[Advaita-l] Jivanmukti - Jnana plus Sannyasa pt 4

[S Jayanarayanan]

--- On Wed, 9/30/09, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> Even Sankara allows for the possibility that Janaka was not
> a jIvanmukta 
> in his commentary on Gita 3.20:
> 
> "atha aprAptasamyagdarshanAH janakAdayaH tadA karmaNA 
> sattvashuddhisAdhanabhUtena krameNa saMsiddhimAsthitA iti"
> 
> "If it be held that Janaka (and others) did not attain to
> GYAna, then it 
> can be said that they achieved purification of the mind
> (sattva-shuddhi) 
> which gradually led to liberation." Note that Sankara
> permits for the lack 
> of saMyag-GYAna by Janaka.
> 
> > Anyway, it is not a categorical declaration by
> shankara that Janaka was 
> not a jnAni, as you know, it is his second option

You had mentioned in your earlier posting, "Quite funny observation.  So according to you Janaka, who was a chakravorthy  was not a jeevan mukta".

Would you then say that when Sankara himself permits the possibility of Janaka not being a Jivanmukta in his commentary to Gita 3.20, he must have been joking?

> after
> accepting that 
> janakAdi-s were jnAni-s but continuing their action because
> of past 
> momentum.  So this is not going to help those who
> favour saNyAsAshrama for 
> the mukti.  But what about arjuna??  shankara
> himself says in geeta 
> bhAshya that arjuna has become a samyagdarshi & got
> samyagjnAna after 
> geetOpadesha.  Ofcourse, we all know he is not a
> saNyAsi.  'dhruva' again 
> a kshtriya and 'prahlAda' a dAnava by birth both are parama
> jnAni-s say 
> our purANa & itihAsa.  Kindly dont think I am
> arguing this issue with 
> you..Just I think it is totally unwarranted to link jnAna
> & jeevanmukti 
> ONLY to sanyAsAshrama when we have somany examples against
> this 
> contention.
> 
> 

Sureshvara in his Sambandha Vartika 221:

  satyAnR^ite sukhaduHkhe iti tathA sarvasaMnyAsapUrvakam.h .
  AtmAno.anveshhaNaM sAkshAt ApastaMbaH abravIn muniH .. 221 ..

  "'Truth and untruth, pleasure and pain' etc. ought to be
  completely renounced prior to the quest for the Self, as
  the sage Apastamba himself has so declared."

The verse that Sureshvara quotes is from the Apastamba Dharma Sutra, which is undoubtedly concerning Sannyasa Ashrama. Sureshvara says that Sannyasa is to be taken BEFORE an enquiry into the Self.

What then to say concerning steadiness in GYAna which almost certainly requires Sannyasa?

[..]

> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar

Regards,
Kartik