Anirvacaniya and the Bridge to Brahman called Adhyaropapavada

[Guest guest]

Namaste Chittaranjanji,

Excellent and succint treatment of difficult topics.

Those words like anirvacanaya, adhyropa, maya,

avarna can be like signposts which are so loaded

with associations that we are taken down rutted

roads automatically and never really notice the

terrain at all. Descriptive metaphysics are

like the preparation for an invasion: take down

all the signposts and really get to know the

topography.

 

As I see it the anirvacanaya concept which

Karl Potter says is not used very much by

Shankara, comes up as a result of the tension

between:

(a)Perception as pramana or a valid

means of knowledge,

(b)Perception being understood to occur

by a process analogous to that of

confusion.

©Perception as being of the changeful.

The objects of perception are unreal if

the real is defined in a certain way.

 

Perception is then of a mixture of the Real

i.e. having as its substratum consciousness

as such which is not sublated even if

erroneous or a dream; and the Unreal

i.e. its objects are changeful.

 

This is the rock upon which reason

founders, it it anirvacanaya.

 

 

The theory of how names and objects

are connected in a non-conventional way

is I think a myth in the Platonic sense or

the expression in a figurative way of the participation

in reality that is underwritten by the

common substratum of consciousness.

 

Is this a directional sign or a signpost

or an unneccessary imposition akin

to the swinging around of a sign by

the mischievious villager to fool the

tourist? With simile turning to metaphor

and getting the better of me, I close

 

With Best Wishes,

Michael.

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Michaelji,

 

advaitin, ombhurbhuva <ombhurbhuva@e...> wrote:

>

> Namaste Chittaranjanji,

> Excellent and succint treatment of difficult topics.

> Those words like anirvacanaya, adhyropa, maya,

> avarna can be like signposts which are so loaded

> with associations that we are taken down rutted

> roads automatically and never really notice the

> terrain at all. Descriptive metaphysics are

> like the preparation for an invasion: take down

> all the signposts and really get to know the

> topography.

 

I think you might have got to the core of adhyaropa and apavada with

these words. I feel that adhyaropa-apavada is a method that is

devised just for this purpose - of leading to the invasion by not

providing any comfort in philosophy, because any philosophy if taken

to be descriptive of Reality would necessarily reduce to a set of

paradoxes and contradictions (as shown by you in the tension

resulting from the definitions of perception and reality). The

philosophy only provides the signposts that lead one to make a breach

in the fortress of the mind to go to the Light that shines over the

entire terrain of the world.

 

> The theory of how names and objects

> are connected in a non-conventional way

> is I think a myth in the Platonic sense or

> the expression in a figurative way of the

> participation in reality that is underwritten

> by the common substratum of consciousness.

 

The Cratylus of Plato is a remarkable, though inconclusive, work on

this subject. But it does approach (with some ambiguities remaining)

the position held by the Grammarians in India. His theory of

onomatopoeia finds resonance with the theory of the alphabet in

Kashmir Shaivism.

 

Thank you for your words.

 

Warm regards,

Chittaranjan

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh>

wrote:

>

> advaitin, "Felipe" <fcrema> wrote:

> >

> > It has become clear to me now that

> > the danger in regarding the world to be "unreal" from the "wrong

> > perspective", would be that one could easily altogether miss the

> rope by

> > dismissing the imaginary snake...

>

 

Namaste S,

 

Yes that is true but what if there is no snake or a rope at all and it

is all illusion?..........ONS...Tony.

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Tony OClery" <aoclery> wrote:

>

> advaitin, "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh>

> wrote:

> >

> > advaitin, "Felipe" <fcrema> wrote:

> > >

> > > It has become clear to me now that

> > > the danger in regarding the world to be "unreal" from the "wrong

> > > perspective", would be that one could easily altogether miss the

> > rope by

> > > dismissing the imaginary snake...

> >

>

> Namaste S,

>

> Yes that is true but what if there is no snake or a rope at all and it

> is all illusion?..........ONS...Tony.

>

 

Namaste,

 

That is the limitation of analogies! Even calling it an

illusion is a dualistic view. It is only when the 'triad' (tripuTI) of

seer, seen and seeing is dissolved in the egoless state that what

shines is the Reality.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Felipe and Namaste Saraswati-ji,

 

advaitin, "Felipe" <fcrema> wrote:

>

> Namaste Chittaranjan-ji!

>

> Now it's up to us to cross the bridge and burn it

> for its non-existence...

 

Let Goddess Saraswati flow on....

 

Felipe, you once asked me about the meaning of the Saraswati mantra

and i didn't know the answer. I don't know it even now, but some

words about Saraswati - here and there - along with many connexions

are coming into my mind, and i take the pleasure of writing them here.

 

The Goddess of Knowledge is Saraswati. She appears on this earth as

the river Saraswati. She flows from a mountain-lake in the Himalayas

called Manasarovar. The word 'Manasarovar' translates to the English

equivalent 'Ocean of the Mind'. It is the Lake of Consciousness as

the Mind. Saraswati appears also in the body as the Lake of

Consciousness that is 'flowing'. A flowing lake is a river. In the

body, Saraswati is the flowing river of Consciousness.

 

In the Himalayas, the river Saraswati flows down from the mighty

mountains before she disappears underground at Badari, right next to

the caves where Sage Vyasa and Lord Ganapati had sat down to write

the Mahabharata. You can see the caves even today, and you can also

see the Saraswati (today) cascading down from the direction of the

famed Mandagadana mountains and flowing torrentially upto the point

where she meets the river Alakananda, a slender river that flows down

from the beautiful Vasundara falls. It is at this point (where she

meets Alakananda) that the river Saraswati is said to go underground.

In the body also, She goes 'underground' for She is said to take a

diversion from the navel. She remains hidden due to two knots called

the Brahma Granthi and Vishnu Granthi, at the navel and heart,

respectively. Vishnu is the all-pervasive Deity at the Heart of all

things, and Brahma is born out of the Lotus coming from the navel of

Vishnu. What exactly are the connexions at these points, i do not

know.

 

On this earth, the river Saraswati appears again at Prayaga (modern

Allahabad) where she re-surfaces from the nether world to meet two

other rivers - the Ganga and the Yamuna. Prayaga is called the

Sangam, the meeting point (of the three). In the body, Ganga and

Yamuna appear as the Ida and the Pingala, the outgoing breath and the

ingoing breath and they meet at the ajna-chakra between the eye-brows

where Saraswati re-appears. The Saraswati nadi that has

gone 'underground' reappears here. Saraswati meets the Ganga (Ida)

and Yamuna (Pingala) at the ajna-chakra. This is the Prayaga in the

body, where Ida and Pingala originate from the Fire. The Fire is the

realm of ignorance in the ajna-chakra. It is the deep-sleep state.

Ida is the Moon, the realm of Taijasa, the dream state. Pingala is

the Sun, the realm of Vishva, the waking state. The Fire, Moon and

Sun are AUM. They are Prajna, Taijasa, and Vishva -- the deep-sleep

state, the dream state and the waking state.

 

The river Saraswati flows on beyond Prayaga. She meets the vast Ocean

at Gauda Desha (modern Bengal), but before she enters the Ocean, she

breaks through the sediments built at the very gates of the Ocean by

the silt that is brought down by the river Brahmaputra. In the body

too, Saraswati flows on beyond the Prayaga in the ajna-chakra to

break through the Brahmarandhra, the parting in the skull, to meet

the Ocean of Consciousness in the Sahasrara. This is where the Moving

Lake of Consciousness meets the Unmoving Consciousness.

 

Lord Shiva resides in Mount Kailash, next to the lake Manasarovar.

Manasarovar is said to be formed by the bindu flowing from the matted

locks of Shiva. This is where the Moving Consciousness begins.

Manasarovar is also called Bindu-Saras. The bindu is the drop of

Consciousness. The Lake Manasarovar is formed by drops of

Consciousness that fall down from the matted locks of Shiva. That

Consciousness resides in the body. As Saraswati, She is the Moving

Lake of Consciousness. When she is hidden by the Brahma Granthi and

Vishnu Granthi, She moves as the Consciousness that gives us

knowledge about the lower vidyas. When the knots are loosened to

allow Her to flow smoothly, She moves beyond the three cities (the

Tripura comprising the Sun, Moon and Fire) to give us the Supreme

Knowledge of Consciousness where the Moving Consciousness is united

with the Unmoving Consciousness.

 

All said with a bit of poetic license.

 

Warm regards,

Chittaranjan