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  1. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    To help explain the first paragraph, viz. that we cannot say that Jiva/Jagat/Ishwara are both non-existent and Brahman (ie Satyam), I am quoting from the Panchadashi: 2.33 The sun does not have the attribute of darkness; nor is it itself of the nature of darkness. As existence and non-existence...
  2. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    Now, the reason I have started with Shankaracharya is so that we can establish a solid basis for discussion going forward. I am going to comment on your citations from the Prakarana Granthas (and disclose the proper meaning behind them), but I am also going to quote from Shankaracharya to refute...
  3. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    Surya Deva, For the sake of clearing up the misconceptions you have paraded across the forum, I am opening myself up to the charge of being a liar, by once again breaking my promise to cease posting in this debate. I hope that even in commiting a falsehood, I can abolish so many more...
  4. J

    Advaita Atheism vs Theism

    Madhuri, I am presently preparing a response to (Surya Deva's) claims regarding Advaita and atheism (amongst many other claims). Hopefully you may find the post enlightening. Please check your thread 'Seeking to understand Advaita' later. :)
  5. J

    Hindu and Atheists: Hinduism and Atheism

    Surya Deva, Please check the thread 'Seeking to Understand Advaita' later, thank you.
  6. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    First, your 'core text' ie the Panchadashi is neither Shruti, Smriti, Yukti or Bhashyam; it is an independent treatise (prakarana grantha), and so even if it did contradict something Shankaracharya has said (which it doesn't), it would not be Shankaracharya's words that we reject. Second, you...
  7. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    With due respect, Surya Deva, none of the things you cite from Panchadashi contradicts anything I've said unless we take your definition of 'unreal' for granted. If we do take your definition of unreal, then, as I have pointed out, numerous problems arise, and saying 'but this is what Advaitins...
  8. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    Surya Deva, I believe the contention we are having is over the word 'unreal' and what it means. You have defined it as non-existent. You should clarify what you mean by non-existent, and I think this will solve the disagreements cropping up. If we say non-existence in this context means...
  9. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    Show me a scripture or bhashya with says that, too. As far as I know, Shruti is an independent means of knowledge; that is to say, its claims are self-evident, and do not need to be validated by any other means of knowledge in order to be true. The only conflict between shabda pramana and the...
  10. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    Surya Deva, Okay, this is your claim. If you know Advaita better than the so-called traditional teachers, and if your view of Advaita is correct, then it should be perfectly in line with what Shankaracharya taught. Is this a valid assumption to make? For the rest of this post, I am going to...
  11. J

    Does reincarnation exist in Advaita?

    Surya Deva, Or maybe we can have a different attitude towards it: Shruti teaches punah janma to make the jiva see the far reaching impact of all his actions- not just fructifying in this life, but also in his next as prarabdha karmas. So this idea will make him aware the responsibilities he...
  12. J

    Smriti vs Shruti

    I see where you are coming from. Thanks. :)
  13. J

    Smriti vs Shruti

    Hello RiverWolf, May I ask how you can get knowledge of your AtmA if not from scriptures, since it is not an object available to the senses? Thanks
  14. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    The jnani 'becomes' Brahman because he ceases to entertain the idea that he is NOT Brahman. The 'becoming' is in a figurative sense, in the sense that one has reclaimed one's real status through the removal of the misconception of being something other than oneself (see the analogy...
  15. J

    Seeking to Understand Advaita

    Surya Deva, If you do not rely on scriptures, then how can you presume to make Advaita understandable for any person- English speaking or otherwise? The whole teaching of Advaita Vedanta comes from scriptures- the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutras, and many numerous other...
  16. J

    Modern Science and Advaita Vedanta

    Surya Deva, What I was pointing out to you, and I hope you understand, is that this apparent reality, which you call illusions, cannot be rejected as totally non-existent. The fact that it appears to exist, even if it is unreal when examined, means that there is a tattva on which it depends...
  17. J

    Modern Science and Advaita Vedanta

    Surya Deva, Viveka is discrimination between nitya and anitya to ascertain that which is Satyam and that which is mithyā. That which changes depends upon that which is changeless for its apparent being. That which changes is mithyā, and that which never changes is Satyam. A...
  18. J

    Modern Science and Advaita Vedanta

    Shântoham, Can you clarify a bit what you meant here? Do you mean that 'Vastu' in the second instance of your post refers to the sattā of the clay, and that therefore to say 'the cup exists' is to ascribe the mithyā name and form (cup) with the substance that really pertains to the...
  19. J

    Modern Science and Advaita Vedanta

    Surya Deva, We may be erring into a semantic quibble here, yet I should insist that a mithyaa vastu is not the same as non-existence. It's well to say that vyavaaharika satyam serves a practical purpose, and it's for this very reason that one cannot say it is non-existent. A non-existent...
  20. J

    Modern Science and Advaita Vedanta

    Shantanu, My post was addressing Surya Deva's claim that Advaita teaches the non-existence of Ishwara/Jiva. The totality of unmanifest nama-rupa.
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