THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"""""OBJECTIONS WITHIN THE VEDANTA 133andBy what shall we? jectobject vanishes.know knower (the subject the of all knowledge)"as was so forcibly asked by Yajnavalkya.These are in brief the seven difficulties whichRamanuja perceived in the doctrine of Maya. Aswill appear from what we have said above, Ramanujas criticism rests on the whole on a misunderstanding of the genuine Advaita standpoint. Allthrough he has been treating Maya as if it were aconcrete reality, even perhaps existing in space, etc.We do not accuse him even because he attempted toreject Sankara s premises. But we fail to see hisconsistency, when even on his own premises hefalls short of furnishing a really adequate explanation of the relation between God and the Universe.His doctrine of divine grace, devotion, etc., isaptto appeal strongly to many Christian theologians,who will therefore naturally prefer his philosophyto that of Sankara. Be as itmay, to us it seems evident that Sankara s analysis of Reality went muchfurther than Ramanuja s. The impersonal conception of the Absolute, we hold, isthere isany real meaning intruly personal, ifpersonality."Thisis how we will meet those who cannot hold any suchdoctrine to be the ultimate if it destroys the idea ofthe divine personality.Now, coming to the objections of the Purnaprajfiaswho hold the absolute separateness of theindividual soul and Brahman it is obvious that thegeneral drift of their attacks must be directed against