[Advaita-l] Eternal Loka

[V Subrahmanian]

Dear Shrinivas,

Thanks for your response.  Pl. see my replies between [ ] below.

regards
vs

On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 7:19 PM, Shrinivas Gadkari
<sgadkari2001 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Dear Shri Subrahmanian,
>
>
> So coming back to another way of looking at nirguNa brahma:
> The entire creation already exists in nirguNa brahma, and
> Adi mAyA, only projects what already exists in brahma.
>

[This view, in my understanding, tallies with the sAnkhya view.  Their view
is similar to Vedanta's view, called 'satkArya vAda' where the effect,
kAryam, is admitted to be in the kAraNam.  But the crucial difference
between the two views is: in sAnkhya, the kAryam exists, prior to
manifestation, AS KARYAM, in the kAraNam.  In Vedanta, on the other hand,
the kAryam exists, prior to manifestation, AS KAARANAM, in the kAraNam.
Thus, the kAryam, the world is real in the sAnkhyan view and it is unreal
in the vedantic view.  To elucidate, the creation exists in nirguNa brahman
as non-different from nirguNa brahman according to vedanta.  By saying
this, vedantins only ultimately understand that the creation does not
really exist in brahman.  Just like the superimposed snake never exists in
the rope at any point of time.  If the creation were to exist, even in
unmanifest form, in nirguNa brahman, then brahman will be a
receptacle/resting place/support for the creation.  But such is not the
case.  Pl. refer to verses 4.b and 5.a of the 9th ch. of the bh.gita. I am
giving just a part of the commentary of Shankaracharya in translation; you
can read the full form in the gitasupersite:

English translation by Swami Gambhirananda (on Sri Sankaracharya's Sanskrit
Commentary)
// 9.5 Na ca bhutani, nor do the beings, beginning from Brahma; matsthani,
dwell in Me. Pasya, behold; me, My; aisvaram, divine; yogam, Yoga, action,
performance, i.e. this real nature of Myself. The Upanisadic text, too,
similarly shows the absence of association (of the Self) due to Its being
free from contact: '...unattached, for It is never attached' (Br. 3.9.26).
[asango na hi sajjatE  //

Since nirguNa Brahman is free from any attachment (because there is no
matter in It that can stick to something else and that there is nothing at
all that is different from It), creation, even in its unmanifest form,
cannot really inhere/exist in Brahman. So vedantins do not admit of the
creation existing in nirguNa brahman.  One can, by concession, say,
'creation exists as a superimposition in brahman'.  ]


> The need to project arises, because, the creation that exists
> in brahma is very very abstract, made of connections between
> "abstract thought processes". Adi mAyA through successive
> steps of AvaraNa-vikshepa projects, amplifies and colours this
> abstract creation. This is the phenomenon of vimarsha.
>
> Bhaktas refer to Adi mAyA as Adi mAtA. Based on this view of
> creation and brahma, it becomes increasingly clear that the
> upAsanA of Adi mAtA is that precious upAsanA that will give one
> both the worlds - manifested vishva and increasing proximity
> to the cause of the world - nirguNa brahma.
>
> gAyatrI, chaNDikA, shrI vidyA are some of the names of the
> approaches to the upAsanA of Adi mAtA. From paurANika accounts
> we learn that even the trinity are what they are because
> of their devotion to Adi mAtA.
>

[ all this is not denied, as sAdhanA. As Sri Ramakrishna paramahamsa says:
'mAyA is both vidyA mAyA and avidyA mAyA.  By propitiating the former thru
prayers, etc. She will confer true knowledge of Brahman.  The latter is
binding in nature and hence one should eschew all evil
characters/associations.]