You are here: SriPedia - Oppiliappan - Archives - Jul 2006

Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00081 Jul 2006

 
Jul 2006 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Criticism of the claim that anubhuthi is atman

Anubhuthi being devoid of all differences it has no separate 
perceiver and hence it is the atman, says the advaitin. Ramanuja asks 
him whether the perception, samvith shines or not. If it does there 
will only be sadharmathA, that is, shining itself will be a 
dharma,attribute, of the perception.If it does not, it will be 
nonexistent like a skyflower. Here the word prakasa, shining, is used 
in the sense of being available for practical purposes, vyavahAra 
anuguNyam. A thing shines for someone on something. That is, the 
cognition of puthrathva, having a son, is the cognition of the son 
for the father. Advaitin may say that samvideva athma, perception is 
nothing bur the self because they do not  accept a viewer apart from 
the samvid,but Ramanuja asks him 'who is this AthmA? Has there been 
any perception ever experienced apart from that of an object to a 
knower? In reality perception is the attribute of the Athma because 
of the nature of perception such as, 'ghatamaham jAnAmi,' I know the 
pot, 'idham artTHam avagacchAmi,'  I comprehend this,'patam aham 
samvedhmi' I cognise the cloth  etc.This is because any action like 
knowing which has an object  must necessarily have a subject too.

Now the recollection in the form of 'I have experienced this already' 
proves the sthirathva, permanency of the knower and also the 
origination, sustenance and the disappearance of the object 
experienced, as in the case of sukha and duhkha, says Ramanuja, 
ThaTHAhyasyakarthuh sTHirathvam karthrdharmasya 
samvEdhanAkhyasyasukhaduhkhAdhiriva utpatthi sTHithanirOdhAtcha 
prathyakshmeekshyanthe.' That samvid is not permanent is shown from 
the cognitions like 'I know,I do not know, 'this knowledge known 
before by me is lost now' etc. If this samvid is identified with 
Athman the memory of having seen a thing before will not arise. 
Therefore anbhuthi is anubhuthi only and not the Self as claimed by 
the advaitin.

Advaitin tries to prove that in the perception 'Iknow'  the 'I' 
element is not athma but the ego because it is not proved by itself, 
does not shine by itself and requires another proof for its 
existence. Since anubhuthi is self proved, shines by itself and does 
not depend on another for proving its existence it is the AthmA.What 
s meant here is that the 'I' element in perception is also the object 
of perception since in the perception 'Iknow this,' aham' , 'I', is 
perceived to have the perception of 'this.'But Ramnuja does not agree 
with this and says that in the perception 'Iknow,' anubhuthi appears 
as an attribute, dharma, and the 'I' is the ownerof the attribute, 
dharmi. This is the prathyaksha, sense perception and any anumAna, 
inference to prove the contrary cannot be accepted, prathyaksha being 
a more valid pramANa than inference.

 The 'I'  in the cognition 'I know' is  the self, says Ramanuja, 
because it is prathyak, internal apart from everything else, which 
becomes the object of perception and hence external, parAk, of 
the 'I. 'The one who is mOkshArThee, desirous of mOksha, expects the 
unalloyed bliss devoid os duhkha and hence tries for mOksha. If 
mOksha is said to result in the destruction of the 'I' , no one will 
try for it. There can be no knowledge without a knower. When the 
cutter and the axe are absent there can be no cutting operation. 
Therefore the 'I' who is the knower is the Athma.It is said in 
Bhagavatgita  'EthadyovEtthi tham prAhuh kshEtrajna ithi thadvidha,' 
(BG-13-1) the Athman is said to be the knower of the field which 
consists of all that is not Athma. This idea will be made clear later 
by the suthras 'nAthmA sruthEh' the self is not born(2-3-17) and 'jnO 
atha Eva',(2-3-18) therefore he is an eternal knower.Hence Anubhuthi 
is not Athma.
































------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/2pRQfA/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/XUWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list