya 1.4.3 passage:
>
> अविद्यात्मिका हि बीजशक्तिः अव्यक्तशब्दनिर्देश्या परमेश्वराश्रया
> मायामयी महासुप्तिः, यस्यां स्वरूपप्रतिबोधरहिताः शेरते संसारिणो जीवाः ।
> तदेतदव्यक्तं क्वचिदाकाशशब्दनिर्दिष्टं, ..क्वचिदक्षरशब्दोदितम्..
> क्वचिन्मायेति सूचितम् ...अव्यक्ता हि सा माया ..अविद्या हि अव्यक्तम् ।
> Anandagiri, in the nyAya-nirNaya, alludes to a view held by someone:
>
> मायाविद्ययोर्भेदात्, ईश्वरस्य मायाश्रयत्वम्, जीवानामविद्याश्रयता इति
> वदन्तं प्रत्याह – मायामयीति । यथा मायाविनो माया परतन्त्रा तथैषापि
> इत्यर्थ ।
The simple meaning of above is the avidyA-AshrayatA of jIva do not make him 
independent of Ishvara and he is under control of Ishvara only and to denote 
mAyAmayI word is used by AcAryaji.


> (To be continued in 1 A)

In Shri Guru Smriti,
Br. Pranipata Chaitanya