[Advaita-l] avidyA and mind in samAdhi

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sun, Oct 15, 2023 at 8:49 AM Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> In case of nirvikalpaka samAdhi, what exactly is the position of Advaita:
>
> 1. avidyA and mind are both present but neither avidyA-vritti nor
> mano-vritti are present.
>
> 2. avidyA is present and mind has merged into avidyA. There are neither
> avidyA-vritti nor mano-vritti.
>
> 3. Neither avidyA nor mind are present.
>
> 4. avidyA and mind are both present. There is no avidyA-vritti but there is
> akhandAkArA-mano-vritti.
>
> My understanding is (4). Kindly reply along with references.
>

In the 1st chapter, Panchadashi, we have a crisp 'definition' of the three
'bodies' and Atman, in anvaya-vyatireka mode:

सुषुप्त्यभाने भानन्तु समाधावात्मनोऽन्वयः ।

व्यतिरेकस्त्वात्मभाने सुषुप्त्यनवभासनम् ॥ ४१॥

Here he says 'In Samadhi there is no Sushupti but Atman is present. This is
anvaya. The vyatireka is: when Atman is shining, sushupti is not present.


Since it is admitted that the Tattva agrahana rupa avidya is present in all
three states, in Samadhi when Akhandakara vritti is there, that avidya is
not present.   The Ramakrishna Teeka for the above verse where he says
'ajnana is not there in samadhi', can be seen here:

https://archive.org/details/panchadashi-ramkrishna/page/n57/mode/2up

Of course, the mind, which is the instrument for even attaining Samadhi,
has to be admitted to be present. Also, the nascent form of avidya/mind are
admitted to be present even during samadhi, since they have not destroyed
so that the post-samadhi life of the Jnani requires this non-binding form
(lesha/vasana) of avidya is the one that sustains the body-mind of the
Jnani till the fall of the body.

regards
subbu



> Regards.
> Sudhanshu Shekhar.
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: https://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> https://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>