[Advaita-l] Illusion and the world !!

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

I always wonder what is the meaning of illusion when it is used to convey outer world is bhrAnti (illusion)? Illusion is that which will be understood as not existent by the means of pramANa or right knowledge. If we take the example of dviteeya Chandra or sarpa in rajju, the second moon is non- existent because it is not seen by a person without cataract (drushti dOsha), a sarpa would not be seen by a person if he does not have a mithyAjnAna about rajju.  And after the dawn of jnAna what is going to be realized that there was / is / never exist sarpa in rajju or there is no dviteeya Chandra whatsoever at any point of time it is only bhrAnti jnAna.  But is this jagat like dviteeya Chandra or sarpa??  bhAshyakAra categorically says : jagat IS NOT bhrAnti like sarpa in place of rajju..(vide chAndOgya).  And bhAshyakAra himself clarifies : even after samyakjnAna if the jnAni sees a goat he would get vrutti of the goat only like any other normal people.  That means jagat would continue to appear even for the Samyak jnAni.  But for paramArtha jnAni parichinnatvaM, aparipUrNatvaM about the jagat gets sublated.  And he would see jagat as brahman only nothing else.  But ajnAni does not see jagat ‘as it is’, he would see jagat as separate from him and for him jagat is abhrahma, aparipUrNa, parichinna.  So what ajnAni sees with his avidyA drushti is illusory coz. his drushti is NOT paripUrNa drushti as he is still under the spell of avidyA.  This illusory jagat exists only in his intellect but what is there outside as jagat is nothing but ‘vishesha’ darshana of that nirvishesha brahman and for this jagat brahman is the abhinna nimittopadAna kAraNa.  In mundaka shruti bhAshyakAra explains this without any ambiguity : The Jagat in front seen by people through avidyA as a-brahman is indeed the brahman… the whole Jagat is Brahman……. all a-brahman mental apprehension is like the wrong mental cognition of
rope as a snake.  Brahmaiva uktalakshaNam edam yat purastAt agre abrahmaiva avidyA drushteenAM pratyavabhAsamAnaM. brahmaivedaM vishvaM samasthaM abrahma pratyayaH sarvaH ‘avidyAmAtraH rajjvAmiva sarpa pratyayaH.  If we are leaving all these aside and if we continue to argue this jagat is mere mental impression of the conditioned jeeva then we are definitely deserved to be called as prachanna bouddha-s in general and vijnAnavAdins in particular.

By the way jagat bhrAntitva or its illusory nature and related arguments come from the proponents of jnAni’s avidyAlesha and Objective existence of avidyA (bhAva rUpa avidyA)!!  They comfortably attribute astitva to the avidyA but not ready to grant any astitva to the jagat which is pratyaksha pramANita, anumAna siddha, Agama pratipAdita…Quite strange indeed 😊

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar