Fwd: creation - an adhyArOpa on brahman

[Guest guest]

Don't read this sort of thing.. Much too long. Truth is short and sweet. Falls at your feet.

Sam

-

Tony OClery

Harshasatsangh ; sathyasaibaba2

Thursday, November 24, 2005 6:14 PM

Fwd: creation - an adhyArOpa on brahman

Namaste, This from the Advaitins. I find it summarises the system of

giving some validity to creation as a teaching tool and then ending

up with the Truth or Nirguna Brahman. A very interesting

post...ONS..Tony.advaitajnana, "Tony OClery"

<aoclery> wrote:praNAmsHare KrishnaThe concept of creation and

brahman as its efficient & material (upAdAna &nimitta) cause etc.

have been discussed at length at various places byshankara. While

refuting sAnkhya, vaiShEshika-s pradhAna-paramANu theoriesshankara

vehemently argues that there cannot be any insentient cause tothis

universe...as this creation is systamatically arranged in

anorder...so this can be possible only to a sentient being that is

Ishwarawho is omniscient & omnipotent. In the second sUtra

*janmAdasya yatha*this is the main topic which has been discussed in

pages...shankara writeselaborated commentary to prove his point that

Ishvara can only be the causeof this creation not any insentient

thing like pradhAna of sAnkhya orparamAnu of vaishEshika.But, point

to be noted here is, the context in which our AchArya sayingthis.

Without knowing this it would be very difficult to arrive at

aconclusion that which should not affect a bit to ultimate

nirguNa,nirvikAra nature of brahman. For this the term creation

(srushti) demandclarification strictly from the vEdAntic view

point.First we should see what shruti gives us with regard to

creation. InprashnOpanishad it's been said that first he created

life from life faiththen ether, air, light, water earth etc. ( sa

praNamasrujata praNaMshraddhAM kham vAyu, jyOti, ApaH..) Secondly,

ItarEya says this was indeedAtman alone in the beginning and nothing

else...sentient or non-sentient.He thought..Let me create the

worlds..he created these worlds..ambhas,marEchies, mara and

ApaH..(AtmA vA idamEka yEvatra Asit....saimAnlOkansrujata ...ambE

marichimArmApaH etc.). Thirdly, muNdaka says justas the spider exudes

and withdraws the web just as plants are botn out ofthe earth etc. so

comes out all this universe from the imperishableone...Finally,

chAndOgya says, Atman was one without the second & itthought let me

become pletenous..let me be born as manifold ...then itcreated

light!! Likewise, taitirIya too gives some different account

withcreation.If you see the above, it is clear that shruti is not so

particular aboutgiving the correct account of creation....if the

creation is real, Ishwarais really its creator...how can our shruti

mAta gives incorrect informationabout it?? Prashna says that the

purusha created prAna etc. but it is notclear out of which substance

he created them...and ItarEya says differentlythat all this universe

was Atman before creation!! mundaka says Atmanhimself became all

this in the process of creation...and it seems all thecreated things

appeared at a stretch like hair out of a person!! andchAndOgya

saying Atman itself modified and transformed into

theuniverse...though we know that this sort of self transformation is

repugnatto the shruti-s & its siddhAnta of nirvikAri Atman ...It is

also to benoted that with regard to jIva also shruti gives different

description atdifferent places...we shall take that in a separate

mail.Now, it is clear that shruti is not giving us the *correct*

order &process of this creation to attribute the same to

Ishwara...then what wouldbe the intention of shruti in advocating

creation, jIva etc. etc. ?? Sinceboth jIva & jagat are easily

accessible to us, shruti adopting a method toteach us the *reality*

which is beyond this nAma rUpAtmaka jIva-jagat. Allthese things comes

only under the device for the purpose of teaching theabsolute non dual

reality...using the traditional method of superimpostion(adhyArOpa)

and rescission (apavAda)..that is the reason why shruti hasnever

taken seriously that in explaining creation order/process and

brahmanis really the cause of it. It would not be out of context if

I repeat herethe paramArtha in advaita as said by Sri

gaudapAdAchArya's in his kArika :" there is neither creation nor

dissolution no one bound nor one whoundergoes spiritual discipline no

one who intensely desires to be releasednor one who is released...this

is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH..."If we understand the above declaration

properly, it is not difficult for usto discern that the method of

creation is presented in all the shruti textsas a variety of the

adhyArOpa and apavAda method. All apparent differencesin srushti,

jIva svarUpa, brahma svarUpa can easily be reconciled once weknow how

this method works in all through the prasthAna trayi.For example in

gIta first lord says sarvataH pAni pAdam ...and in the verynext

moment he says it is sarvEdriya vivarjita!! why?? if this

brahmanhas really multiple limbs then lord would have stopped then &

there...there was no need for him to clarify that *the tattva* is

sarvEndriyavivarjita & sarva guNAtIta....shankara calls first verse

as adhyArOpa andsecond one as apavAda...not vice versa to prove that

these names and formsthemselves brahman....elsewhere krishna says in

gIta, all these beings restin me but I do not rest in them... this is

adhyArOpa coz. somewhere elsekrishna clarifies that nor are the beings

really in me ...just look at theyOga belonging to be ...this is

apavAda.Still plenty of evidences can be found in the shruti & smruti

texts tojustify how this method of adhArOpa apavAda effecively works &

leads us toultimate reality of nirguNa, nirvishEsha brahman...but this

mail hasalready become lengthy... I'd like to conclude this mail by

quoting anothergem from kArika (3-15):" The creation which is taught

in various ways by means of illustrationslike that of clay, metal and

sparks is only a *device* (upAya) for thepurpose of leading the mind

to the truth....there is no diversity on anyaccount..."Hari Hari Hari

Bol!!!bhaskar

[Guest guest]

, Sam <S.Pasiencier@p...> wrote:

>

> Don't read this sort of thing.. Much too long. Truth is short and

sweet. Falls at your feet.

>

> Sam

 

Namaste S,

 

Yes like it never really happened at all....ONS..Tony

[Guest guest]

Like you suddenly realize it has always been there.

Namaste,

-

Tony OClery

Thursday, November 24, 2005 7:18 PM

Re: Fwd: creation - an adhyArOpa on brahman

, Sam <S.Pasiencier@p...>

wrote:>> Don't read this sort of thing.. Much too long. Truth is

short and sweet. Falls at your feet.> > SamNamaste S,Yes like it

never really happened at all....ONS..Tony