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1. This paper has been written
by D. Krishna Ayyar who has had the good
fortune to listen for now over two decades
and a half to his guru, Swami Paramarthananda,
who has been teaching Advaita Vedanta
at Chennai, India, as regular courses
covering Upanishads, Bhagavatgita, Brahma Sutra and prakarana granthas.
Writing started during a holiday spent
with the writer’s granddaughter, Tulsi,
at Denver, USA, relying on memory and
the very few books on the subject available
in the Denver Public Library. The paper
has been expanded, altered and refined
on return to India with the guidance of
his guru and has been checked with relevant
texts. The general approach of the topics
and the discussion of the philosophy are
profusely based on transcriptions of the
guru’s recorded talks in the Vedanta classes
conducted by him and doubts clarified
by him. Whatever is good and right in
the paper is due to the excellent exposition
by the guru. Whatever errors there may
be in the paper should be taken as the
result of inadequate understanding on
the part of the writer.
2. Sankaracarya is
the first and foremost commentator of
the prasthaana traya, the Upanisdhads,
the Brahma Sutra and the Bhagavdgita,
in the school of interpretation called
Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism).The presentation
in the main paper and Appendices 1 to
11 follows the methodology of teaching
(prakriya) called aabhaasa vaada.
In abhaasa vada, the jiva and Iswara,
the two sentient entities on the empirical
(vyaavahaarika) plane, formed by
he reflection of the original consciousness
that is Brahman in Maya and intellect,
respectively, are regarded as different
from and of a lower order of reality than
the original consciousness that is the
absolutely real (paaramaarthika)
Brahman.. It is important to bear this
in mind while reading this paper, because
the reflection of consciousness (cidaabhaasa)
in the abhasa vada is different from the
reflected consciousness in the pratibimba
vada and avacceda vada. In the pratibimba
vaada of the Vivarana School, Iswara
and the reflection of consciousness (cit-pratibimba)
of jiva are non-different from the original
consciousness (Brahman-consciousness).
In the avacceda vaada of the Bhamati
school, also, the delimited consciousness
of jiva and Iswara are non-different from
Brahman-consciousness. Part
I of the main paper is a preface. Part
II is an outline of the philosophy. Part
III presents Upanishad passages in which
the philosophy is available. Appendices
1 to 11 contain notes on various topics
relevant for a deeper study of the philosophy
presented in the main paper. Some of these
are explanatory notes; some are meant
for reflection of the teaching (mananam.)
Topic I of Annexure is a discussion of
the main prakriyas (methodologies of teaching),
particularly in regard to the status of
jiva and Iswara - the abhasa vada, the
pratibimba vada and the avacceda vada.
Topic II of the Annexure gives details
of the manner in which Sankaracarya, Sureswaracarya,
Vidyaranya, Vacaspati Misra and Prakasatman
have dealt with the topics of creation,
jiva, Iswara and Maya.
3. The reader may find a
lot of repetitions. The approach is to
start with a simple presentation, and
introduce refinements later. Repetitions
are meant to see that the topic discussed
in different places is self-contained.
4. Questions concerning
doubts are welcome. Please click on the
"Ask a question" link on top
of the page. Answers will be attempted
by the writer to the best of his ability.
5. Transliteration
of Sanskrit words in the text is put in
italics, when they occur for the first
time. Diacritical marks have not been
used, but when the Sanskrit words occur
for the first time, a rough indication
of the pronunciation is given. Subsequently
they appear in the form usually found
in English texts.
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