OM

Ajnanatimirintasyajnananjanasalakaya

Cakshurunmilitam yena tasmai 

srigurave namah

ADVAITA VEDANTA

D   Krishna Ayyar

APPENDIX 8
EXPLANATORY NOTES

Notes 51 - 52

Note No. 51   Five definitions of mithya

(1) Definition given by Padmapada in Pancadipika

Falsity is the character of not being the locus of either being or non-being. The falsity is constituted by being different from sat (being) and asat (non-being).

(2) Definition given by Prakasatmayati  in Pancapadika-vivarana

The falsity of a thing consists in the thing being negated for all three periods of time in the locus in which it appears.. ( The falsity (mithyatva) consists in being the pratiyogin (negatum)  of a negation (nisheda) which is traikalika (for all three periods of time – past, present and future ) in a locus in which it appears.

This is based on the scriptural text, “There is nothing else whatsoever”. It implies that the world of multiplicity is eternally negated in the non-dual Brahman which is the locus of the appearance of the world and as such , the world is false.

(3) Definition given by Prakasatmayati

The false is that which is cancelled by the knowledge of Brahman.

This is based on the scriptural text, “The enlightened is freed of names and forms.”

(4) Definition given by Citsukhacarya

The falsity of  anything positive is its character of its being the pratiyogin.(counterpart) of the absolute negation that resides in what appears to be its own substratum. The shell silver is something positive and it is false. Why is it false? It is false because it is eternally negated in the very shell that appears to be its locus. The objects of the world are also false in the same sense. For example, a cloth is a positive object and it appears to reside in the threads which constitute it. But in those very threads the cloth is eternally negated. The cloth is therefore false.

(5) Definitionn given by Anandabodhacarya in Nyayadipavali.

What is different from the real (sat), i.e., what is other than the real is false. According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman alone is real ( sat); the objects of the world, like a pot or cloth, are different from Brahman. They are, therefore, false.

 Note No. 52 – Avastha traya viveka in Mandukya karika

In the Avastha Traya Viveka, in Mandukya Karika, the microcosm (vyashti) and the macrocosm (samashti) are equated to show we are not limited individuals. While talking of consciousness associated with the vyashti upadhi, the sthoola sarira) (visva), the description jumps to the consciousness associated with the  samashti upadhi, sthoola prapanca (vaisvanara). Similarly, consciousness associated with the vyashti sukshma sarira (taijasa) and the consciousness associated with the samashti sukshma sarira, (Hiranyagarbha) are equated and the consciousness associated with the vyashti karana sarira, (prajna) and the consciousness associated with the samashti karana sarira ( Iswara) are equated. This shows that consciousness in all bodies is the same and there is nothing like my consciousness and your consciousness. In the definition of Brahman as Satyam Jnanam, Anantam, in Taittiriya Upanishad, by juxtaposing Satyam, eternal existence, with Jnanam, consciousness, the same effect is achieved. It shows that the consciousness that I recognize in me as my true nature is not a limited entity but it is the all pervading Existence, the substratum behind all nama roopas. To show that the Existence-Consciousness is not limited by space, time or entity, the word, anantam, is introduced.

 THIS IS APPENDIX 8