Guest guest Posted June 16, 2001 Report Share Posted June 16, 2001 Dear Mr. shah : My name is subramaniam I am interested in reading Adi Shankara's tachings Is the Brahma Sutra or other important works of the Shri Adi Shankara available on the net? If so could you please send me the URLs Regards Subu - " c s shah " <drcssha " list " <Ramakrishna > Friday, June 15, 2001 7:46 PM [ramakrishna] maya and avidya > One S.S. has sent me good explanatory note on teachings of Acharya > Shankara. > > 1) In Shankara's commentaries, he never equates avidya (ignorance) and > maya. In the Brahma Sutras he says: > > " Name and form, fashioned by avidya, as though they were identical with > the omniscient Lord, but indefinable as the same or distinct from Him > (referring to name and form), which are (still referring to name and > form) also the seed form of this universe of phenomena (the empirical > universe), are also called in the Shruti and Smriti maya, shakti, and > prakriti " . (Sutra Bhashya 2-1-14) > > Shankara consistently fashions maya as avidya-kalpita or fashioned by > avidya. > > 1) In his introduction to the Brahma Sutra Bhashyam, he makes it clear > that the root of our misery and illusion is avidya (ignorance) which has > a precise definition of the natural innate human tendency of > superimposition (adhyasa) of the real and the not real leading to > duality (a perceived difference between the knower, known, and the means > of knowing). > > 2) Maya is then name given to that illusion, fashioned by this avidya. > It appears as the seed of name and form in the universe giving the > illusion of duality where none exists. > > 3) All descriptions of maya of a separate indescribable (anirvachaniya) > shakti, or independent entity are descriptions from post Shankara > commentators who probably missed the true implication of the above > quote, and felt the need to further justify the duality in the universe, > where Shankara felt no such need. > > 4) Shankara is consistent in his position that avidya has no reality > from the paramartha (transcendental) standpoint, and that it is simply a > natural tendency for us to see duality when there is none. All we have > to do is to direct all our efforts to burn away the ego, or 'I' sense, > which leads to evaporation of the distinctions of knower, known, means > of knowledge (pramatr, prameya, pramana). Again, in his intro to Brahma > Sutra Bhashyam (adhyasa Bhashyam) he states that this is the sole > purpose of the Vedanta is to remove this avidya by removing > misconceptions through neti, neti. When all misconceptions are removed, > the truth shines of its own accord. > > SS > > -- > c s shah > http://www.neovedanta.org > ---- > > > > > _______ Get your free @ address at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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