Guest guest Posted October 29, 1999 Report Share Posted October 29, 1999 dear gummuluru, i read your message 'avidya is anadi' of 24 may 99. i have got a query similar to the topic : the rope is taken to be snake due to anirvacaniya-khyati.but there must have been a previous experience of snake to cause the erroneous cognition ,that is,there was previous existence of snake?.this is quite a standard question raised in advaita and there is an answer for it and i am asking nothing original.i would like to know the answer from the list members or, if it has been already discussed would like to be referred to it.-devendra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 30, 1999 Report Share Posted October 30, 1999 Devendra Vyas wrote: > > dear gummuluru, > i read your message 'avidya is anadi' of 24 may 99. > i have got a query similar to the topic : > the rope is taken to be snake due to anirvacaniya-khyati.but there must have > been a previous experience of snake to cause the erroneous cognition ,that > is,there was previous existence of snake?.this is quite a standard question > raised in advaita and there is an answer for it and i am asking nothing > original.i would like to know the answer from the list members or, if it has > been already discussed would like to be referred to it.-devendra > hariH OM! i should first mention that your prior post on the matter of maya is a very important one, and clarifies the popular and very mistaken idea that it is merely and exclusively illusion. it is not! it is indecipherable. anirvachaniya. just as its cause in brahman is anirvachaniya. as far as the potential pre-existence of the snake, it is so...since the causal essence of the snake-- as maya--whether embodied in spacetime (manvantara) or disembodied (pralaya), has no beginning or end. yet this itself is only a tentative concept, and not *either* to be worshipped, as the intellect is so inclined to do...being anxious/ever-ready to attach itself onto something, for security... on the contrary, therefore: moksha is the tranquil acceptance/embracing of the terror and wonder of the Unknowable. ....once the final piece of the puzzle is put into place, the entire puzzle disappears, along with the entire notion that there ever was a solution to the puzzle, let alone the notion of the very existence of the puzzle itself! namaste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 30, 1999 Report Share Posted October 30, 1999 On Sat, 30 Oct 1999, Devendra Vyas wrote: > "Devendra Vyas" <dev_vyas74 > > dear gummuluru, > i read your message 'avidya is anadi' of 24 may 99. > i have got a query similar to the topic : > the rope is taken to be snake due to anirvacaniya-khyati.but there must have > been a previous experience of snake to cause the erroneous cognition ,that > is,there was previous existence of snake?.this is quite a standard question > raised in advaita and there is an answer for it and i am asking nothing > original.i would like to know the answer from the list members or, if it has > been already discussed would like to be referred to it.-devendra > namaste. I welcome Shri Devendra Vyas to the advaitin and look forward to many insightful discussions. On the topic of discussion, the following is my understanding. Yes, there has to be a previous knowledge of the snake for its superimposition on the rope. Mistaking the rope that it is a snake is avidyA, and avidyA is anAdi. Whatever knowledge we have of the snake, that is still a false knowledge about the snake. What is important is the definitive knowledge about the rope. If we do not have a definitive knowledge of the rope, we can mistake it to be a snake or something else. Definitive knowledge is required of the rope and not of the snake. If we have nishcita (definite) knowledge about the rope, it can never be mistaken for a snake or any other object. By extension of this analogy, if we have a definite knowledge that we are Brahman, there can be no superimposition of any kind. This leads to two points. 1. Knowledge that we are Brahman (not the intellectual knowledge, but the firm establishment that we are Brahman) is more important than the knowledge of the functions of the superimposition of the soul, the body, mind and intellect. 2. Once the knowledge of the substratum is established, no superimposition can be placed on THAT. That would be the firm Knowledge, that is Atma vidyA. That Atma vidyA, once established, can never be forgotten or lost. Please also see GauDapAda kArika 2.17 and Shri Shankara's commentary on that. Regards Gummuluru Murthy --- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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