Questions

[Guest guest]

Hello All: I have a few questions on Shankara's

Advaita and I was hoping someone could answer them.

 

1. Is Maya beginningless and thus eternal?

2. What is the difference betweeb Maya and Avidya?

3. Does the concept of antar-yamin (inner ruler) apply

in Advaita?

4. What is a jiva? Is it a reflection of Atman? In

what way is it real?

5. Maya is said to be shakti, and yet entirely

different from Para-Brahman. How so? Is it explained

by superimposition?

6. Isvara is also maya?

 

 

Thanking You in Advance

 

Vikram

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Vikram Masson writes:

 

<<Hello All: I have a few questions on Shankara's

Advaita and I was hoping someone could answer them.

 

1. Is Maya beginningless and thus eternal?

2. What is the difference betweeb Maya and Avidya?

3. Does the concept of antar-yamin (inner ruler) apply

in Advaita?

4. What is a jiva? Is it a reflection of Atman? In

what way is it real?

5. Maya is said to be shakti, and yet entirely

different from Para-Brahman. How so? Is it explained

by superimposition?

6. Isvara is also maya? >>

 

 

 

Questions 1 and 5 can be taken together. Para-brahman has no

action, no change in state. But mysteriously, (mark it,

mysteriously; this is where the inexplicability of mAyA starts) it

expresses itself. We are all part of this expression. None of us can

claim to have seen or known what is beyond this expression. Since we

are within this expression, we say we are clouded by mAyA. So as far

as we are concerned, mAyA is beginningless. But the moment we are

Enlightened by Brahman-realisation, we are one with brahman, and in

that state of ours, there is no mAya. In that sense mAya is not

eternal. It has an end for us, that is, when we attain the

Enlightened stage. But mAyA, as the Sakti or Energy of brahman it is

always present as a Potential of brahman. Strictly speaking, this

way of talking about brahman as if it is an entity, as if it

‘possesses’ a potential, is all only a play of words. Brahman does

not admit any attribution of any predication. It simply ‘is’. You

can see now, Mr. Masson, why it is so difficult to talk about mAyA.

Question 2. For an individual such as we, there is no difference

between mAyA and avidyA. But in absolute terms, mAyA is talked about

in cosmic terms, whereas avidyA is talked about with respect to each

individual. Our own original ignorance is because of the (cosmic)

mAya which shrouds not only us but everything. But our present

ignorance has a further speciality in the sense we keep contributing

to it by our thoughts and deeds and make it more massive. Thus in

practical terms, first of all we have to make effort to reduce our

ignorance by sat-sangh and sad-vAsanAs, before we even think of

‘transcending’ mAyA. The Lord says: ‘Surrender to Me; I will take

charge of the mAyA enveloping you’.

Question 6. The concept of Isvara takes birth only in the mind of

man – who, anyway, is within the power of mAyA. In this sense Isvara

is an ‘outcome’ of the mAyA concept. But even in the concept, we

seem to be intelligent enough to postulate that Isvara is outside of

mAyA. Because that is the definition of Isvara. Isvara is nothing but

the way we think and conceive of brahman. For, brahman, as brahman,

is not conceivable by a thought process, nor is it attributable with

a quality; it is attributeless. So the moment we conceive of brahman

as an entity it becomes Isvara. Therefore the latter is a concept of

Man. And by that very postulate, we have made Isvara ‘possess’ all

superlative qualities of an Almighty God. Thus though the concept of

Isvara is the result of a play of mAyA in our mind, He is beyond

mAyA. He controls it; it is in fact His Power. In Vedanta, Sakti and

the wielder of the Sakti are inseparable.

 

Questions 3 and 4. The antaryAmin is the indweller. This is Isvara

the Lord. It is applicable in advaita, with the proviso that Isvara

means what we said earlier. Thus the antaryamin dwells within the

individual – in fact there is nothing in the individual where the

indweller is not there. He is the core of our core, He is the Self of

our selves. But though Isvara, the antaryAmin, dwells within, He is

not subject to mAyA. Because He is the controller of mAyA. On the

other hand there is another indweller, which is what we call our

individual self; this is the jIva. This is subject to mAyA; in fact,

because of the play of mAyA this individual self has got an

existence. By the very same mAyA (which now expresses itself as

avidyA) it is now in the ignorant state of claiming its identity with

all the outer expressions of this life, namely, body, mind and

intellect. If the jIva, using the same mind (which is only matter)

can disassociate itself from all the outer expressions and ‘lean’

back to identify itself with the real indweller (the antaryAmin),

then, the thoughts and actions which the outer self (body, mind and

intellect) involves itself will not create further bonds of mAyA for

the jIvA – and there lies the path for its getting out of this

bondage. Thus it is the mind that creates the bonded jIva. What we

think is the jIva is only a reflection of the antaryAmin (Isvara) in

our clouded dirty mind. If we throw away the reflection, that is, if

we clear the mind of all its impurities, by the detergent of the

ceaseless thought of God, then and only then, the jIva will no more

be different from the antaryAmin the real indweller. Till then it

must be considered as an unreal reflection, falsely assumed by us to

be real – though in fact it is nothing but the Transcendental

Absolute Itself as the monumental message: tat tvam asi , would

imply.

 

I hope I have not committed any error. Mr. Masson, your questions

cover the entire field of advaita and are very comprehensive.

Congratulations for asking the questions!

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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