[Advaita-l] Re: samAdhi -Universe merging into brAhmaN of shruti- is not an Experience

[Subramanyam Natarajan]

Gurubhyo NamaH,

Sorry for adding my two cents after the fact. 
I thought this was forthcoming in your arguments Abishekji, but could 
not resist pointing out. What I have to add may be viewed 
as complementary to already expressed thoughts. I have
also recently read a similar thread in Advaithin list where
this was a raging war for some time.

By way of reiteration of the verses from Taittiriya Upanishad as 
earlier pointed out by Shri Abishekji, The subsequent verse in the same sUktham states:
nAnyah panThA vidyathE ayanAya (By no other means shall this be attained ?!)

And as a reiteration of this verse, it is again repeated later in the sUktham as 
nAnyah panThA ayanAya vidyathE and this time stressing
(svaritam on "ThA" of PanTha) asthough to ram it into our heads.

Despite, if there are still doubts on this subject (as expressed bypeople 
who point out statements of revered Gurus including Adi ShankarAchAryA), 
my humble thoughts are that, they needed to be interpreted as:

nirvikalpaka state aids in chittha EkAgrathA which is amongst the very important
prerequisites for knowledge. Further, in such a state of tranquility, the 
Knowledge which is by definition in VedAnthic context "Absence of ignorance" 
is certain to be yielded. MokshA is attained only when the prArabdhA is exhausted.

Humbly,
Subramanyam

>>> "Abhishek RK" <rkabhi at gmail.com> 9/22/2006 2:29 PM >>>

Namaste,
In "Yoga, Enlightenment and Perfection", Shri Abhinava Vidyatirtha
Mahaswamiji clearly states that his own nirvikalpa samAdhi did not
last for more than a few hours. Also, just "believing" in some
interpretations of a Yogi's experiences certainly is not recommended
in any shAstra. Don't you agree that samAdhi is just a momentary
experience and j~nAna leads to jIvanmuktAvasthA, which is certainly
not momentary? Of course, Ishvara's (or Guru's) grace is a necessary
factor in gaining j~nAna. Sorry if I sound harsh, but just going by
the words of some stories does not help much. Anyway, I am not seeing
that some can not even accept some basics of advaita, so this is my
last post on this thread.

Regards,
Abhishek

On 9/22/06, RAMESH RAMANAN <rameshramanan at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Namaste Abhishekji,
>
>   Sri Abhinava Vidya Teertha Mahaswami (35fth pontiff of Sringeri Math) has
> clearly said that Nirvikalpa Samadhi is a  VERY SPECIAL WAY to attain
> knowledge, but it is NOT the ONLY way. Swami Premananda (a direct disciple
> of Sri Ramakrishna) was denied the experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, but was
> granted the direct experience of advaita by God according to Sri Ramakrishna
> and hence, he too attained Moksha, without ever experiencing Nirvikalpa
> Samadhi.
>
>   From this, it is clear that samadhi is not an action, but an experience
> and a state of spiritual attainment. One may have to make efforts to reach
> that state, but the state itself is not an action. Further, it is also clear
> from the words of the sages that it is a special way of attaining knowledge,
> but is not the only means of the attainment of knowledge. I am not able to
> understand how else could knowledge be attained without the experience of
> Samadhi, but I believe in the words of Sri Abhinava Vidya Teertha and Sri
> Ramakrishna.  I think that the Grace/Sankalpa of the Guru can confer direct
> realization of advaita, just as Sri Adi Sankara's Sankalpa alone converted a
> dull Totaka into a great Acharya.
>
> Pranams again, Ramesh Ramanan.

-- 
tasmAttvamuttiShTha yasho labhasva
jitvA shatrUn bhu~NkShva rAjyaM samR^iddham|
mayyaivaite nihatAH pUrvameva
nimittamAtraM bhava savyasAchin||11.33||
-bhagavAn shrIkR^iShNa, bhagavadgIta
_______________________________________________
Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/

To unsubscribe or change your options:
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org