Class 107, vivekacūḍāmaṇi

n this philosophically rigorous and intellectually exhilarating class on verse 109, Acharya Tadany guided students through Śaṅkarācārya’s masterful four-fold negation of māyā, revealing it as the greatest wonder (mahādbhutā) and utterly inexplicable (anirvacanīya-rūpā): 

• māyā is neither existent (sat) nor non-existent (asat), nor it appears as both; 
• neither different (bhinna) nor non-different (abhinnā) from Brahman, nor it appears as both; 
• neither with parts (sāṅga) nor without parts (anaṅga), nor it appears as both

Defying every logical category and leaving the intellect in deliberate confusion, which Acharya Tadany welcomed as a sign of genuine engagement with the māyā.

Acharya Tadany illustrated this paradox with the water-wave analogy (waves are inseparable from water yet not identical — you cannot drink a glass of wave or separate it without losing its form) and the assembly-line metaphor (assembled products have beginnings, causes, and infinite regress; māyā is anādi — beginningless — so it cannot have parts). 

Acharya Tadany explained why māyā cannot be sat (or it would equal Brahman, contradicting non-duality), cannot be asat (or it could not produce the universe), and cannot be sat-asat (opposites cannot coexist, like light and darkness). 

Acharya Tadany drew parallels with modern science’s Uncertainty Principle (limits of categorization) and the magic show analogy (Bhagavān as supreme magician unfolding the universe at will, as in Dakṣiṇāmūrti Stotram), emphasizing that māyā is constantly experienced yet forever beyond intellectual grasp (vilakṣaṇa — distinct from all categories: sadaśat vilakṣaṇā, bhinna-abhinna vilakṣaṇā, sāṅga-anaṅga vilakṣaṇā). 

The class concluded that māyā is sadaśat vilakṣaṇā — seemingly existent yet distinct from existence, non-existence, and their mixture — leaving only one remaining possibility for its relationship to Brahman, to be explored in the next session.

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