If the world and the distinctions within it are an illusion, does that mean that distinctions among words are also an illusion?
If the world and the distinctions within it are an illusion, does that mean that distinctions among words are also an illusion?
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello Tom,
This notion of illusion is not spot-on as being the absolute truth on the notion of māyā.
May I ask you to do the following... please do a search here on HDF on the word māyā, maya . You will find a wealth of information and reasonable discussion points.
We then can address your questions properly as you will have gained more insight on this matter from the posts.
praṇām
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
Yes.
However, I must add, I do not like the word illusion in this context as it is misleading. Unreal is perhaps a better choice.
Many people do not get the concept of Maya in Advaita. The universe is unreal only at the point of enlightenment and not before. Prior to that, the world and everything in it is as real as it can be.
http://lokayata.info
http://shivsomashekhar.wordpress.com/category/history/
As pointed out, illusion in Advaita is probably not the best word to describe the world.
It is better to describe the Advaita conception of the universe as "neither real nor unreal".
As regards the ontological status of words/universe/matter, etc. there are two levels of reality - Paramartha [ultimate reality - Brahman] and Vyavaharika [our empirical reality].
Within Vyavaharika, we still needs words and distinctions between them. The analogy provided for this is - one needs a thorn to remove another thorn embedded on the soles of our feet.
In Paramartha, words and their distinction and other rules of grammar are meaningless. I could do much worse than quote from Adi Shankara himself:
"Seek him for when the hour of death approaches, the formula of grammar will not save you."Originally Posted by Bhajagovindam
We need to distinguish between the knowledge and what is required for transactions.
I cannot say wood, wood and wood to chair, table and almirah. Then the transactions cannot happen easily. So I need words to distinguish and translate my feelings to something which the other person might understand.
But the knowledge says that all the furnitures are basically wood and wood is the permanent feature and not the chair or table or almirah.
Yes in absolute terms the words are also part of Maya but are necessary for transactions with clarity.
Love and best wishes:hug:
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