THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"""""""\OBJECTIONS WITHIN THE VEDANTA 117of Nirguna Brahman (unqualified Absolute, corresponding to Kant s Noumena or Schopenhauer sWill and") Saguna Brahman (qualified Absolute,the Isvara, 1 corresponding to Kant s Phenomena/or the Vedantic idea of Maya, or Schopenhauer sfundamental conception of the unreality of the world,2when he says, Die Welt ist meine Vorstellung." )This short digression is meant simply to point outthat Sankara s concession of phenomenal realitywas not due to any aberration of his thought, butquite consonant with even the result of the moderncritical philosophy of Kant and others. The pointhas been worked out in some detail by Deussen inhis Elemente der Metaphysik.As we are now concerned with the examination ofthe main objections to the Maya theory,it is needless to dwell longer on its constructive side. We nowgive a summary of the other three schools in theVedanta, before dealing with the objections.^ The Ramanujas represent the theistic school of theVedanta. They worship Visnu as their Brahman,in opposition to Sankara s Nirguna Brahman, and,Idenying that the deity is void of form or quality,1regard him as endowed with all good and auspiciousjqualities, and with a two-fold form : the supreme\ spirit (Paramatma, or cause), and the gross one (the1The word Isvara is used in a pantheistic sense, suchas would regard the whole world as pervaded by Isvara,or a manifestation of Him, or His body as it were.2Cf .Schopenhauer, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung.