[Advaita-l] Fw: How shruti is antya pramANa in advaita vEdAnta??

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

I am posting this second time...if duplicated pls. ignore...but I haven't
seen this mail in the list.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar


----- Forwarded by Bhaskar YR/BAN/INABB/ABB on 05/07/2007 09:56 AM -----
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                05/04/2007        Bhaskar YR/BAN/INABB/ABB                                         
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                               Subject:  How shruti is antya pramANa in advaita vEdAnta??        
                                                                                                 



praNAms
Hare Krishna

We have seen arguments like shruti is the ultimate (antya) pramANa & there
is no substitute for shruti vAkya pramANa in brahma jignAsa..etc.. But I'd
like to know in  what sense we should consider vEda-s are antya pramANa in
determining our true nature...some of my doubts are as follows  :


(a) it is  coz. shAstra-s being apaurushEya (not man made) & direct
exhalation of bhagavAn, we should have faith in it & to be believed it as
antya pramANa in determining the nature of some unknown thing ??

(b) whether mere intellectual understanding &  memorising some shruti
vAkya-s are enough in determining our non-dual nature or

(c) is it continuous repetition of shruti maNtra-s by heart till we get
knowledge of brahman??  or

(d) is it enough to take saNyAsa & just  take one of the upanishad
mahAvAkya-s  mantrOpadEsha  (initiation) from a traditional Acharya do
meditation on that till we get realization??

(e)  after studying & textual understanding of shruti vAkya-s, do we have
to go to an isolated place like forest, cave etc. to *gain* the practical
*experience* of shruti purports?? or

(f)  after studying *whole* vEda-s, do we have to meditate on the upanishad
mahAmaNtra-s like tattvamasi, ahaM brahmAsmi etc. to realize that I am THAT
?? or

(g) after vEdAdhyayana, to get the true experience of our non-dual nature
do we have to practise patanjala ashtAnga yOga  & gain practical
*experience* of our non-dual nature  in some peculiar state called
*nirvikalpa samAdhi*?? or

(h)  should we first learn pUrva mImAmsa, sUtra, tarka, vyAkaraNa etc. &
then perform some yAga, hOma, havana etc. and then approach a guru to do
shAstrAdhyayana & then do something else to reap the fruit of
shAstrAdhyayana ??

If any one of (e) to (h) is true, then we cannot consider shAstra as
*antya* pramANa coz. after the studies, there is still *some* work pending
that needs to be done to reap the fruit of adhyayana...

If any one of (a) to (d) is true then it is shraddhAmAtra & more
importantly  with regard to siddhAnta of vEdAnta,  it is only our belief
(advaita followers)  that upanishads have been teaching us nirguNa,
nirAkAri, niravayava  brahman where other schools like dvaita &
vishishtAdvaita & AcharyA-s from the respective schools too do have *faith*
in the shAstra vAkya & believed it as *antya pramANa*  & argued against
non-dual, attributeless, formless  nature of brahman & identity of jIva &
brahman & propagated saguNa, sAkAra brahman & eternal difference between
jIva & brahman!!!

So, what exactly is the role of shAstra pramANa in advaita vEdAnta??  how
can it be considered as ultimate means of knowledge in brahma jignAsa??
What is the special tool that  we are holding to prove that shankara's
advaita philosophy is *sarvakAlika pAramArThika satya* ??  kindly
clarify....

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar