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

[V Subrahmanian]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 7:47 AM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Brahman's ignorance - Call it māyā or avidyā
To: Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com>


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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