[Advaita-l] The Vibhutis of Brahman are non-different from Brahman

[Srinath Vedagarbha]

Namaste,



On Tue, Jun 5, 2018 at 8:56 AM H S Chandramouli via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste.
>
>
>
> Your own translation of Sri Anandagiri Acharya commentary reads as below.
>
>
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> Quote  << This is the lakshyartha (as
> distinct from the vaachyartha) of Brahman, Tat.>>.
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>
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> Meditation as suggested could lead to parOksha jnAna of “ tat “. He does
> not mention it leads to jnAna as in advaita sidhanta. Meaning of terms
> “tvam “ and “asi “ should also be understood for jnAna.
>
>
I agree with you here. Saying vibhUti rUpa-s are lakshyArtha (for upAsana
or other purpose) is not same as holding Brahman has all those vibhUti
rUpa-s in actuality.

Shankara's paxa on Cosmogony/Cosmology needs to be understood wholistically
from all of his writings. In the context of explaining the origin and
creation of the universe, he does say that all this originated from
Brahman. In that sense, the world is Brahman and His vibhUti rupA-s. But
from Shankara's analysis of the dream and waking states based on statements
from the shruti shows Shankara's position regarding the objects and their
names/forms are not real. In this sense, the world is an illusion.

Just going by one part of Shankara's position, one cannot say Shankara is a
realist. Shankara has clearly said that the waking state is akin to the
dream state "svapne yadvat- prabodhe" (up.sA.) and further says,
"avidyAprabhavaM sarvam-asat-tasmAdidaM jagat.h" (all this world originates
from avidyA, ignorance, and is therefore unreal, upadesha sAhasrI,
2.17.20). Elsewhere (in the samanvayAdhikaraNa sUtra bhAshya) he declares
embodiedness is due to a misconception (sasharIrasya mithyAjnAna
nimittatvAt).

So, in my opinion, the original poster (and others agree with him) are
using the argument based on one part of Shankara's siddhAnta, which is not
correct.

/sv