[Advaita-l] pramANa-jnAna cannot remove an ajnAna which is pramAtri-nishTha

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Hari Om respected members,

the famous anumAna presented in MANDUkya kArikA Anandagiri TIkA 1.2 and
also in Advaita Siddhi to prove bhAvarUpatva of ajnAna is as under:

देवदत्तप्रमा, तन्निष्ठप्रमाप्रागभावातिरिक्ता‍नादिप्रध्वंसिनी, प्रमात्वाद्,
यज्ञदत्तप्रमावत्। [As per Anandagiri TIkA, MK 1.2]

While the anumAna is crystal clear, a slight modification in the anumAna
can also be done which will prove that ajnAna cannot be pramAtri-nishTha.

देवदत्तप्रमा, देवदत्तनिष्ठ-अज्ञान-अतिरिक्त-अनादिप्रध्वंसिनी, प्रमात्वाद्,
यज्ञदत्तप्रमावत्। [Modified anumAna]

This anumAna proves that Devadatta-pramA, just like Yagyadatta-pramA cannot
remove an ajnAna which is located in Devadatta. Therefore, the ajnAna which
is removed by Devadatta-pramA has to be located at some place other than
Devadatta.

This is well in accordance with the siddhAnta that ajnAna is located in
Brahman. And ghaTa-ajnAna is located in ghaTa-avachchhinna-chaitanya and
not in Devadatta.

However, it is only true in respect of abhAna-ApAdaka-AvaraNa, which is
accepted to cover vishaya-avachchhinna-chaitanya. In case of
asattva-ApAdaka-AvaraNa, which is removed by parOksha-pramA as well, the
AvaraNa is accepted to be pramAtri-nishTha. Thus, there would seem to
be a *prima
facie *contradiction with the following anumAna:

देवदत्तपरोक्षप्रमा,
देवदत्तनिष्ठ-असत्त्वापादकावरण-अतिरिक्त-अनादिप्रध्वंसिनी, परोक्षप्रमात्वाद्,
यज्ञदत्तपरोक्षप्रमावत्। [Modified anumAna]

Learned members may kindly share their views as to how can the apparent
contradiction be resolved.

I would also like to mention the SIddhAnta Bindu commentary, page 115 -
https://archive.org/details/SiddhantaBinduShriMadhusudanaSarasvati/page/n139/mode/2up?view=theater

Here, NyAyaratnAvalIkAra says - अत्रेदं विभावनीयम्।
असत्त्वापादकाज्ञानस्यापि विषयावच्छिन्नचिदाश्रयताकत्वम्।

So, one way the contradiction can be easily resolved is by accepting that
asattva-ApAdaka-ajnAna is also vishaya-avachchhinna-chaitanya-nishTha like
abhAna-ApAdaka-AvaraNa. Is there any other way possible?

Regards.
Sudhanshu Shekhar.