[Advaita-l] Can a mithyA-vastu produce an effect? असत्यवस्तुनः अर्थक्रियाकारित्वम्

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

2011/5/18 Vidyasankar Sundaresan <svidyasankar at hotmail.com>:
>
>> There can be objection from Visistadvaiti-
>>
>> Looking at the unreal shell silver the man feels joy. He wants to
>> pick up the silver. Looking at rope as unreal snake he feels fear. He
>> wants to run away. What is the cause of joy? What is the cause of
>> fear? It is not silver but Jnana this is silver. It is not snake but
>> Jnana this is a snake. The unreal silver cannot be cause of real joy.
>> The unreal snake is not the cause of real fear. The Jnanas are the
>> causes. But the Jnanas are real. Real causes real. Advaiti has
>> accepted this. He says Mithya Maya causes Jagat. Like that Mithya
>> snake cannot be cause of real fear. Mithya woman in dream cannot
>> cause real joy. The real Jnanas in every case are causing it.
>
> One answer to this would be as follows.
>
> The jnAna, "this is silver", which causes joy, is negated by the act of
> picking up the shell and discovering that it is not silver. The jnAna,
> "this is snake", which causes fear, is negated by the subsequent jnAna
> that it is rope, which eventually removes the fear.
>
> You therefore come to the conclusion that the silver and the snake
> are illusory, and your so-called "real" joy and your so-called "real"
> fear are caused by a so-called "real" jnAna. The problem is that the
> said instances of jnAna cannot really be real, because they are subject
> to negation. Technically, it is calld bAdha.
>
> An instance of jnAna that is subject to bAdha is not true jnAna in the
> paramArtha sense. It is a mental impression. Technically, it is a vRtti.
> The "reality" of vRtti-jnAna is changeable and therefore the "real"
> emotions of joy and fear caused by them are also changeable. They
> are also subject to bAdha.

The Badhaka Jnana will be negating the object Jnana Vishaya but not
Jnana.  The silver is false but nobody can  say I did not have
experience of seeing silver. Nobody can say I did not have experience
of seeing snake. The snake is false. The dream object like elephant is
false but nobody will say I did not experience seeing the elephant in
my dream.  The negation Badha is of Jnana Vishaya only and it can be
Mithya but Jnana is Satya. Sribhashya- Tatra Hi Vishayanam Eva
Mithyatvam Tesham Eva Badho Drushyate Na Jnanasya and Na Hi Maya
Svapnavelayam Anubhutam Jnanamapi Na Vidyate Iti Kasyacidapi Pratyayo
Jayate and Darshanam Tu Vidyate Arthaha Na Santi Iti Badhaka
Pratyayaha.

Kindly read Page 75 of Thibaut's Sribhashya translation.

http://www.archive.org/details/vedntasutrastr03badauoft


>
> Any serious response to the above points about bAdha has to have a
> robust definition of what constitutes the "real" and has to have a clear
> perspective on the inevitable conclusion about levels of reality.
>
> Regards,
> Vidyasankar
>


-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh