[Advaita-l] A reference to 'jIvAshritA avidyA'

[Anand Hudli]

Shri Bhaskar YR wrote:
>Prabhuji, you said that there is a prior existence of avidyA alongwith
>brahman.  That means it is as real as brahman & as anAdi as brahman. Since
>it is  the cause of pramAtru, prameyAdi triad, we have to say it has its
>existence even prior to jeeva.  prabhuji, is this avidyA something
>different from agrahaNa, anyathAgrahaNa and saMshaya which shankara
>explains in adhyAsa bhAshya??  If this avidyA is exclusive to these three
>lakshaNa-s of avidyA and is parallel to brahman or brahmAshrita, how to
>get rid of this avidyA?? Any amount of sAdhana at jeeva level can only
>eradicate jeeva's avidyA, and this would result in sublation of jeeva's
>pramAtrutva.  When this pramAtrutva itself is sublated who will be there

I had posted some messages earlier where some definitions of jIva and
Ishvara were presented. Suffice it to say, the jIva is defined
variously as some reflection or delimitation of Brahman in or by
avidyA. So the jIva gets its individuality
because of avidyA. When the jIva realizes, by means of upaniShad
statements, that it is none other than Brahman, its individuality
vanishes along with avidyA and its effects. Although avidyA has
Brahman as its locus, it certainly affects the
jIva too, by hiding the real nature of the jIva as Brahman, and
therefore, it is logical for the jIva to make efforts to get rid of
avidyA. Again, avidyA is said to have Brahman as its locus, only from
an empirical point of view. avidyA is anirvachanIyA which means it is
not really existent but
appears to be so. So there is no danger of introducing a duality of
Brahman and avidyA.

Anand