Avidya Part 4

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Pranams.We examined a few excerpts of the Shankara sutrabhashya pertaining to the subject matter of avidya/maya/avyakta/shakti from the first chapter of the Vedantasutra. We now continue to examine a couple of more very important ones.1.3.30This world when being dissolved (in a mahapralaya) is dissolved to that extent only that the Shakti (causal potentiality) of the world remains Shaktyavasheshameva - and (when it is produced again) it is produced from the root of that Shakti - shakti moolam eva cha prabhavati ; otherwise we should have to admit an effect without a cause itaratha aakasmikatva prasangatvat. Here we find Shankara defining for us Shakti as that Primordia Cause unto which this entire manifest Srshti dissolves unto and from which alone spurts forth another cycle of this manifold Nature. The term the Acharya uses in this

context is mula Shakti. Compare this with another instance elsewhere in the sutrabhashya where-in is described our "everyday" pralaya - aka sushupti. Compare how similar this is with what the revered Bhashyakara writes while glossing over a different sutra2.3.30-- So the contact of the soul with the buddhi exists potentially merely during deep sleep and pralaya, and again becomes manifest at the time of waking and the time of creation, because nothing can be assumed to spring up unless from something else na hi aakasmiki kasyachid utpattih sambhavati atiprasangat; otherwise we should have to suppose that effects spring up without causes. That the rising from deep sleep is due to the existence of seed avidya - avidyatmakabeeja sadbhavakaaritamWe cannot help notice that the Acharya uses almost identical language in both these instances citing the absurdity of a cause ex nihilo. What is also relevant here is the terminology used to

establish that Causal Potency from which both the individual or the Creation emerge are mula Shakti and beeja avidya. Thus again we find interchagngable use of the terms mula avidya/beeja Shakti to represent that Supreme Avyakta. A more thorough treatment for this Avyakta is going to be handed to us by the Acharya very soon - which we will examine now.1.4.3Purvapakshin "In order to prove the possibility of the body being called undeveloped - avyakta - you admit that this world - jagadidam - in its antecedent seminal condition - namaroopabeejatmakam - before either names or forms are evolved - abhivyaktam - can be called undeveloped avyakta, you virtually concede the doctrine that the pradhana is the cause -pradhanakarana -of the world. For we (Sankhyas) understand by the term pradhana nothing but that primordial condition of the world."Here the Sankhya wants to show that his Pradhana and Advaita's Avyakta is one and the same thing.

THey both talk about a antecedent seed potentiality to all of Creation. How then do you say anything different from what I say - asks the Sankhya. To this Shankara clarifies.."Things lie differently, we rejoin. If we admitted some antecedent state - pragavastham - of the world - jagatah - as the independent - svatantra karanatve - cause of the world, we should indeed implicitly, admit the pradhana doctrine. What we admit is, however, only a primal state dependent - aadheena - on the Supreme Lord - Parameshwara, not an independent state - na svatantra." Here in we find Adi Shankara clearly delineating for us the two Orders of Reality. One is the independent Real - svantantra - paramarthika Satyam - Narayana as ParaBrahman. The other is the dependent Reality or mithya which is vyavaharika satyam, and the latter of course borrows its

satta from or has its abode on the former. Furthermore"Such a causal state must necessarily be admitted - aavashyaupagnatavya -, since it is according to sense and reason arthavati hi sa. For without it taya vina the Supreme Lord Parameshwarasya could not be conceived as creator - srshtratvam sidhyati, as he could not become active pravrttiyaanupapatte if he were destitute of the potentiality of action Shakti-rahitasya. The existence of such a causal potentiality beejashakti renders it moreover possible that the released souls muktanam should not enter on new courses of existence, as it is destroyed by perfect knowledge vidyaya."Shankara clarifies here that nirguna Brahman cannot be conceived as a Creator - a intelligent Creation that we clearly perceive has to have a Supreme Power that renders this possible - and that is none other

than Ma ParaShakti herself. And it is crucial here to see that the presence of such a Shakti alone would ensure that those souls who acquire the Supreme knowledge that allows them to trascend Her domain get Total Liberation by attaining to their True Nature Vishnor paramam padam. Shankara continues -"For that causal potentiality is of the nature of Avidya - avidyatmika hi sa beejashakti; it is rightly denoted by the term 'undeveloped; avyakta shabda nirdeshya' it has the Supreme Lord for its substratum Parameshwara ashraya; it is of the nature of an illusion Maya - mayi; it is a universal sleep Mahasushupti in which are lying the transmigrating souls sansarino jeeva destitute for the time of the consciousness of their individual character svarupapratibodha rahita. 1 This undeveloped principle is sometimes denoted by the term Akasha - so, for instance, in the passage, 'In that Imperishable then, O Gargi, the ether is woven like warp and

woof' (Bri. Up. III, 8, 11). Sometimes, again, it is denoted by the term Akshara, the Imperishable; so, for instance (Mu. Up. II, 1, 2), 'Higher, than the high Imperishable.' Sometimes it is spoken of as Maya - mayeti suchitam - so, for instance (Sve. Up. IV, 10),'Know then Prakriti is Maya, and the Supreme Lord is the Master of Maya' For Maya is properly called undeveloped - Avyakta hi sa Maya - since it cannot be defined either as that which is or that which is not tattvanyatvanirupanamya-ashakyatvat. The statement of the Katha Up that 'the Avyakta is beyond the Mahat' is based on the fact of the Mahat originating from the Avyakta, if the Mahat be the intellect of Hiranyagarbha. If, on the other hand, we understand by the Mahat the individual soul, the statement is founded on the fact of the existence of the individual soul depending on the Undeveloped avyaktaadheenatva jeevabhavasya, i.e. Avidya. Avidya hi avyaktam. And it is because of the

possession of ignorance by the individual that all kinds of emprical behavior continue forever jivasya sarvah sanvyavahara. How painstakingly does the Acharya apply the same coat of hue in brush after brush! Here-in we find such a vivid all-encompassing presentation from the benevolence of our beloved Acharya. That Primordial Power is Beeja Shakti.That beeja Shakti is Avidya.This avidya, this Shakti is termed Avyakta.This Avyakta is alone Maya.This Maya is also called Akshara, the Imperishable.Maya is also called Prakrti.Avyakta is Avidya aloneAnd this Shakti/Maya/Avidya/Prakrti/Avyakta can neither be characterized as Real nor Unreal, and it has for its substratum the Supreme Lord Parabrahman. The same idea is reiterated in 1.4.9.One is reminded of the sublime words of the Soundarya Lahiri in worship of this ParaShakti - Jagat suthe dhata harir avati rudrah kshapayateTiraskurvan etat

svam api vapurisastirayati;Sada-purvah sarvam tad idamanugrhnati cha Shiva-Stavajnam aalambya kshana-chalitayor bhru-latikayoh.Brahma creates the world, Vishnu sustains it, Shiva destroys it,Ishwara makes them disappear, And also disappears Himself!And Sadashiva blesses them all, By Your Order given to Him,By a momentary move of your eyebrows!In the next in thise series we shall examine some excerpts from the subsequent chapters of the Brahmasutra as well that will allow us to dwell on the subject some more.Hari OMShri Gurubhyoh namahShyam--- On Wed, 4/7/10, shyam_md <shyam_md wrote:

shyam_md <shyam_md Avidya Part 3advaitin Date: Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 9:59 AM

PranamsIn the 1st 2 series we examined some portions of Shankara's bhashyas on the Mundaka Upanishad, as well as the Upadesha Sahasri. Now we will take up for closer scrutiny excerpts from his most important and voluminous work - the brahmasutra bhashya.

[Guest guest]

Shyamji, Very nice post.

 

I recalled a couple of related verses in Katha Up. (I.iii.10 & 11)that may be

worth examining alongside this post, with the acharya's commentary.

 

10: The sense-objects are higher than the senses, and the mind is higher than

the sense-objects; but the intellect is higher than the mind, and the Great Soul

is higher than the intellect.

 

11. The Unmanifested (Avyakta) is higher than the Mahat; the Purusa is higher

than the Unmanifested. There is nothing higher than the Purusha. He is the

culmination, He is the supreme goal.

 

Acharya's comments include: " The principle called Hiranyagarbha, which was

before all, from the Unmanifested (Maya), and which consists of both

intelligence and activity, is called teh Great Soul ... higher than the

intellect. " And subtler than Mahat is " avyaktam, the Unmanifested - that which

is the seed of the whole universe, the essence of unmanifested name and form,

the state of aggregation of all powers of causes and effects [during cosmic

dissolution], ... resting on the supreme Self through and through like the

potentiality of a banyan tree in a tiny banyan seed. " Higher than avyakta is the

Purusha.

 

The jiva from its vyavahaarika standpoint can understand Brahman only as saguna

Brahman or Ishvara - i.e. as Brahman with the potency to manifest (Shakti or

Maya). When this Power is unmanifest, it is referred to as avyakta; the first

primordial mind-level manifestation of Ishvara is Hiranyagarbha (say God) who

then brings forth the universe of jivas and prakritis.

 

Note that the basic limiting adjunct that defines the jiva is the intellect -

for " reflecting " upon it is the ego; beyond it is not a separate jivatma but

rather Hiranyagarbha - the Universal Mind shining in all as the antaryami. But

even that is not final - the manifest Mind-level is reduced to a subtler level

of Potential (avyakta).

 

But beyond even the avyakta is the Purusha. As I read, this is a reference to

Nirguna Brahman. It is the goal, the most subtle, that is beyond all talk of

manifest and unmanifest.

 

If we look at the wave-water-Ocean analogy, the wave can understand that the

Ocean (Ishvara as Hiranyagarbha) is manifesting as waves. But beyond the Ocean

and its Shakthi is the Sat that is water. That you are - it cannot be

discovered/experienced/intellectually " known " , for all such knowledge will

constitute the wave-Ocean level alone.

 

thollmelukaalkizhu

 

 

advaitin , Shyam <shyam_md wrote:

>

> Pranams.

> We examined a few excerpts of the Shankara sutrabhashya pertaining to the

subject matter of avidya/maya/avyakta/shakti from the first chapter of the

Vedantasutra. We now continue to examine a couple of more very important ones.

>

> 1.3.30

> This world when being dissolved (in a mahapralaya) is dissolved to that extent

only that the Shakti (causal potentiality) of the world remains

Shaktyavasheshameva - and (when it is produced again) it is produced from the

root of that Shakti - shakti moolam eva cha prabhavati ; otherwise we should

have to admit an effect without a cause itaratha aakasmikatva prasangatvat.

>

> Here we find Shankara defining for us Shakti as that Primordia Cause unto

which this entire manifest Srshti dissolves unto and from which alone spurts

forth another cycle of this manifold Nature. The term the Acharya uses in this

context is mula Shakti. Compare this with another instance elsewhere in the

sutrabhashya where-in is described our " everyday " pralaya - aka sushupti.

Compare how similar this is with what the revered Bhashyakara writes while

glossing over a different sutra

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " putranm " <putranm wrote:

>

> Shyamji, Very nice post.

>

> The jiva from its vyavahaarika standpoint can understand Brahman only as

saguna Brahman or Ishvara - i.e. as Brahman with the potency to manifest (Shakti

or Maya). When this Power is unmanifest, it is referred to as avyakta; the first

primordial mind-level manifestation of Ishvara is Hiranyagarbha (say God) who

then brings forth the universe of jivas and prakritis.

>

> But beyond even the avyakta is the Purusha. As I read, this is a reference to

Nirguna Brahman. It is the goal, the most subtle, that is beyond all talk of

manifest and unmanifest.

>

 

 

Somebody can clarify. How exactly should " subtler " (as used by Shankara) be

understood here? What does the upanishad mean by " going beyond avyakta " to get

to Purusha? Any fault in my above understanding?

 

thollmelukaalkizhu