[Advaita-l] Kanchi Maha-swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-60)

[V. Krishnamurthy]

Namaste.

For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/advaitin/message/27766
For the previous post, see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/advaitin/message/32924


SECTION 45: THE NAADIS OF THE HEART: JNANI'S LIFE RESTS, 
OTHER'S LIVES LEAVE (Contd.)
Tamil Original:  http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-119.htm

We can be even more generous and broad-minded. Once our Vedic religion
itself  was objected to and there were founders of other religions. Let the
matter be whatever with these Founders.  In fact our Vedas have said (see
Br. U. IV.3.22) the Veda is not a Veda beyond a certain stage. Maybe one or
two people might have transcended by themselves the ritual regimen of the
Vedas. Let us not try to infer anything about those individual people. But
unlike the avaidik (i.e. which do not accept the vedas) religions that
sprang up in other countries, other religions in our own country were
established by objectors to the Vedic religions that prevailed here. I am
now speaking of those who came in later times in these other religions. They
have been following these non-vaidik religions as their  veda and have been
revering, with devotion and dedication,  their founders and other important
persons as much as we revere our rishis and Acharyas. They cannot be faulted
for this.  For them also it is possible that Brahmaloka is their
destination. For them it may be exactly what they think it is - void or
whatever.  Whether Ishvara gives them Brahma loka or so, let me have the
credit of being 'broad-minded' for giving them this! If you ask the
hard-liner Vaidik people, they might not agree with me. They might opine:
'If those who belong to the non-vaidik religions follow their religion
steadfastly, as a consequence they will be born in their next birth in some
vaidik religion and only by properly doing the upAsanAs there they will
reach Brahmaloka'. 

I have to tell you one or two more points on the subject of mokSha.

It is not as if only the mokSha of the 'dualistic'kind is what will be
obtained by all the followers of the Bhakti path till the end. That was said
only with respect to those devotees who circumscribe themselves by a
non-advaitic philosophy. But in actuality, when one adheres to bhakti that
comes from the heart and overflows in its own natural way, it cannot be
circumscribed by any boundary. Such were the devotees,  like the Alwars and
Nayanamars. Instead of limiting themselves to visishtadavaita or
shaiva-siddhanta, they just allowed themselves freely to be led by their
noblest emotion of bhakti, wherever it tossed them, to whatever experiences
they were subjected to. For many of them, even this process was not enough;
they were not satisfied with doing this from outside, they wanted to be one
with their Ultimate. They poured all this in their songs and some have sung
about the non-dual experience that they were blessed with.    Such
travellers who journeyed on the path of parA-bhakti and  were led on to the
continuous state - *anusandhAnaM* - of one-ness, will not go to the
saguNa-brahman of Brahma-loka. Instead they will reach the MokSha of
non-dual Realisation (*advaita-sAkShAtkAra-mukti*).

The person  who by himself does not do any yoga-sAdhanA, but keeps on
praying to God that He should grant  him  advaita-mokSha, to him also the
Lord grants the Brahma-nirvANa, that is superior to Brahma-loka. What the
pilgrim on the jnAna-path obtains, through his sAdhanA, without  recognising
that it is also the Grace of God, this devotee-type person obtains by
prayer, knowing full well it is the blessing/benediction (prasAda) of God.
Of course elder traditionalists in our religion may say that the Lord might
not just give him advaita-mokSha on a platter, he will also be turned
towards the jnAna path and then only he will be made to reach his goal.

Thus there are several yogas. In one of these it has been stated that one
should hold on to the primeval shakti, hold on to it and rise on the
sushumnA nADi, chakra after chakra, and finally through that Power reach the
Source of that Power, namely the ShivaM that is Brahman and unite with it
in one-ness.  And that mukti has been depicted as an advaita-mukti only. For
such upAsakas also, we may be sure that the destination is not  Brahma-loka,
but the advaita-mukti itself.

Another opinion is the ashhTAnga-yoga siddhas who speak of the goal of
samAdhi in the attributeless Absolute also obtain *Brahma-nirvANaM*
(advaita-mukti). But the words of the Gita don't support this. There is no
greater suthority than Lord Krishna Himself.  That He calls only jnAnis as
'sAnkhyas' or 'sannyAsis' is well-known to scholars of all the different
traditions. Krishna says: Only those who go on the advaita path become
'brahma-bhUtas' while living in this world and reach 'Brahma-nirvANaM' when
the body falls. (B.G. V -24).  'Brahma-bhUta'-becoming is also only
Brahma-nirvANaM'. Just to show the difference that one is in the jIvan-mukti
stage even when being in the body, we use the term 'Brahma-bhUta'. To clear
this , He himself says  one or two shlokas later: (V-26): "abhito
brahma-nirvANaM vartate .": "In both situations, that is, both in this world
and in the other world, jnAni gets the Brahma-nirvANaM'.

He also says what happens to those who go along the ashhTAmga-yoga (the
eight-component-yoga) path, what we ordinarily call the yoga-mArga. But the
Yogi he refers to must have practised well his ashhTAnga-yoga, and must have
perfected both the breath-discipline and the mind-control regimen. In
addition, as an added qualification he should have deep devotion and must be
one who constantly and continuously thinks of God - not just one who has to
think of God (*Ishvara-praNidhAnaM*), as per the prescriptions of the
yogashAstra, for the purpose of developing concentration . Krishna says "mAM
anusmaran"  (remembering Me continuously) "satataM yo mAM smarati nityashaH"
(B.G. VIII - 13, 14) (he who remembers me always and every day) . Such a
yogi who has also devotion, even though he may leave the body in the
contemplation of praNava that has been equated to shabda-brahman,  will
still not get the advaita-mukti.  This is what the Lord says in the eighth
chapter called 'akshhara-brahma-yoga'. It  has been described 
that his soul goes only to Brahma-loka  along the path of the
'uttarAyaNa-Sun'.
[R. Ganapthy, the collator of these discourses, writes this note at this
point:
In Chandogya VIII- 6.5 also,  the Jiva who leaves the body
 in the contemplation of Aum
is said to reach saguNa-brahma-loka only
In the fifth prashna of prashnopanishad the mukti ascribed 
for the worshipper of Aum has been commented on 
by the Acharya in his Bhashyain the same way.]

SECTION 46: CORRECT MEANING OF DEATH IN UTTARAAYANA



(To be Continued)
PraNAms to all students of advaita.
PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.
profvk






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