[Advaita-l] RE: sadyomukti and jIvanmukti

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

Kartik wrote:

>As far as I am aware, there is no reason for "strengthening of
>knowledge" for a jIvanmukta, as the jIvanmukta is precisely one whose
>knowledge is already strengthened.

That is what I thought too, till I read the bRhadAraNyaka bhAshya 1.4.7, 
where SankarAcArya himself allows for the need to strengthen samyag-darSana 
and counter prArabdha karman, after the rise of jnAna. After reading it, I 
have come to the conclusion that right from the time of the bhAshyakAra, and 
most probably from even before, an allowance has been made for both one who 
needs no strengthening of jnAna and one who does need further sAdhana-s. 
This also explains why some later authors in the tradition debate whether 
there is or not any residual avidyA in the jIvanmukta. We may also compare 
these two types with the vidvat sannyAsin and the vividishA sannyAsin.

Ramesh Badisa wrote:

>Badisa: Jeevan mukta state is achieved once the sadhaka realizes the divine
>nature of his soul. He continues to live till the end of his prarabdha
>karma. If that is what you are saying above, then I agree to it.
>
> >3. sadyomukti - is the condition of immediate liberation at the very
> >instant of Self-knowledge.
>
>Badisa: In 2, you are saying that rise of self-knowledge and in 3 you are
>saying that instant of self-knowledge. Does it mean that in case of 2, the
>self-knowledge rises slowly, over the period of time, and in case of 3, the
>same knowledge is given instantly? If you say yes then, it is not right.

I do not see a necessary contradiction between 2 and 3, for they do not 
apply to the same person at the same time. It is a question of 
adhikAra-bheda.

>Why? Atma gyan dawns slowly for all sadhakas. It will never come all of a
>sudden, like in one go, like one hour back there is no atma gyan and one
>hour after he has atma gyan. We will see with an example. If we want to

That possibility cannot and should not be discounted. In fact, a large 
portion of SankarAcArya's sUtrabhAshya and upanishad bhAshyas are devoted to 
defending the thesis that the rise of knowledge can be instantaneous. It all 
depends on whether you view mukti as the achievement of a new reality or as 
the revelation of pre-existing reality. In advaita, it is seen as the 
latter.

Regards,
Vidyasankar

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