Pratyabhijna and Shankara’s Advaita (comparative study)
by Ranjni M. | 2013 | 54,094 words
This page relates ‘Common Features of Maya in Pratyabhijna and Advaita’ of study dealing with Pratyabhijna and Shankara’s Advaita. This thesis presents a comparative analysis of two non-dualistic philosophies, Pratyabhijna from Kashmir and Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta from Kerala, highlighting their socio-cultural backgrounds and philosophical similarities..
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7. Common Features of Māyā in Pratyabhijñā and Advaita
As in the concept of ultimate reality, in the notion of Māyā in Pratyabhijñā and Advaita Vedānta hold very similar ideas in spite of there are some basic differences. In these two philosophies Māyā is the cause of the world and sufferings. In both systems Māyā has a veiling power, by which the ultimate self is unrecognized, and a projecting power, by which the visible world is experienced.
1. Māyā as the Śakti of Supreme Lord
In both systems Māyā is considered as the power of ultimate reality. In Pratyabhijñā it is a real entity, which has no independent existence from the Supreme Lord.[1] Utpala says this fact repeatedly.[2] In Advaita also Māyā is considered as the power of Lord.[3] At the same time it is an illusory principle in the ultimate level.
2. Māyā as the Cause of the World
In both systems Māyā is considered as the cause of the world. In Pratyabhijñā, all manifestations of Lord in the form of diversified universe is described as the effect of Māyā or as Māyā itself.[4] In Advaita Māyā is described as Prakṛti, the origin of all worldly beings, which have their own names and forms.[5] In both systems Māyā is both a principle of creation as well as the creation itself. According to Śaṅkara, the empirical world exists as long as the sense experience lasts. This is because of the objective nature of the external universe caused by Māyā. But in reality there is no creation. It is in terms of Vedic cosmology, Śaṅkara developed the idea of Māyā as Śakti as the counterpart of Brahman, who without this dynamic creative energy, is unable to create this manifold, out of himself, and by himself alone.
It is observed that the influence of Āgamic and Tāntric tradition is clear in this Śakti concept of Śaṅkara. In his work Ānandalahari, he addresses this Māyā Śakti as the supreme power. He traces the Śakti from the point of view of the lower order of knowledge and makes it a connecting link between the Nirguṇa Brahman and Saguṇa Brahman. This divine power Māyā projects the phenomenal world of relative reality. Through this power of Māyā Nirguṇa Brahman becomes Saguṇa Brahman, Īśvara. He, in collaboration with Māyā, carries out this creative manifold universe. Here Īśvara is the efficient cause and Māyā as the material cause, but never Māyā has an independent status.[6]
3. Māyā as the Cause of the Bondage
It is believed that the bondage causes for the sufferings of all human beings. It starts from the very origin of the universe itself and continue till the liberation of Jīva. In both systems Māyā is considered as the cause of bondage. According to Advaita, the bondage is due to the presence of ignorance called variously as Avidya, Ajñāna or Māyā.[7] As this bondage is due to the illusory knowledge or the ignorance of the real Brahman, the annihilation of the same by real knowledge is considered as the liberation.[8] The worldly sufferings including desires, actions, etc. are due to the ignorance.[9] In the empirical existence the effect of bondage is the separate feeling and vision of everything. In Pratyabhijñā also Māyā is considered as the cause of bondage.
Utpala defines the bondage as the Saṃsāra (worldly experience) constituted by all the fruitions:
He also states that this bondage occurs only in the Paśubhāva, where the division of the subject and object is clear.[11] This is already stated that this Paśubhāva is due to Māyā.[12] Thus Māyā is the cause of bondage in Pratyabhijñā also.
4. Māyā as Ignorance
In both Advaita and Pratyabhijñā, the principle of Māyā is related to ignorance or ignorance itself. In Advaita the term Māyā is used as a synonym for Ajñāna or Avidyā.[13] In Pratyabhijñā, the effects of Māyā, called Malas, are considered as ignorance. Here Māyā is considered as a synonym to Mala, which is in turn used as a synonym for Ajñāna, which is the cause of the worldly experience.[14]
5. Māyā as Tirodhānaśakti and Vimohinīśakti
In both systems, Māyā has a hiding tendency, by which the ultimate reality is covered.[15] The adjective Māyāndha (blind by Māyā) is given to the individual self, who is ignorant of the reality.[16] Besides the concealing tendency, in both systems, Māyā has a bewildering tendency also. Kṛṣṇa says at a place that all creatures are enticed[17] by Ajñāna and in another place he repeats that all living things are fascinated by Māyā.[18] Utpala also has stated that Māyā is the deluding power of the Lord.[19]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
ahaṃpratyavamarśo yaḥ prakāśātmāpi vāgvapuḥ | Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā, 1.6.1; prakāśavapuṣi prakāśamātrasvabhāve pūrvasiddhe…. | 138 Īśvarapratyabhijñā-vimarśini, Bhāskarī, Part II, p. 135; ahaṃ jānāmi, mayā jñātaṃ jñāsyate ca ityevaṃ svaprakāśāhaṃparāmarśapariniṣṭhitameva idaṃ jñānaṃ nāma,…tadaprakāśe hi viśvam andhatamasaṃ syāt | Īśvarapratyabhijñā-vimarśini, Bhāskarī, Part I, p. 71.
[2]:
[3]:
atrāyaṃ puruṣaḥ svayaṃjyotirbhavati | Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad, 4.3.9; ātmā svaprakāśaḥ, svasattāyāṃ prakāśavyatirekaviruddhatvāt pradīpavat | Advaitasiddhiḥ.
[4]:
[5]:
tasmādyadyat kasyacidavabhāsakaṃ tattajjyotiśśabdenābhidhīyate | tathā sati brahmaṇo'pi caitanyarūpasya samastajagadavabhāsahetutvādupapannaḥ jyotiśśabdaḥ | Brahmasūtra-śāṅkara-bhāṣya, 1.1.24.
[6]:
[8]:
apūrvārthanirmāṇajñānasāmarthyāt ca vikalpa eva sarvasya sarvajñatvaṃ sarvakartṛtvaṃ ca sphuṭam | Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā-vṛtti, 1.6.11.
[9]:
[10]:
Muṇḍakopaniṣad, 1.1.9.
[11]:
yattu brahmaṇo vijñānaṃ …. na tatkāraṇāntarasavyapekṣam | nityasvarūpatvāt sarvabhāvānāṃ ca tenāvibhakta-deśakālatvātkālākāśādikāraṇatvācca niratiśayasūkṣmatvācca | na tasyānyadavijñeyaṃ sūkṣmaṃ vyavahitaṃ viprakṛṣṭaṃ bhūtaṃ bhavadbhaviṣyadvāsti | tasmātsarvajñaṃ tadbrahma | Taittirīyopaniṣad-śāṅkara-bhāṣya, 2.1.1; asti tāvadbrahma nityaśuddhabuddhamuktasvabhāvaṃ, sarvajñaṃ sarvaśaktisamanvitam | Brahmasūtra-śāṅkara-bhāṣya, 1.1.1; …. sarvajñasvarūpa…. | Brahmasūtra-śāṅkara-bhāṣya, 1.1.2;.… sarvajñādanyataḥ …. | Brahmasūtra-śāṅkara-bhāṣya, 1.1.3; tadbrahma sarvajñaṃ sarvaśakti jagadutpattisthitilayakāraṇam | Brahmasūtra-śāṅkara-bhāṣya, 1.1.4.
[12]:
Taittirīyopaniṣad, 2.5 & 3.6.
[13]:
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad, 3.9.28.
[14]:
Taittirīyopaniṣad, 3.6.
[15]:
śivaścidānandaghanaḥ | Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā, 4.14.
[16]:
[17]:
Sarma, L.N., op.cit., p. 191.
[18]:
[19]:
nāyamātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā na bahunā śrutena | yamaiveṣa vṛṇute tena labhyastasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute svāṃ tanūm || KU, 1.2.23; Muṇḍakopaniṣad, 3.2.3.