[Advaita-l] 'asat' also means 'mithyA'

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

It is not and let me explain. A pot has prAgabhAva (non-existence prior to
creation) and dhvamsabhAva (non-existence after destruction). Does it have
atyantAbhAva (absolute non-existence)? If it does have atyantAbhAva, then
how do we experience it? You have to say that it does not have atyantAbhAva
nor does it have bhAvA (existence) but is an adhyAsa (superimposition) on
sat (pure existence) due to ajnAnA. I ask the same question with respect to
ajnAnA - whether it exists (bhAvA) or not (abhAvA). If you say it exists
(sat), then I say it cannot be negated. If you say it does not, then you
have not answered the cause of my experience of jagat. You may get around
it by saying that mAyA is itself an adhyAsA on sat. And I will ask due to
what? You have to say due to mAyA leading to an infinite regress.  Or you
have to say that mAyA is anirvachaniya, which is acceptable but you call
mAyA anrtam (asat) sometimes in the context of ajAti vAdA - hence my
question "How do I experience a non-existence world?" remains.

It does not end here. What is the counter-correlative (pratiyogi) of sat if
asat is not (meaning abhAvA)? Also, if sat is different from knowledge (of
pot), then it will have objective limitation though not spacio-temporal. If
it is not different from knowledge due to superimposition, then it will
subject to creation and destruction as knowledge pot originates and
disappears.

Madhusudana Saraswati answers these objections in 2.16 and 2.17 (but he
also does not differentiate between Brahman and Ishwara). Quoting from the
end of his long commentary on this* "... great, endless, infinite Reality
is but Pure Intelligence" (Br. 2.4.12), "Brahman is truth, knowledge and
infinite" (Tai., 2.1) ... "There is nothing Higher than the Purusha. He is
the culmination, He is the Highest goal"  (Ka 1.3.11). It has also been
said by the commentator (Sankara) "All perishable things get destroyed with
the Purusha as their end. The Purusha does not perish, because there is no
means to His destruction"*
**









On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 1:38 PM, kuntimaddi sadananda <
kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Shree Rajaram - PraNAms - I think your question was answered by Subbuji's
> post. Mithyaa implies that which is experienced but not eternal to come
> under the category of absolutely real. Whatever is perceived or known or
> experienced in any state is mithyaa says Shankara - dRisyatvaat. Hence the
> world comes under mithyaa only as it is known or knowable entity via a
> pramANa. The discussion is only in terms of what sat and asat in the sloka
> II-16 refer to. While agreeing with Subbuji, I am only presenting an
> alternate view point.
> Hari Om!
> Sadananda
>
>
> >________________________________
> > From: Rajaram Venkataramani <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>
> >
> >
> >If this world does not exist, then the why do we experience it? As long as
> >we live, we will experience the world. If this world does exist, then
> >according to Lord Krishna, it cannot cease to be. However, we know that it
> >goes through creation and destruction. Hence, what Lord Krishna says
> >contradicts our direct perception.  You can say that my direct perception
> >is due to my ajnana. If my ajnana exists, it cannot cease to be. If it
> does
> >not exist, then we are back to the original question. Why do I have direct
> >perception of jagat? :)
> >
> >
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