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the two experiences and knowledge separately, they are not illusion. Similarly when we look at the objects of two experiences, individually they are not imagined. In spite of this, there is the affair of illusion. This is the opinion of the Akhyativadi and Mimamsakas.Shri Shankara refers to this in his commentaries on "Adhyasa Bhashya" and later achieves harmony. Further :
"अन्येतु यत्र यदध्यासः तस्य एव विपरीत धर्मत्वकल्पनां आचक्षते"
This is the statement of atheists. i.e. Nihilist Buddhists. They argue that even the non-existent things appear to be existing. In the present example, the quality of running which is not at all there in trees, is found in the trees.
Thus, Shri Shankara without distinction of Theism and Atheism, takes all schools of philosophy together and gives at the end, the distinction of Harmony to all the schools.
"सर्वथापि तु अन्यस्य अन्यधर्मावभासतां न व्यभिचरति" Reality is one, but it appears differently. This aspect is a common element of all schools of philosophy. In reality the trees are immobile. But they appear to be running. That which is something in reality, appears to be something else. This is the common element found in all schools of philosophy.
Each school's ideas are different. But grasping accurately those ideas and understanding their essence and the soul of the arguement, and later showing the commonality of all such thoughts is what constitutes the philosophy of harmonising. From this point of view, Shri Shankara has the aptitude of harmoniser of philosophy.
Many do not agree at once that Shri Shankara viewed and treated different disciplines of knowledge and the scholars of such disciplines with an attitude of harmonising philosophy. The reason for this is rooted in the narration of historical events related to him. Shri Shankara had argued and debated with Mandana Mishra, later Shankara did argue with another scholar, and he emerged victoriously everywhere. But this is not so. The idea that Shri Shankara travelled all over India to conquer in religious debates is not at all correct. His aim was not to defeat other scholars. In those days many, including scholars, had forgotten the essence of the Vedic religion. Only some had knowledge, but they were unable to impart the qualitative essence of the Vedas and religion. In such a situation Shri Shankara visited many scholars and convinced them that the "essence of Vedas is spirituality". And further, he motivated them to carry this truth to common people. For this purpose, he walked all over our country and visited all kinds of scholars. It is quite obvious that in such contexts the scholars presented their ideas or views to Shri
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| SR No. | 007005 |
| Book Title | World of Philosophy |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave |
| Publisher | Shanti Prakashan |
| Publication Year | 2011 |
| Total Pages | 1002 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 30 MB |