มายากับสถานภาพของความดี - ชั่วในปรัชญาเวทานตะของศังกราจารย์ / คมกฤช อุ่ยเต็กเค่ง = Mãyã and the status of good or evil in Samkara's Vedãnta / Komkrit Uitekkeng
The principles of Śaṁkara’s Advaita Vedānta philosophy are Brahman is the absolute truth, the world is Māyā or appearance of Brahman, Jīvātman is inseparable from Brahman. According to Śaṁkara Māyā is the most important concept which is to be used to explain the status of the world and affirm the absolute truth of Brahman. There are three aspects of Māyā : the power of Iśvara to project the appearance of the world, Prakṛti ( primal matter), and the illusion. Māyā as the illusion introduces the ethical problem of the status of good or evil. If the world is not real, all of human actions are mere illusion, and one cannot distinguish moral value of action. If one insists that the world is real. Advaita Vedānta, is to be abolished. Furthermore it is related to the problems of moral motivation and moral seriousness. Śaṁkara does not answer these problems clearly. However Radhakrishnan, Indian modern philosopher interpret Māyā in six meanings other than illusion.This interpretation of Māyā is to show the meaning of Māyā related to the ultimate truth to resolve ethical problems mentioned above. Moreover if one take the levels of meaning of “real” in Śaṁkara’s Vedānta to consideration, the world is real enough to distinguish between good or evil. Such status of the world no longer remains when one become Jīvanmukta, the liberated man. There are two questions remain to be resolved: First, do liberated man necessarily do the good rather than evil? Second, is it why necessary to take account of the existence of Iśvara in Advaita Vedānta? The first question can be answered by reasoning that Jīvanmukta frees himself from evil characteristics of mind, so that he can do only good actions.The second question, however, I will show that it can be addressed another aspect of the problem that acceptance of the existance of Iśvara introduce the contradiction between benevolent and omnipotent characteristic of Iśvara, and the concept of Karma and liberation in Advaita Vedānta.
