[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Re: avidya vs maayaa - What is the difference? - Part 4

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste SadAji,
If you take avidyA and mAya as different, with
a) avidyA being only AvaraNa and mAya being only vikshepa, and
b) jIva is the Ashraya of avidyA and Ishvara is the Ashraya of mAya,

1) how is avidyA the cause of samsAra as in sleep there is only avidyA, no
vikshepa, and there is no experience of samsAra then? So vikshepa is the
cause of samsaara.
2) By whose vikshepa shakti is the jIva's svapna prapancha created?
According to you, jIva is only endowed with AvaraNa, not vikshepa, so he
cannot have created it. NirguNa Brahman cannot create anything. So by
pArisheSha nyAya, it has to be Ishvara who creates it. However, advaita
shAstra says that it is the jIva that creates svapna prapancha because of
his vAsanas. So that needs to be explained. If you say the jIva creates it,
using what does he create it? If with vikshepa, how did the jIva get it, as
he has only avidyA = AvaraNa and not mAya=vikshepa.
3) Not only avidyA, mAya also is jaDam only. It is only the presence of
chaitanyam and partial AvaraNa, that allows vikshepa to project. In
praLaya, when the entire universe is in the unmanifest form, vikshepa
shakti also is unmanifest only. In that mahA sushupti, does Ishvara himself
experience avidyA or does he not - यो अस्याध्यक्ष परमेव्योमन्त्सो अङ्ग वेद
यदि वा न वेद? If so, whose avidyA does he experience, as he does not have
any, in your formulation? If he does not experience avidyA, what is that
great blankness of non creation in pralaya?
4) Coming back down to earth, how does avidyA nivritti in jAgrat avasthA,
lead to mAya satyatva nivritti for the jnAni, because they are two
different things located in two different entities, in your view? By avidyA
nivritti he will know he is Brahman, but how will he also know that mAya is
mithyA? A jnAni who has AvaraNa nivritti only will consider himself as the
satya jagat kartA of a satya jagat. How does avidyA nivritti (AvaraNa
nivritti) translate to jagat mithyA?

Please do not take this is as vitaNDA vAdam, I am only doing this to point
out that if the purpose of the formulation was to make it appealing to a
rational mind, it is no better than the alternative that you are seeking to
replace.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On 4 Dec 2016 3:48 a.m., "kuntimaddi sadananda via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> PraNams. I am providing some discussion that was raised -  may be of
> interest to some. I have to split it  into two parts since the list is not
> accepting as one post as it is too long.-------------------------------- Sudhesji
> - PraNAms
>
> I have provided below myunderstanding.
>
> --------------------------
> Sudheshji:
>
> One important point youhave made that I thought otherwise is Mayaa and
> Avidya are not the same.
> Sada: The point I madeis that they can be separated rather than equating
> the two as one and the same.
> ----------------------------------
> Sudhesh:
> So far my understandingis that maaya is with reference to the macro or
> cosmic person and Avdiya withreference to micro or individual self and
> hence both have the same two aspectsof AvaraNa and vikshEpa operating from
> two points of references.
>
> Sada:
>
> avidya is only atmicrolevel - as jeeva does not know that he is Brahman
> and each jeeva has tomake his own effort for realization. Some total of all
> jeevas do not makeinfinite since sum of finites is finite only and not
> infinite.
>
> Ignorance only covers oravarana. To gain the knowledge one has to
> dis-cover. This is true for anyignorance. Ignorance by itself does not
> project anything. It only covers theknowledge. For projection mind with
> chidaabhaasa is needed. Hence from my pointavidya by itself does not have
> viskhepa shakti. avidya may lead to vikshepa if there is partial knowledge
> (where upahita chaitanya or mind withchidaabhaasa comes in) If the mind is
> absent or folded as in laya (individualsleep) or pralaya (brahmaji's
> sleep), then there is no vikshepa.
>
> ------------------------------
> Sudesh:
>
> Per your post can I takethat only maaya has these two aspects and avidya
> is nothing but AvaraNaoperating at individual level? Since vikshEpa is only
> due to partialignorance, or putting in another way is vikshEpa an effect of
> avidya?
>
> Sada: Yes you are right,you have articulated what I wrote above.
> ------------------Sudesh:
>
> If there is no avidyathen there is no vikshEpa - no? Can viskhEpa exist
> without ignorance?
> Sada: As long as BMIwhich is a product of Vikshepa of Iswara is there -
> that BMI will continue to perceivethe Iswara sRiShti. The jeevan mukta has
> no more avidya. However, as long ashis BMI (due to praarabda) is there, the
> universe is still perceived. Hence wehave jnaani teachers with ajnaani
> students.
>
> Hence Vikshepa can existwithout avidya - that is the point why they can be
> separated and avidyacan exist without vikshepa as in laya or pralaya.
>
> Iswara has only Vikshepaor maaya shakti for projecting the whole universe.
> He is sarvajna and sarvavitas Mundaka (mantra 9, ch. I- sec.10 says - that
> is He has both para and aparavidya. Hence Iswara has not avidya but has
> maaya as his shakti.
>
> To be continued.
>
>
>
>
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