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The Useful Lie vs. The Useless Truth A deconstruction of
Shankara’s moksha and the ekatva (i.e. Oneness) alternative By the druid Finn I. The Definition of the "Family Business" Adi
Shankara, the 8th-century caste Brahmin’s revitalisation of
Advaita Vedanta was less a discovery of absolute truth and more a masterpiece
of institutional, scholiastic preservation. Tasked with protecting the Vedic
social order (the "family business") against the intellectual tide
of new religons, Shankara defined Moksha not as a
physical change, but as a cognitive shift: the removal of Avidya
(ignorance). His core
proposition—Knowing = Being—posited that because the soul (Atman)
is already identical to the ultimate reality (Brahman), liberation is
merely the realization of this pre-existing fact. However, this definition
relies on a series of logical "fogs" designed to maintain cultural
order while appearing to offer total freedom. II. The Logic of the "Fog": The Apophatic
Failures The
primary tool of both the Buddha and Shankara was negation. ·
The Buddha proposed Anatta
(No-Self) without ever providing a stable definition of the Atta
(Self) he was negating. This created an "empty" liberation—a
"No" to an undefined question. ·
Shankara utilized the Neti Neti (Not this, Not this)
method. He defined Advaita (Non-duality) through an "undefined
non." By refusing to define the nature of the negation, Shankara ensured
that the goalpost of Brahman remained perpetually out of reach, accessible
only through the "correct" (Brahminical) interpretation of
scripture. III. The Mechanical Nonsense: The "Burnt
Rope" and Karma To
explain why a "liberated" person still experiences a physical body
and potential pain (Dukkha), Shankara introduced the concept of Prarabdha Karma. He used the analogy of the
potter’s wheel (which continues to spin after the potter stops) and
the burnt rope (which looks like a rope but cannot bind). From a
strict logical perspective, these analogies are "nonsense." They
serve as pedagogical bridges to hide a fundamental contradiction: if
knowledge is absolute then physical "residue" should vanish.
Instead, Shankara relegates the body to a "lower truth" (Vyavaharika), allowing the Jivanmukta to claim mental freedom while
the physical reality remains unchanged. IV. The Ekatva Alternative:
"Iti Iti" A
simpler, more robust solution to the Moksha issue exists in Ekatva Vedanta (the Way of Oneness). Rather
than the apophatic Neti Neti, Ekatva operates on the kataphatic
Iti Iti (This, This). In this
framework: 1. Atman =
Brahman is an absolute, immediate identity. 2. Every
"this"—the stone, the toothache, the outcaste, the breath—is the
fullness of the Absolute. 3. Moksha is not
an escape from "this" into "that," but the total
affirmation of "this" as the divine. V. Political Utility and the "Useless Truth" The
reason Shankara’s Neti Neti succeeded where Iti
Iti was ignored is Political Utility. ·
Advaita is a "Useful Lie": By
creating a "higher" and "lower" truth, it allows for a
spiritual elite. It justifies the caste system and the necessity of the
priest-class as gatekeepers of the "Knowledge" required to lift the
veil of Maya. It provides a psychological release valve for the
oppressed while keeping their actual chains intact. ·
Ekatva is a
"Useless Truth": Because it is a radical
immanence, it has no political value. If everyone is already Brahman, and
every "this" is sacred, the social hierarchy collapses. The Druidic realization of the divine
in the grove is unmanageable by an empire or a priesthood. It is
"useless" because it cannot be used to govern, only to exist. Conclusion Shankara,
the Buddha and many others saved the day for ordered cultural continuance.
They provided a "Useful Lie" that allowed for a stable civilization
of deferred liberation. The "mechanical solution" to Moksha—namely
that the realization that the "residue" and the "Self"
are the same Iti—remains the "Useless Truth": a reality that
would liberate the individual while bankrupting the institution. Adi Shankara’s “Family
Business” |