[Advaita-l] BrahmaGYAna and jIvanmukti - 5 (Other References)

[Stig Lundgren]

Dear Kartik,

You wrote:

> It is quite obvious that both H.H. and Ramana Maharshi had great
> respect for the VivekachUDAmaNi, as they've both commented on it.
> Given that two of the greatest jIvanmuktas of the 20th century have
> held this text in high esteem, we can safely assume that the
> VivekachUDAmaNi is firmly placed in the advaita-vedAnta tradition.


Also Satchidanandendra Saraswati Swamiji held VivekachUDAmaNi in high 
esteem. For instance, he translated this work into Kannada, and he 
considered it indispensible for those seeking moksha. It is true that he 
didn´t believe this work to be of Adi Shankara´s pen, and he did critizise 
some parts of the book. But nevertheless, he considered VivekachUDAmaNi a 
most important work within the Advaita Vedanta tradition.


As
> I've pointed out, the VivekachUDAmaNi actually follows the JMV quite
> closely, and H.H. even quotes the JMV as an authority in his
> commentary. It is therefore reasonable to say that the JMV is part
> and parcel of the advaita-vedAnta tradition.


That JMV is part and parcel of the Advaita Vedanta tradition was no doubt 
Satchidanandendra Swamiji´s opinion too. In fact, Swamiji wrote a Sanskrit 
work called pAramahamsyamImAmsA which borrows from and referers to JMV. 
Satchidanandendra Swamiji considered VidyAranyA´s views on prArabdha karma 
not to be fully in line with Adi Shankara, but this doesn´t imply that JMV 
would be useless or outside the Advaita Vedanta tradition. It is one thing 
to say that a work is not by Shankara´s pen -- or perhaps that it even 
differs from Shankara´s views in some details -- but another thing to say 
that the work does not belong to the Advaita Vedanta tradition. To my 
knowledge, Satchidanandendra Swamiji never said that any of those works 
written by later advaitins did not belong to the Advaita Vedanta tradition.

Warmest regards
Stig Lundgren