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they proceed under the plea of bestowing the right knowledge, may conclude that these too are to be accepted as a means to right knowledge. Besides, they may have faith in these, since there is a possibility of weight of reasoning and since they are spoken by omniscient people. Hence this effort is made to expose their hollowness." (Tr. 367-8) Vacaspati appeals to the objectivity of truth: "Just as it can be understood from the Advaita texts that Brahman is the source of the world, so too it can be understood from the inferences of the Samkhyans, etc., that something nonconsciousthe material principle, etc.is the source of the world. But it is not possible to combine the view that the conscious is the source, with the view that the nonconscious is the source, since the views are contradictory. Regarding an established entity, one cannot entertain contradictory opinions." (Skt. 487-8) |
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70. This constitution of the world by its inscription in the Text is not novel to Advaita, which follows the lead of the Brahmanical world in general, and Mimamsa in particular. The Mimamsakas defined the world (loka) only in distinction from the ritual-scripture world (veda): the "world" is the "Vedic world" minus its coherent intelligibility. On the Mimamsa view of the "world," see Clooney 1990b, pp. 131-7. This scriptural construction of reality is not a denial of a world outside the Text, just as the Advaita view of Brahman as the sole cause does not replicate a Buddhist denial of a world outside of consciousness. Mimamsa (followed by Advaita) reserves to the Veda the power to regulate the world's significance; the world's intelligibility is not inherent, but is constructed by a proper arrangement of it according to the canons of intelligibility gleaned by the Mimamsakas from the Vedic ritual-scriptural whole. Just as the Mimamsakas arrange the elements of the worldwood, fire, rice, humans, words, gods, etc.according to their position in relation to the sacrifice, the Advaitins bestow meaning on heterodox positions by locating them in relation to the proper Advaita understanding of consciousness and its relationship to material reality, and using their truths properly, within the complete (Advaita) comprehension of the world. |
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71. These first two sutras draw on the Sadmkhya Karika 15. |
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72. Tr. 372. |
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73. In UMS 11.1.24 by the siddhantin and here by the purvapaksin. |
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74. Tr. 380. |
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75. Tr. 383. |
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76. Lindbeck 1984. |
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