[Advaita-l] Yoga and Advaita Vedanta - 0

[jagannathan mahadevan]

Namaskaram,

Thank you very much for the effort and I eagerly look to learn from
your posts especially on what Yoga really means.

Jagan.

On 9/24/06, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Every so often, a discussion starts on this list, regarding Yoga and Advaita Vedanta. Quite a few times, such
> a discussion becomes nothing more than a set of heated exchanges, based on misconceptions on either side.
> Starting with this one, I will be making a series of posts, through which I hope to address the following:
>
> Misconception no. 1: Sankara completely denounces Yoga. Vedanta has nothing to do with Yoga.
> Misconception no. 2: Sankara teaches nothing but Yoga.
>
> Misconception no. 3: An experience of nirvikalpa samAdhi is essential for moksha, in addition to jnAna.
> Misconception no. 4: A true jnAni/jIvanmukta will never be in any state of samAdhi, nirvikalpa or otherwise.
>
> Misconception no. 5: Yoga is an independent means to moksha.
> Misconception no. 6: Acquiring jnAna, the only path to moksha, has no place for yoga.
>
> Misconception no. 7: Yoga theory and practice are quite independent of and not rooted in the Upanishads.
> Misconception no. 8: The Upanishads teach nothing other than Yoga.
>
> Misconception no. 9: Sankara eschews Yoga, but Vidyaranya and his successors endorse it.
> Misconception no. 10: Not even Vidyaranya and his successors, but only Vivekananda and others emphasize Yoga.
>
> That all the above, grouped into pairs of mutually contrary/contradictory statements, are indeed misconceptions,
> and that the actual situation is much more nuanced and subtle, is my contention. I hope I will be able to show
> this over the next few weeks and I will try to make a post roughly twice a week, in order to cover this properly.
>
> The primary texts I will be referring to are:
>
> brahmasUtra (BS), bhagavadgItA (BG) and their corresponding SAnkara bhAshya-s (BSBh and BGBh),
> taittirIya upanishat (TU), its SAnkara bhAshya (TUBh) and sureSvarAcArya's vArttika on it (TUBhV),
> bRhadAraNyaka upanishat (BU), its SAnkara bhAshya (BUBh) and sureSvarAcArya's vArttika on it (BUBhV),
> chandogya upanishat (CU, its SAnkara bhAshya (CUBh),
> upadeSasAhasrI (US) of Sankara-bhagavatpAda
> naishkarmyasiddhi (NS) of sureSvarAcArya
>
> patanjali's yogasUtra (YS) and its vyAsa bhAshya (YSBh).
>
> SrI gurubhyo namaH,
> Vidyasankar
> _________________________________________________________________
> Share your special moments by uploading 500 photos per month to Windows Live Spaces
> http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwsp0070000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://www.get.live.com/spaces/features_______________________________________________
> 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
>