Criticism of the claim that anubhuthi is atman
Anubhuthi being devoid of all differences it has no separate
perceiver and hence it is the atman, says the advaitin. Ramanuja asks
him whether the perception, samvith shines or not. If it does there
will only be sadharmathA, that is, shining itself will be a
dharma,attribute, of the perception.If it does not, it will be
nonexistent like a skyflower. Here the word prakasa, shining, is used
in the sense of being available for practical purposes, vyavahAra
anuguNyam. A thing shines for someone on something. That is, the
cognition of puthrathva, having a son, is the cognition of the son
for the father. Advaitin may say that samvideva athma, perception is
nothing bur the self because they do not accept a viewer apart from
the samvid,but Ramanuja asks him 'who is this AthmA? Has there been
any perception ever experienced apart from that of an object to a
knower? In reality perception is the attribute of the Athma because
of the nature of perception such as, 'ghatamaham jAnAmi,' I know the
pot, 'idham artTHam avagacchAmi,' I comprehend this,'patam aham
samvedhmi' I cognise the cloth etc.This is because any action like
knowing which has an object must necessarily have a subject too.
Now the recollection in the form of 'I have experienced this already'
proves the sthirathva, permanency of the knower and also the
origination, sustenance and the disappearance of the object
experienced, as in the case of sukha and duhkha, says Ramanuja,
ThaTHAhyasyakarthuh sTHirathvam karthrdharmasya
samvEdhanAkhyasyasukhaduhkhAdhiriva utpatthi sTHithanirOdhAtcha
prathyakshmeekshyanthe.' That samvid is not permanent is shown from
the cognitions like 'I know,I do not know, 'this knowledge known
before by me is lost now' etc. If this samvid is identified with
Athman the memory of having seen a thing before will not arise.
Therefore anbhuthi is anubhuthi only and not the Self as claimed by
the advaitin.
Advaitin tries to prove that in the perception 'Iknow' the 'I'
element is not athma but the ego because it is not proved by itself,
does not shine by itself and requires another proof for its
existence. Since anubhuthi is self proved, shines by itself and does
not depend on another for proving its existence it is the AthmA.What
s meant here is that the 'I' element in perception is also the object
of perception since in the perception 'Iknow this,' aham' , 'I', is
perceived to have the perception of 'this.'But Ramnuja does not agree
with this and says that in the perception 'Iknow,' anubhuthi appears
as an attribute, dharma, and the 'I' is the ownerof the attribute,
dharmi. This is the prathyaksha, sense perception and any anumAna,
inference to prove the contrary cannot be accepted, prathyaksha being
a more valid pramANa than inference.
The 'I' in the cognition 'I know' is the self, says Ramanuja,
because it is prathyak, internal apart from everything else, which
becomes the object of perception and hence external, parAk, of
the 'I. 'The one who is mOkshArThee, desirous of mOksha, expects the
unalloyed bliss devoid os duhkha and hence tries for mOksha. If
mOksha is said to result in the destruction of the 'I' , no one will
try for it. There can be no knowledge without a knower. When the
cutter and the axe are absent there can be no cutting operation.
Therefore the 'I' who is the knower is the Athma.It is said in
Bhagavatgita 'EthadyovEtthi tham prAhuh kshEtrajna ithi thadvidha,'
(BG-13-1) the Athman is said to be the knower of the field which
consists of all that is not Athma. This idea will be made clear later
by the suthras 'nAthmA sruthEh' the self is not born(2-3-17) and 'jnO
atha Eva',(2-3-18) therefore he is an eternal knower.Hence Anubhuthi
is not Athma.
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/2pRQfA/bOaOAA/yQLSAA/XUWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |