[Advaita-l] Mula avidya and adhyasa-SSS discussions.

[Bhaskar YR]

Reply:  Not so, for by saying this you will be flouting the scriptures. It
is not our idea, but that of the scriptures.  Hence your fling hits them
(the shruti-s).   ...But owing to ignorance it superimposes on itself the
notion that it is not Brahman, and that it is not all, and consequently
thinbks, through mistake, that it is an agent, possessed of activity, the
experiencer of its fruits, happy or miserable and transmigrating

praNAms
Hare Krishna

Not so, the context here is not to establish brahmAshrita avidyA, if that 
is the case any amount of sAdhana from jeeva cannot remove the 
brahmAshrita avidyA.  OTOH, here it is said that jeeva who is in svarUpa 
brahma and there is no other chaitanya entity other than brahma.  That is 
the reason why shankara in this very bhAshya vAkya clarifies, kim tarhi na 
brahma svAtmani atatdharma adhyArOpaNa nimittaM avidyA kartru cheti?? 
bhavatvevaM nAvidyAkartru bhrAntaM cha brahma, kim tu naivA brahmA 
avidyAkartA chetanO bhrAnta anya ishyate.  Here shankara clearly says 
though jeeva is in his svarUpa brahma but brahma is not the jeeva svarUpa. 
 brahman is nitya shuddha, buddha, mukta svabhAva. 

But in sUtra bhAshya there is an exclusive talk with regard to avidyA. 
Here pUrvapaxi questions :  kasya punarayamaprabOdhaH iti chet??  yastvaM 
prucchasi tasya ta iti vadAmaH, nanvahameeshwara evOktaH shrutyA?? 
yadyevaM pratibuddhOsi, nAsti kasyachidaprabhOdhaH.  Here shankara has the 
ample opportunity to prove the brahmAshrita avidyA (if at all it is 
brahmAbhinna) but here on the contrary  he says, if you know you are 
shruti pratipAdya Ishwara/brahman, then there is no avidyA whatsoever to 
anybody. 

Please see also geeta bhAshya 13-2, atrAha evaM tarhi jnAtru dharmO 
avidyA, 'NA'  shankara answers & clarifies it is ONLY karaNa dharma not 
pertains to jnAtru, karaNsyaiva kasyachidbhavitumarhanti, na jnAtuH 
kshetrajnasya. 

Moreover, if the avidyA is brahmAshrita, what is the role of this avidyA?? 
 shankara clarifies avidyA kArya is katrutva bhOktrutva pravartakaH, so, 
if the brahma is contaminated with avidyA, then in brahman also there is 
katrutva, bhOktrutva and resultant rAga-dvesha.  I hope this will not be 
the suitable definition of advaita's adviteeya nitya, shuddha, buddha, 
mukta brahman. 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar