[Advaita-l] Unreality of the world and samsaara..

[H S Chandramouli]

Dear Sri Santosh Rao,


 Reg your first query


 << If the world / universe is ultimately unreal, is the proper
understanding as per advaita to infer that samsaara is not really
happening, but only appearing to do so? >> ,


 I do not think this is the complete understanding of Advaita. No doubt
this is part of the ultimate conclusion ( Tatparya ) of Advaita Sidhanta ,
the other part being the identity of Brahman and Jiva . But according to
Advaita , this is not something to be just understood ( the way we study
and understand any other subject ), but something to be realized
intuitively ( aparoksha ). Advaita prescribes a specific sadhana marga to
achieve this. As part of this marga, the sadhaka must first get eligibility
( adhikaritva ) to undertake the later part of the sadhana which is
shravana, manana and nididhyasana. During the first part ( gaining
adhikaritva ) , the ulti mate conclusion ( that the samsara is unreal )
could no doubt to be kept in the background , but all actions have to be
undertaken as per the rules laid down in the scriptures which implies that
the sadhaka should assume the creation to be real at least temporarily. He
should thus become a sadhanachatushtaya sampanna which gives him the
eligibility to undertake the later portion of the sadhana. During this
period the sadhaka considers the creation to be real ( which comes
naturally to him ) . Thus the second part of your first query


 << If this is correct, how exactly is this apparently "real" order of
karma,
cause, and effect to be understood? How can we logically differentiate
between good and bad actions that will lead to good and bad future births
if good and bad don't exist to begin with within a system that doesn't
exist to begin with? >>


 is not valid till such eligibility is obtained .


 Regards.

On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 9:59 PM, Santosh Rao via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Pranams, 2 questions...
>
> 1) If the world / universe is ultimately unreal, is the proper
> understanding as per advaita to infer that samsaara is not really
> happening, but only appearing to do so?
>
> If this is correct, how exactly is this apparently "real" order of karma,
> cause, and effect to be understood? How can we logically differentiate
> between good and bad actions that will lead to good and bad future births
> if good and bad don't exist to begin with within a system that doesn't
> exist to begin with?
>
> 2) Is Maya eternal like Brahman? What is it's exact nature? A link to a
> previous discussion regarding this topic would be appreciated, I don't see
> a way to search the archives.
>
> Thx,
>
> Santosh
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