[Advaita-l] The Universe is mayic in appearance.

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> With such a great content of mAyAvAda the Bhagavatam is definitely the best
> candidate for the appellation of being an 'asat-shAstram' and 'pracchannam
> bauddham'. I think some critics of Advaita have pointed out that Gaudapada
> 'borrowed' this analogy from the Buddhists!! Or the best and easiest
> alternative would be to declare that all these verses of the Bhagavatam and
> especailly the whole of the Uddhavagita are interpolations by Advaitins.
> 
> Regards,
> subrahmanian.v
> 
> _______________________________________________________________________________In
> the above posting,V.Subramaian concludes that Adwaita is
> "Asatsastram",because Gaudapada has borrowed the simile of
> "Alata"(firebrand),in his karikas on Mandukya Upanishad.This shows to what
> extent some scholars jump to hasty and erroneous conclusions,just because
> some terms are found in Buddhist texts.

No, he does not. The notion that Gaudapada borrowed the alAtacakra analogy from
buddhists is ascribed to CRITICS of advaita. I think Sri Subrahmanian has demonstrated
amply that he is a champion of advaita, not a critic. I would request you to please read
through other people's posts carefully and not jump to hasty and erroneous conclusions
about what they say!
 
The irony that can be conveyed by voice is lost in writing. In the posting that you quote,
Sri Subrahmanian is asking Sri Rajaram Venkataramani to consider the implications with
respect to the bhAgavatam, if he were to keep holding on to the verses on mAyAvAda
and asacchAstra attributed to the padmapurANa. It would be too tedious to go through
it all once more, but the gist is as follows -

IF "mAyAvAda" is an asacchAstra (as per so-called padmapurANa verse) and IF this
"mAyAvAda" is Sankaran advaita vedAnta. THEN one very important candidate for this 
label of "asacchAstra" would be the bhAgavata purANa. If someone wants to think that
the supposed padmapurANa verses apply to advaita vedAnta texts only, but NOT to the
bhAgavata purANa, then that person has to argue that advaitins have introduced these
advaitic / "mAyAvAdic" verses into the bhAgavatam.

It is up to the upholders of the advaita = mAyAvAda = asacchAstra theory to come up
with a self-consistent evaluation of the bhAgavata purANa also. That is the point being
made. It is a complex argument, so once again, please read carefully.
 
Regards,
Vidyasankar