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

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Karthik prabhuji
Hare Krishna

First of all,  thanks for wasting your precious time & energy continuously 
on this poor bigoted student mails :-))  Now to your observation :

I do not see any personal attack here, just a statement of fact.

>  hmmm....another justificatory statement on a 'verdict' already passed 
:-))

Sankara says: "BrahmasaMstha is to be completely absorbed in Brahman, with 
no other occupation but to be established in THAT. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE 
FOR THOSE IN THE FIRST THREE ASHRAMAS."

>  You should keep this in mind that in this adhikaraNa 'saNyAsa' as an 
ashrama has been eulogized since pUrvapaxi arguing here saNyAsa is not an 
injunction but a mere reference.  It is not an adhikaraNa that is meant to 
speak about different Ashrama-s & their respective phala-s.  And again, it 
does not mean as soon as one enters saNyAsAshrama he becomes a 
brahmasaMstha...Hope you would agree with me that saNyAsi here does not 
mean that people with orange clothes, tonsured heads etc.  brahmasaMstha 
is a mental state or a realized one & he could be a 'saNyAsi' in any of 
the Ashrama..And krishna calls this type of 'saNyAsi-s as 'nitya saNyAsi' 
in geeta.It is because of this reason only, to differentite karmi-s of 
other Ashrama-s shankara talks about pratyavAya sin.  If you literally 
interpret this sentence without considering the context then you will end 
in calling krishna is NOT a brahmasaMstha, vidhura, bheeshma, 
dharmavyAdha, janaka, ashwapati were not brahmasaMstha-s.  Hope you would 
not bring this type of 'anishta' to shankara bhAshya vAkya, when shankara 
himself confirms the brahmajnAni-s in atyAshrami-s & seeing the jnAni-s in 
raikva, vAchaknavi, gArgi, saMvarta, janaka etc.

You maintain: "BrahmasaMstha IS POSSIBLE in the first three ashramas."

>  it is because shankara himself talks about the possibility of jnAni-s 
or brahma jnAni-s in other Ashram-s & atyAshrama elsewhere in the sUtra 
bhAshya itself (for example vidhurAdhikaraNa)...It is a matter of regret 
that by holding just a single sentence from sUtra bhAshya, sofar you are 
turning your blind eye & showing me a blank slate on other more vivid 
references wherein shankara categorically addresses the jnAni-s in 
lOkavyavahAra & their {seeming} duties. 

Your position is diametrically opposed to Sankara's.

>  I am sorry to say, the above statement is a product, which is 
manufactured in your own mental factory for which I donot have any 
'quality control' :-))  Either you have to admit that shankara 
contradicting himself by accepting the possibility of jnAna to shudra-s 
like vidhura & dharma vyAdha after saying ONLY saNyAsi-s are brahmasaMsthA 
OR you yourself narrowing down the shankara's bhAshya vaishAlyata by 
quoting one or two sporadic quotes from bhAshya..choice is yours prabhuji.

At worst, you are willing to directly contradict Sankara whenever his 
commentary does not suit your taste.

>  there is no need for me to do so you know, as I have been repeatedly 
telling here that I am not at all trying to belittle the efficacy of 
saNyAsa Ashrama. OTOH, by not giving the due importance to the words of 
shankara where he talks about 'artha siddha pArivrAjya, ' karma tyAga 
asaMbhavata of the jnAni' etc. you are trying to meddle the whole issue of 
saNyAsa and jnAna.

At best (if can be called "best"), Sankara is stressing on the need for 
sannyAsa to attain BrahmasaMstha, whereas you are downplaying it.

>  as said above, that is your perception, I cannot help it...saNyAsa is 
not a 'green pass' to attain brahmasaMstha, even one is in saNyAsa Ashrama 
without jnAna he is not brahma saMstha, one who can be there in 
gruhasthAshrama even after the dawn of jnAna, he is brahma saMstha though 
he seemingly doing all actions (mudaiva cheshta mAtra explains shankara in 
geeta)..So, linking brahmasaMstha exclusively to saNyAsAshrama without 
knowing the very meaning of paramArtha saNyAsa is a farfetched & 
deliberate misinterpretation of shankara bhAshya vAkya.  Kindly see 
shankara's geeta bhAshya 3-4, wherein he says saNyAsa which is devoid of 
knowledge is of no use..nApi saNyasanAt eva kevalAt karmaparityAgamAtrAt 
eva 'jnAnarahitAt' siddhiM naishkarmya lakshaNAm jnAnayOgena nishThAm 
samadhigacchati na prApnOti.  So, please note it is not an offer like : ' 
take saNyAsa and be brahmasaMstha'...brahmasaMstha is an open offer for 
those who do mAnasika saNyAsa with jnAna (i.e. paripUrNa ahaMkAra tyAga) 
irrespective of their external appearance & existence in 'any Ashrama'.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar