[Advaita-l] Sankara on sannyAsa for Steadiness in GYAna (was Re: Jivanmukti - Jnana plus Sannyasa pt 5)

[S Jayanarayanan]

--- On Thu, 10/8/09, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> In the same vein, Shankara makes his
> position clear in the BSB as well :
> “And then it has to be considered as to whether that
> steadfastness is 
> meant for anyone
> belonging to any one of the four stages of life or to the
> MONK 
> ALONE?.....the conclusion will be that the MONK ALONE can
> be STEADFAST in 
> BRAHMAN..
> 
> praNAms Sri Shyam prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
> 
> which sUtra bhAshya you are giving here??

It is from Sankara's Brahma sUtra bhAShya 3.4.20:

  atra uchyate - 

  brahmasaMstha iti hi brahmaNi parisamAptirananyavyaapaarataaruupaM
  tannishhThatvamabhidhIyate . tachcha trayANAmAshramANAM na saMbhavati .
  svaashramavihitakarmAnanushhThaane pratyavaayashravaNAt.h .
  parivrAjakasya tu sarvakarmasaMnyAsAtapratyavAyo na
  saMbhavatyananushhThaananimittaH .


  "Reply: Steadiness in Brahman (brahma-saMstha) is to be
  completely absorbed in Brahman (brahmaNi parisamAptiH),
  with no other occupation (na-anya-vyaapaara) but to be
  established in THAT (tan-nishhThatvam). THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE
  (na saMbhavati) FOR THOSE IN THE FIRST THREE ASHRAMAS
  (trayANAmAshramANAM). For by giving up one's vocation,
  one commits sin. It is possible for the SANNYASI ALONE
  (parivrAjakasya tu) to give up all karma (sarvakarmasaMnyAsAt)
  and yet commit no sin."


It is plenty obvious that according to Sankara, STEADINESS IN BRAHMAN (brahma-saMstha) is possible ONLY in the sannyAsa-Ashrama, and NOT in the other three Ashramas!

This is exactly why svAmi VidyAraNya also says that one who has attained to BrahmaGYAna in the householder stage must take up vidvat-sannyAsa to attain steadiness in GYAna (sthita-praGYa or jIvanmukta).

> Kindly let
> me know the adhyAya, 
> pAda, adhikaraNa & sUtra Nos. please.  So that I
> shall also have a look at 
> it.
> 

I hope your "taking a look at it" will not result in disproving Sankara :-)

It is immensely clear to all sensible people that Sankara himself declares that sannyAsa is required for steadiness in GYAna in his BSB 3.4.20.

Regards,
Kartik