[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Why only jagat is mithya and jeeva is brahman !!??

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 11:03 PM, Srinath Vedagarbha via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Sri. Venkatragghavan,
>
> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 4:16 PM, Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > We need to clarify what is meant by the terms true and untrue in your
> > question. One refers to validity and the other refers to existence. The
> > validity of vedA is self evident as it is a pramANA. The untruth you
> refer
> > to in your question refers to mithyAtvam (anirvachanIyatvam, sadasat
> > vilakshaNatvam) and not apramANatvam (invalidity as a pramANA).
> >
> > So to answer the question you posted - no it is not equivalent to say
> that.
> >
>  This is acceptable only if said mithyAthvam is due any other reason other
> than avidya (of a ajnAni). But you see in the siddhAnta it is said it is
> indeed due to avidyA only. So, the question is still valid in terms of how
> can the validity of pramANa be supported when itself is under the spell of
> avidya. It is misleading to think they are different in terms of former
> being epistemological truth while later being ontological mithyathvam.
>

It is true that in the siddhānta it is said:

तमेतमविद्याख्यमात्मानात्मनोरितरेतराध्यासं पुरस्कृत्य सर्वे
प्रमाणप्रमेयव्यवहारा लौकिका वैदिकाश्च प्रवृत्ताः, सर्वाणि च शास्त्राणि
विधिप्रतिषेधमोक्षपराणि ।
All pramana-prameya vyavahāra, both worldly and vedic, is within the realm
of adhyāsa/avidyā.  All śāstras, both the karma and jnāna too are within
the realm of avidyā.

Having said this, the advaitin stays within that realm when discussing the
means to removal of avidyā. The only pramāṇa is the śāstram, which too
belongs to the realm of avidyā, yet has the power to end avidyā.  It has
the power to show one that the truth is not tainted by avidyā. Naturally,
by that, that pramāṇa itself is admitting that it itself is within the
realm of avidyā. The proof of its validity is: there is no case in the
Upanishads that someone who gained knowledge and got liberated became
subject to samsāra again. On the contrary, the veda itself says: na sa
punarāvartate. Shankara has pointed to this reason in the BSB 2.1.14.

The question: 'Does advaita admit pramāṇatva (of veda, etc.) ultimately? '
is irrelevant as advaita accepts Brahman alone as the only Paramarthika
satya and this Brahman is free of  pramartru-pramana-prameya realm.  So,
the position of Advaita is: pramanatva of veda is rigorously admitted in
Advaita, but only in the vyavaharika. In the Paramarthika, there is
absolutely no scope for any pramana.

vs


>