[Advaita-l] BrahmaGYAna and jIvanmukti - 4 (Scriptural References)

[Amuthan]

namo nArAyaNAya!

dear shrI jayanArAyaNan,

   if available, can you provide some details regarding haradatta?
(like his time period, his philosophical inclinations etc.)

On 1/31/07, S Jayanarayanan <sjayana_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
>   Haradatta's commentary:
>   "If salvation were obtained by Self-knowledge alone, then the
>   GYAnI ought not to feel any bodily pain. This is not so.
>   The GYAnI cannot tolerate hunger, acute pain/grief in the
>   head/mind, even for a moment."

its fine if one says that a j~nAni perceives pain. but isn't it
incorrect to say that a j~nAni has NO control over hunger, pain etc.?
as a matter of fact, even aj~nAnIs can tolerate hunger, thirst and
pain for a considerable period of time if they have the necessary
strength of mind. for instance, freedom fighters like bhagat singh
fasted completely for more than two months at a stretch amidst
repeated torturing. moreover, the life of both shrI rAmakRShNa
paramahamsa and bhagavAn ramaNa maharShi show that j~nAnIs can endure
pain quite easily.

On 1/31/07, S Jayanarayanan <sjayana_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Note the emphasis that Haradatta places on Yoga for mukti! Haradatta
> is saying that one ought to engage in shravaNa-manana-nididhyAsana as
> well as Yoga to attain mukti. I.e., even if one has practised
> shravaNa-manana-nididhyAsana and attained AtmaGYAna, one must avoid
> prohibited actions (which are known from the dharma shAstras) and
> engage in Yoga. This fits in well with the JMV, where it is precisely
> Yoga that accomplishes vAsanAkshaya and manonAsha - the akR^itopAsti
> has to adhere to dharma and practise Yoga till he attains steadiness
> in AtmaGYAna.

the basic point that yogAbhyAsa is absolutely necessary for vAsanA
kShaya and mano nAsha is a settled fact. but what exactly is meant by
yogAbhyAsa for a j~nAni is subject to debate. as madhusUdhana
sarasvati clarifies in his commentary on the gItA, the first five
a~NgAs of pAta~njala yoga are accepted by advaitins. the remaining
three are integrated within manana and nididhyAsana. in this sense,
for a j~nAni, there is no yoga apart from manana and nididhyAsana.

this is also quite reasonable since we are discussing about a j~nAni -
one who has aparokSha brahmaj~nAna. in pata~njali's scheme, saMyama
(dhAraNA, dhyAna and samAdhi) is predominantly done on some object
different from oneself. but anAtma dhyAna is necessarily mano kalpita.
on the other hand, for a j~nAni, dhyAna can only be on brahman. since
his knowledge of brahman is aparokSha, that dhyAna cannot be
classified as kalpita and hence, the saMyama of the j~nAni is
different from the saMyama of the yogi who is an aj~nAni. while the
former is vastu tantra, the latter is puruSha tantra.

On 1/31/07, S Jayanarayanan <sjayana_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Sankara is saying that:
>
>   Brahmavit --> Renunciation of Desires --> yogI

this seems to suggest that one who is not a yogi can become a
brahmavit. in the very beginning of his commentary on the yogasUtrAs,
bhagavAn vyAsa clearly states that samAdhi is impossible for a mind
which is active, distracted or dull. since aparokSha j~nAna is verily
of the nature of samAdhi, it can be realized only by one whose mind is
ekAgra (one-pointed). hence a brahmavit is already a yogi. what
sha~Nkara refers to in the above sequence of actions is probably that
the brahmavit (who is already a yogi) needs to renounce every tendency
to identify with the mind and the body for complete avidyA nivRtti.
the emphasis after attaining brahmaj~nAna is more on vairAgya than on
chittaikAgratA (which the brahmavit already has which anyway follows
naturally from vairAgya). of course, in the case of a kRtopAsti,
vAsanAkShaya is almost completely effected by force of his previous
upAsanA and mano nAsha occurs immediately after the dawn of tattva
j~nAna.

vAsudevaH sarvaM,
aparyAptAmRtaH.