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4.Pramana anupapatthi.

Scriptures do not prove avidhya

Advaitin quotes the text 'anrthena hi prthyoodAh,(chan.8-3-2) these
which are true are covered by what is untrue,' to prove the existence of
avidhya . But Ramanuja refutes the view that the word anrtha means what
is unreal or undefinable, that is avidhya. He says that the word only
denotes what is opposite of rtha which means such actions which are done
to attain the supreme,  without a desire for fruit. This  is  made clear
by the text 'rtham pibanthou sukrthasyalokE, two enjoyers of the
inevitable results of work,'(katO. 1-3-1) and  hence the opposite karma
which results in samsara is anrtham,
'rtham-karmaphalAbhisanDhirahithamparamapurusha aradhanavesham
thathprapthiphalam; athra thadvyathiriktham samsarika phalam anrtham,
brahmaprapthivirodhi.'  This is the meaning of the chandogya text
quoted, says Ramanuja, viz.'sarvAh prajAh aharahrgacchanthyah Etham
brahmalokam na vindhanthi anrthEna hi prathyoodAh, all these beings
here, though they go daily into the world of brahman,(brahman in the
form of the world) yet do not find Him, for they are carried away by the
untrue.' (chan.8-3-1)

The next text from Yajurveda 'nAsadhAseeth no sadhAseeh'(yajur. 2-8-9)
asath did not exist ; sath did not exist,'  goes on to say that thamas
existed and by thamas it (brahman) was concealed before and could not be
well known. Advaitin takes the word thamas to mean avidhya which was
neither sath nor asath but Ramanuja questions it saying that if this
were accepted then the word 'before ' would  be meaningless as brahman
is concealed even now. Moreover the expression neither sath existed nor
asath could very well refer to Brahman also. So , says Ramanuja, the
text actually describes the cosmic rest,apyaya. The word 'before ' means
before creation when thamas is the state when the sath, that is jiva and
asath , the matter were in subtle condition and did not exist as such.
This is proved by another text 'avyaktham akshare leeyathE; aksharam
thamasi leeyathe,( subAla up.2) the unmanifest is dissolved in the
immutable, akshara and the akshara dissolves in thamas.'Hence the word
thamas denotes 'achithsamashtirupAyAh prakrtheh sukshmAvastha uchyathE',
the subtle matter in the form of prakrthi from which the world evolves.

The text 'mAyAm thu prakrthim vdhyAth mAyinam thu
mahesvaram,'(svet.4-10)  does not refer to anirvachniya avidhya  but the
prakrthi is referred to as mAyA  from which this wonderful world has
come out. The owner of mAya is isvara who controls it but is not under
its influence.this is evident from the previous sentence of the same
text 'asmAnmAyee srjathE visvamEthath, from this the owner of mAya
creates this world.

It is the jiva who is bound by mAyA as proved by the text 'anAdhi mAyayA
supthah yadhA jivah prabudhyathE,(MAnd.11-29) when the jiva who sleeps
due to beginningless mAyA wakes up.'  The  Lord Himself says in the
Gita'mama mAya dhurathyayA, my mAyA is difficult to transcend. Thus 
there is no support for the anirvachneeya avidhya from the sruthi texts
nor for its being a positive entity.



The text 'thathvamasi ' is explained by the advaitin to mean the
identity of the jiva with Brahman and due to the incongruity between the
two, namely, the limited knowledge and power of a jiva , who is in
bondage as compered with the infinite, omniscient and omnipresent  and
omnipotent Brahman, it is necessary to postulate the existenc of avidhya
which conceals Brahman so that the identity is not seen. Ramanuja 
refutes this and says 'aikya upadesasthu"thvam" sabdEnApi
jivasarirakasya bramaNa Eva abhiDHAnAth uppannathara.'  The expression
of identity between jiva and Brahman suffers no inconsistency because
the word 'thou' also implies Brahman only who is the inner controller of
the jiva being the inner self of the jiva who forms the saria of
Brahman. This  is denoted by the text 'anEna jivena AthmanA anupravisya
namarupe vyakaravani,(can.6-3-2) I will enter this jiva as its Athma and
make name and form.'



Advaitin cites passages from VishnupuraNa which claim that Brahman alone
is the reality and the world is only empirically real. But Ramanuja says
that the real import of the passage is that in  the world made up of 
sentient and insentient beings,  the jivas are not affected by the
chansges in the insentient and they are eternal and hence they are
termed as existent while the insentient  which is different and
destructible are said to be nonexistent. But both have Vasudeva as their
inner self. It is shown to be thus in the passage 'thAnisarvANi
thdvapuh; thatsarvam vai harervapuh,; (VP.1-22-86-38) all that is His
sarira,' and by the words'sa Eva sarvabhoothAthmA visvarupO yathO
avyayah, (VP1-2-69) He alone is the Self of all beings, with cosmic for
and immutable.'



In all the passages in the VishnupurANa ,says  Ramanuja,   there is no
evidence of Brahman being nirvisesha nor for the avidhya which is
neither aSath nor asath abiding in Brahman. The terms nAsthi and asathya
indicate nonexistence but not anirvachniya. These two words denote
insentient objects not because they are nonexistent, tuccha or unreal,
mithya but only because they are perishable.



To sum up, Athma, is adhimadhyAntharahitha, without beginning, middle
and end and always of the same nature and hence it is referred to as
existent. The insentient, achethanam  is the object of enjoyment for the
jiva and is transformed according to the karma of the jiva and
perishable . Therefore it is termed as nonexistent.The objects which are
existent or nonexistent with reference to time, place or action  are
aparamArTHa, unreal and the Athma alone is fit to be cognised as asthi,
existent and hence paramArTHA, real. The same view is expressed in
vishnupurANa by MattrEya-'vishNvADHAram yaThA chaithath thrailoOkyam
samavasTHinam; paramArTHascha me prOktho yaTHAjnAna praDHAnathah, you
have taught me how these worlds are supported by vishNu and how Athma
,jnana as his svarupa is paramArTha, real, being important.'















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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