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

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> 
> The Mithyatva of Advaiti is not accepted by Visishtadvaiti. He says
> the Advaiti Mithya Vastu is not Mithya. It is real. In shell there is
> actually silver. But it is in small quantity. If somebody sees silver
> it is because of defective eye. He wants to pick up the silver. But
> if there is no defect in eye he will see shell part. He will not pick
> up the shell. But the Jnana of Rajata in Sukti is true Jnana. Page
> 120 Sribhashya.

So, is the "silver in the shell" really there, or is it perceived due to a 
defective eye, or is it both? You indicate that as per Ramanuja, there
is actually a small amount of silver in the shell, but it takes a person
with a defective eye to see it, whereas a person with regular eyes will
see only the large amount of the shell. To me, under this scenario, it
seems as if the person with the so-called defective eye actually has
very advanced and subtle sight, in order to see something that is
actually there but everyone else has missed!
 
I'm not sure if you are representing the SrIbhAshya correctly, but yes,
as another poster mentioned, you are at least causing list members to
think about the issues seriously.
 
Is it the case that the jnAna of rajata is real, even if rajata is not? Or 
is it that rajata in the shell is real, as also the jnAna of rajata? If the
jnAna of rajata in SuktikA is true, why does it have to be set aside at
a later time, by the rise of a later jnAna that the object is not-rajata?
What is the criterion for truth and reality and error, in that case? It 
would help the list if you can go through the viSishTAdvaita positions
at a fundamental level and present in a cogent way, to compare with
the advaita positions.
 
Regards,
Vidyasankar