[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Re: Is there a real jagat?

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Thu Oct 2 02:10:04 EDT 2025


The Bhagavatam gives the rope-snake and garland-snake analogies for the
world:

आत्मानमेव आत्मतया अविजानतां
तेनैव जातं निखिलं प्रपञ्चितम् ।
ज्ञानेन भूयोऽपि च तत्प्रलीयते
रज्ज्वामहेर्भोगभवाभवौ यथा ।। 10.14.25

A person who mistakes a rope for a snake becomes fearful, but he then gives
up his fear upon realizing that the so-called snake does not exist.
Similarly, for those who fail to recognize You as the Supreme Soul of all
souls, the expansive illusory material existence arises, but knowledge of
You at once causes it to subside.

यस्मिन्निदं सदसदात्मतया विभाति
माया विवेकविधुति स्रजि वाहिबुद्धिः ।
तं नित्यमुक्तपरिशुद्धविशुद्धतत्त्वं
प्रत्यूढकर्मकलिलप्रकृतिं प्रपद्ये ॥३८॥ Bhagavatam 4/22/38

The creation is appearing in Brahman due to maya, just as one would take a
rope for a snake. The true nature of Brahman can be known by viveka.
Obeisance to that Brahman that is nitya mukta shuddha and free from the
blemish of karma.

Thus Veda Vyasa has used the rope-snake analogy for the world-appearance in
Brahman.  It is not just the Advaitins that use the analogy.

warm regards
subbu

On Thu, Oct 2, 2025 at 9:37 AM Kalyan Chakravarthy <
kalyanchakravarthy2021 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Sri Vikramji
>
> In this case, how does this answer the original question?
>
> Lets recap a bit. I am dropping off English and using some Sanskrit terms.
>
> Opponent is claiming that - Mithya snake can be superimposed on a Satya
> Rope only if there is an experience of a Satya snake beforehand. (Any
> complicated examples one can think of would still always involve a Satya
> entity.)
>
> Best Regards
> Kalyan
>
> On Thursday, 2 October 2025 at 7:43:22 am UTC+5:30 Vikram Jagannathan
> wrote:
>
>> Namaskaram Kalyan ji,
>>
>>
>> << it appears to me that Sri Shankara rejects beginningless series of
>> mental impressions (without corresponding ontological entities like
>> objects). I think your response proposes beginningless series of mental
>> impressions.  >>
>>
>> Yes, Bhagavan Bhashyakara rejects beginningless series of mental
>> impressions without corresponding ontological entities like objects.
>> However, my response (which I believe to be Advaita response) is
>> beginningless series of impressions (karma / vasanas) *but includes* the
>> corresponding ontological entities (categorized as mithya).
>>
>> Without the ontological reality of the objects, the mental impressions
>> become baseless & illogical, which is the criticism against Buddhists;
>> however with the ontological reality of the objects there is no more any
>> logical flaw.
>>
>> prostrations,
>> Vikram
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 1, 2025 at 7:01 PM Kalyan Chakravarthy <
>> kalyanchakr... at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Namaste Sri Vikramji
>>>
>>> >There is a subtle, and very pertinent, difference between Bhagavan
>>> Bhashyakara's argument against the Buddhists and Advaita's response to your
>>> question.
>>>
>>> I hope you will pardon me if I call it "your response" and not
>>> "advaita's response",  at least until I know that this is the position
>>> adopted by traditional teachers of advaita.
>>>
>>> Secondly, Please note, I am not in anyway suggesting similarities here
>>> between Buddhism and Advaita.
>>>
>>> Having clarified the above -Whether it is your response or the Buddhist
>>> position, it appears to me that Sri Shankara rejects beginningless series
>>> of mental impressions (without corresponding ontological entities like
>>> objects). I think your response proposes beginningless series of mental
>>> impressions.
>>>
>>> Best Regards
>>> Kalyan
>>>
>> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "advaitin" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to advaitin+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/4af48220-68d3-44fe-aa63-b0d286a02cdbn%40googlegroups.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/4af48220-68d3-44fe-aa63-b0d286a02cdbn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
> .
>


More information about the Advaita-l mailing list