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

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

> 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

PraNAms

The error in perception is seeing what is not there in the place it is seen - what Shankara calls as adhyaasa - atasmi tat buddhiH. It is atyanataabhaava - that is non-existence of silver at the locus (Shell) all the time (trikaale api). Error occurred because of silvery attribute in the object seen and arriving based on that dominant attribute a wrong cognition and recognition that there is a piece of silver out there. The recognition that it is silver is based on previous attributive knowledge of silvery-ness of the silver - that is based on the memory and the associated notional value for the silver.

The error is recognized only when one makes an attempt to pick that silver apparently seen in the shell without recognizing that it is apparent silver not real silver. No body makes an attempt if he knows that is false silver present. Until one pick up the nacre, the silver in the mind of the perceiver is real and the experience of silver is real. Hence the experience of the silver in the shell is only relatively real until the falsity of that silver is established when he picks up the object and recognizes that there is no silver there in the nacre at any time. 

The example needs to be applied - Every experience is only relatively real until the falsity of the experience of reality is recognized. This is true even for the dream-objects.

Hence every experience is falsified since what is there is only Brahman which can not be 'experienced' since it is not an object of experience. Shankara says simply that an object is false because I see it - dRisyatvaat. However the false is recognized as false only when the real is known, as in the case of picking up the nacre. Until that knowledge of the reality behind the false takes place, the false is taken as real as in the case of silver in the nacre. All the attempts are made to pick up that silver since there is a value assigned to that silver. Similarly one goes after the world of objects thinking that they are real and they give happiness when they are possessed, because of the notional value imposed due to intense attachments to the objects. No intelligent person wants to get attached to false objects. 

For those who consider that the world is real, let them continue to make all the required efforts to gain the projected happiness until they become intelligent enough to understands clearly the meaning of the sloka - pariikshalokaan karma chitaan brahmano...- This is true whether the objects are here or in other lokas including heavens or vikunTaas or kailaasaas. 

There is an extensive analysis of errors in perception in the series on Critical analysis of Vedanta Paribhaasha in www.advaitaforum.org for those who are interested.

Hari Om!
Sadananda