[Advaita-l] Eka Jiiva Vaada - one perspective.

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 9:32 AM, Venkatesh Murthy <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Namaste
>
>
> Like this it is possible the Jeeva can imagine and create very complicated
> things like Computers and even God. The Power of Imagination is coming from
> Maayaa. It is the Cause. But Maayaa is also imagined by Jeeva's Avidyaa.
>
> The whole Universe is a mental Construction only in the mind of one Jeeva.
>


It would be significant to observe two statements for Shankaracharya's
Bhashyam on the above theme:

The first is from the Sutra Bhashya: 1.3.30:

//svApaprabodhayoshcha pralaya-prabhavau srUyete, 'yadA suptaH svapnam na
kanchana pashyati atha asmin prANa evaikadhA bhavati tadainam
vAk-sarvair-nAmabhiH sahApyeti chakShuH sarvai rUpaiH sahApyeti srotram
sarvaiH shabdaiH sahApyeti manaH sarvairdhyAnaiH sahApyeti sa yadA
pratibudhyate yathA agneH jvalataH sarvA disho visphulingA vipratiShTheran
evam eva etasmAdAtmanaH sarve prANA yathayatanam vipratiShThante prANebhyo
devA devebhyo lokAH' iti. (kAuShItakI up. III.3.

Translation of the bhAShya along with the passage of the shruti cited
therein:

[Dissolution and creation in sleep and waking are heard of in the Veda as
'When a man who is asleep does not see any dream, he becomes unified in
this prANa (Supreme Atman) Itself.  Then, the organ of speech, together
with all the names, merges in prANa (Supreme Atman), the organ of sight,
together with all forms merges in prANa (Su.Atman), the organ of hearing,
together with all sounds, merges in prANa (su.Atman), the min, together
with all thoughts, merges in praNA (su.Atman).

When he awakens, then, just as sparks fly out in all directions from a
blazing fire, from this Supreme Atman, all the organ s go forth to their
seats, from the organs, emerge the presiding deities and from the presiding
deities, emerge the sense-objects ( (kAuShItakI up. III.3) ] //

In the above passage the merger(laya)  and emergence (sRShTi) of not just
the organs and the mind but also of all names, forms, sounds, and thus of
the world of waking, has been specified.  Were Shankaracharya to hjave
deemed the world of waking state to have a reality in thorough contrast to
the falsity of a dream, He could not have justifiably averred that it is
dissolved when a person does not see it, when asleep, and that it is
created when the person does, on awakening. His declaration is, however,
quite fitting if He did take the world of the waking state to be on par
with a dream or a rope-snake (which example He has used in the 'bahu syAm
prajAyeya'.. of the Cha.up. 6.2.3 for explaining Brahman creating the
world) whose existence cannot be asserted in the absence of the dream or a
rope being so seen by a person (buddhi parikalpitena, imagined by the
intellect, as Shankara says in the above cited Ch.bhAShya).

It is here the authoritative gloss, the bhAShyaratnaprabhA explains the
cited BSB passage thus:

svapnavat kalpitasya ajnAtasattAbhAvAt darshanam sRShTiH adarshanam layaH
iti dRShTi-sRShTipakShaH shrutyabhireta iti bhAvaH (BSB 1.3.30)

[Because that which is fancied like a dream has no existence when it is not
apprehended, perception is creation and non-perception is dissolution.  The
Upanishad (kauShItakI that Shankara cites as proof for this ) approves of
this view that perception is creation. This is the idea.]

It is worthy of noting that the entire kShetram, the observed universe,
described succinctly in the BG 13.6 and 7 verses is encapsulated in the
above upanishad/bhashya as the one that gets dissolved, disappears, when
not seen/cognized, as in sleep and emerging, created, when cognition again
commences when waking occurs.  The most significant part of the upanishad
is that the presiding deities, deva-s and the objects (loka-s) too get
'created during cognition', thus affirming the 'cognition is creation' idea.

The Second passage from Shankara is from the Br.up.Bhashya 2.i.18
(ajAtashatru brAhmaNam):

tasmAt svapne mRShA adhyaropita eva AtmabhUtatvena lokA avidyamAnA eva
santaH tathA jAgarite api iti pratyetavyam.

[Therefore, in the dream state, worlds that are not at all real are falsely
superimposed as being of the self.  *One must understand that such is the
case in the waking state too*.]

[I have not done spelling and grammar checks for the above.]

So, the idea that the fourteen loka-s meant for bhogya of the jIva-s are
created by Ishwara alone and not by the jiva is not borne out by the above
bhashya/shruti passages.

warm regards
subrahmanian.v