[Advaita-l] Brahman's ignorance - Call it māyā or avidyā

[V Subrahmanian]

Thanks for the references. The Advaitic message conveyed by many scriptural
texts is quite explicit from these passages.

regards
subbu

2016-12-15 8:40 GMT+05:30 Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com>:

> Namaste Subbuji,
> The line आभाति परमात्मा च सर्वोपाधिषु संस्थितः is quoted in the
> Shabdakoshakalpadruma Volume 1, page 269. However it is not clear to me
> where the author sources it from. A nearby quote he attributes to Parashara
> rishi, so I suspect that is from Vishnu PurANa. So this one also maybe from
> there. I have copied the relevant section from the kalpadruma here and
> highlighted what I am talking about.
> तथा च शुकशिष्यो गौडपादाचार्य्यः ॥“यथैकस्मिन् घटाकाशे रजोधूमादिभिर्युते ।न
> सर्व्वे सम्प्रयुज्यन्ते तद्वज्जीवाः सुखादिभिः” ॥तस्मादद्वितीये
> परमात्मन्युपाधितो जीवेश्वरयो-र्जीवानाञ्च परस्परं भेदव्यवस्थायाः
> सिद्धत्वान्नविशुद्धसत्वोपाधेरीश्वरस्याविशुद्धोपाधिजीवगताःसुखदुःखमोहाज्ञानादयः
> ॥ तथा च भगवान्पराशरः ।ज्ञानात्मकस्यामलसत्त्वराशे-रपेतदोषस्य सदा स्फुटस्य ।किं
> वा जगत्यस्ति समस्तपुंसा-मज्ञातमस्यास्ति हृदि स्थितस्य” ॥कथं
> तर्ह्यौपाधिकभेदेन बन्धमुक्त्यादिव्यवस्था सोपा-धिकानां तेषां वा
> सोपाधिकैश्वरस्य वा स्वरूप-स्येति इत्याशङ्क्य दृष्टान्तपूर्ब्बकं व्यवस्थां
> दर्शयति ॥“एकस्तु सूर्य्यो बहुधा जलाधारेषु दृश्यते ।आभाति परमात्मा च
> सर्व्वोपाधिषु संस्थितः” ॥“ब्रह्य सर्व्वशरीरेषु वाह्ये चाभ्यन्तरे स्थितम् ।आकाशमिव
> भूतेषु बुद्धावात्मा म चान्यथा” ॥एवं सति यया बुद्ध्या देहोऽहमिति मन्यते ।‘अनात्मन्यात्मता
> भ्रान्त्या सा स्यात्संसारबन्धिनी’ ॥सर्व्वैर्विकल्पैर्हीनस्तु शुद्धो
> बुद्धोऽजरोऽमरः ।प्रशान्तो व्योमवद्व्यापी चैतन्यात्मा सकृत्प्रभुः ॥धूमाभ्रधूलिभिर्व्योम
> यथा न मलिनीयते ।प्राकृतैरपरामृष्टो विकारैः पुरुषस्तथा ॥यथैकस्मिन् घटाकाशे
> जलैर्धूमादिभिर्युते ।नान्ये मलिनतां यान्ति दूरस्थाः कुत्रचित् क्वचित् ॥यथा
> द्वन्द्वैरनेकैस्तु जीवे च मलिनीकृते ।एतस्मिन्नापरे जीवा मलिनाः सन्ति
> कुत्रचित्” ॥परं नतु केवलं प्रकृतेः पृथग्रूपचैतन्यज्ञान-मात्रेण
> ब्रह्मज्ञानं सम्भवितुमर्हति । यदि चैकेपण्डिताः पृथग्ज्ञानेनैव सिद्धिः
> स्यादिति मन्यन्तेकिन्तु नैव श्रुतय एवं परिचक्षते ।
>
> Regards,
> Venkat
>
>
> On 15 Dec 2016 2:17 a.m., "V Subrahmanian" <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Venkat ji, for the reference. Once again it is proved that an
> ancient advaitin Shankara has cited from a tamasa purana, that too from the
> Ishwara Gita that teaches the Supremacy of Shiva,  just as he has done from
> the Shiva Purana in the VSN bhashya. Sri Visveswara Saraswati too cites
> extensively from the kurma purana in the yati dharma sangraha.
>
> regards
> subbu
> On Dec 15, 2016 1:21 AM, "Venkatraghavan S" <agnimile at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Namaste Subbuji,
>> The second line of 2.17 and first line of 2.18 of the Ishvara Gita in the
>> kUrma purANa seem to be what Shankaracharya is quoting:
>>
>> अज्ञानादन्यथा ज्ञानात् तत्वं प्रकृतिसंगतम् ।*नित्योदितं स्वयं ज्योतिः सर्वगः पुरुषः परः ॥ २.१७॥
>> अहंकाराविवेकेन कर्त्ताहमिति मन्यते ।
>> *पश्यन्ति ऋषयोऽव्यक्तं नित्यं सदसदात्मकम् ॥ २.१८॥
>>
>> I haven't managed to find the other references. Will let you know if
>> something turns up.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Venkatraghavan
>> On 14 Dec 2016 7:53 a.m., "V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l" <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>> In the commentary of Shankaracharya to the Viṣṇu sahasranāma (VSN) the
>> following verses are cited for explaining the verse पवित्राणां पवित्रं
>> यो......
>>
>> सर्पवद्रज्जुखण्दस्तु निशायां वेश्ममध्यगः ।
>>
>> एको हि चन्द्रो द्वौ व्योम्नि तिमिराहतचक्षुषः ॥
>>
>> आभाति परमात्मा च सर्वोपाधिषु संस्थितः ।
>>
>> नित्योदितः स्वयंज्योतिः सर्वगः पुरुषः परः ॥
>>
>> अहंकाराविवेकेन कर्ताहमिति मन्यते ।
>>
>> Here Brahman is stated to be endowed with ahankāra aviveka.
>>
>> [Incidentally, the purport of the first two lines above are seen depicted,
>> of course with a variation, in Shankara's preamble to the Brahma sutra
>> bhāṣya:
>>
>> //तथा च लोकेऽनुभवः — शुक्तिका हि रजतवदवभासते, एकश्चन्द्रः सद्वितीयवदिति
>> ॥//
>>
>> Shankara cites another verse in the VSN bhāṣya:
>>  स्वमायया स्वमात्मानं मोहयन्द्वैतमायया । गुणाहितं स्वमात्मानं लभते च स्वयं
>> हरिः ॥ [By his own Māyā, deluding himself with the illusion of dvaita,
>> Hari
>> Himself comes to see himself endowed with guṇas.]
>> Here Shankara is clear that Hari, by His own māyā gets deluded and comes
>> to
>> be endowed with guṇa-s.  So, the jiva's avidyā is non-different from the
>> māyā of Brahman.
>>
>> Upon searching I could not locate these verses, excepting the second one
>> which is found in a Telugu translation of the Bhāsya to the VSN.  I
>> request
>> the scholars here to help me in this regard.
>>
>> Further, in the introductory verses to the advaita siddhi, Madhusudana
>> Saraswati composes the first verse thus:
>>
>> मायाकल्पितमातृतामुखमृषाद्वैतप्रपञ्चाश्रयः
>>
>>              सत्यज्ञानसुखात्मकः श्रुतिशिखोत्थाखण्डधीगोचरः ।
>>
>>              मिथ्याबन्धविधूननेन परमानन्दैकतानात्मकं
>>
>>              मोक्षं प्राप्त इव स्वयं विजयते विष्णुर्विकल्पोज्झितः ॥ इति
>>  ।
>>
>>
>>
>> ‘The verse says 'Viṣṇu’ (Brahman) who is innately satyam, jñānam and
>> sukham, is the abode of the universe consisting of the unreal dvaita of
>> knower, knowing and known conjured up by māyā, and owing to the
>> akhaṇḍkāravṛtti-based realization of His native ānanda svarūpa, being
>> freed
>> from the apparent bondage shines as though liberated, free from all the
>> vikalpa-s.'
>>
>>
>>
>> Here MS is depicting ‘Viṣṇu’ as the way Brahman is done in Advaita:
>> Brahman
>> alone, owing to  ignorance of its own nature, appears as a bound jīva,
>> samsārin, and owing to the knowledge of its true nature, is liberated as
>> though. A vaiṣṇava who is a bigot and a fanatic would never bear to think
>> of the Lord to be subject to avidyā and therefore a samsārin.
>>
>>
>> This also, in tune with Shankara, depicts Brahman as the one endowed with
>> avidyā. And also clearly obliterates any difference between māyā and
>> avidyā.
>>
>>
>> Of course we also have the names in the Lalitā sahasra nāma:  māyā,
>> viṣṇumāyā, vidyā-avidyā svarupiṇī.
>>
>>
>> regards
>>
>> subbu
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