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Re: Problems in Advaita
Sankar Jayaraman posed some problems about advaita and his
questions have answered well by Vidya and others.
I will just try to add something to what has already been said.
According to advaita, Shruti employs the technique of adhyaaropa
and apavaada in explaining things. adhyaaropa means superimposition
of an unreal thing on a real thing. apavaada means the sublation
of the unreality that was superimposed. For example, Shruti
talks about all kinds of karmas, yajnas, etc. These are all
adhyaaropa. It teaches us about all these things in the
adhyaaropa stage. In the apavaada stage, Shruti sublates those
very things that it talked about in the adhyaaropa stage, by
pointing to a Higher Reality, Brahman. It tells us in no
uncertain terms, "You are That Brahman. Everything else is
a superimposition."
Critics may ask at this point: Why does Shruti teach us
first about things which later are shown to be superimpositions?
Why the bother? Why not tell us directly about Brahman?
The answer is quite simple and provided by Shankara himself in
his commentary on the Chhaandogya upanishhad :
paramArthasadadvayam brahma mandabuddhiinaam asad iva
pratibhaati sanmaargasthaaH taavad bhavantu tataH shanaiH
paramaarthasad api graahayishhyaam iti manyate shrutiH |
The Supreme Nondual Reality Brahman is viewed by people of
dull intellect (mandabuddhiinaam) as asat, unreal. Here dull
intellect has nothing to do with IQ! One may have an IQ
of 200+ and still be a mandabuddhi. The intellect that is
refered to here is the sharp discriminating intellect that
distinguishes between things transient and eternal. Often
this intelligence is called viveka. If you tell
mandabuddhi's about Brahman directly as, "neti, neti",
they will come to the conclusion that Brahman is
a nonexistent entity. asad iva pratibhaati.
Let these mandabuddhi's also be brought to the right path,
sanmaarga, thus considers shruti, iti manyate shrutiH.
tataH, therefore shruti expects such mandabuddhi's to
shanaiH, slowly make the progress towards and grasp the
paramaartha sat, Brahman.
In Shankara's excellent answer above, there is also
another implied answer. What about people who are not
mandabuddhi's? Such people can be of two kinds. First,
there are people who are gross materialists and who think
there is nothing beyond the empirical reality. They dont
even want to consider the possibility of a higher reality.
For them shruti has little to offer. Second, there are
those who already know Brahman. Again, shruti has little
to offer these people.
It is only the middling mandabuddhi's like us, that
need shruti, which gives us a gentle, steady approach to
Brahman. So shruti teaches us about the karmas,
upasanaas, etc. and finally asks us to transcend what
it taught us, in favor of the Supreme Reality, Brahman.
The notion that shruti uses the technique of adhyaaropa
and apavaada was advanced by Shankara, but many vedantins,
including, unfortunately, some advaitins, fail to recognize
this.
Shri Sachchidaanandendra Saraswati elaborates on the technique
in his (translated) book, "The Method of Vedanta."
Anand
