[Advaita-l] The Status and Role of Scripture in Advaita - Part 2

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 5:17 PM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <
sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 1)
> A jnani may not need the Veda as one who has reached the top may not need
> the ladder any more, Like Lord  Krishna said that he remembered his past
> births so also the jnani would remember that he needed the ladder to reach
> the top.
> 2)
> //in this state a father is no father, a mother no mother, worlds no
> worlds,
> the gods no gods, the Vedas no Vedas. In this state a thief is no thief,
> the
> killer of a noble Brahmana, no killer, a chandala no chandala… a monk no
> monk, a hermit no hermit. This form of the jeeva is untouched by good work
> and untouched by evil work, for he is then beyond all the woes of his
> heart.//
>
> Can we say that there is no guru in this state?
>
> Regards,
>
> Sunil K. Bhattacharjya
>
> Namaste.

Actually, the 'state' mentioned in the above Upanishadic passage is deep
sleep.  As already stated, this state is cited as an illustration for the
state of liberation.  For, in deep sleep there is no explicit duality of any
kind.  All identities are lost, as it were.  One can get an idea of the
state of liberation when the deep sleep state is looked into.  That is the
purpose of citing it.

The following verse from Shankaracharya's 'Dashashloki' makes it clear:

http://www.shaivam.org/ssdashashloki.htm

na shaastaa na shaastraM na shishhyo na shikshaa
    na cha tvaM na chaahaM na chaayaM prapaJNchaH .
svaruupaavabodho vikalpaasahishhNuH
    tadeko.avashishhTaH shivaH kevalo.aham.h .. 7..
##
        "There is no Preceptor nor Scripture, no pupil nor training.
There is no YOU nor I. This universe is not. For the realistion
of the true nature of the Self does not tolerate any distincion.
That One, the Residue, the Auspicious, the Alone, am I."

Om Tat Sat