[Advaita-l] Basic questions & neophyte's answers !!! - part-2
Bhaskar YR
bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com
Thu Jul 8 05:28:39 CDT 2010
continued from part-1
8. What happens to the jnAnI's mind or intellect at the instant that jnAna
arises
(or is uncovered)?
9. What happens to the jnAnI's mind or intellect AFTER this instant?
10. What happens to the jnAnI's mind or intellect at the moment of
physical death?
11. Why does death even happen to a jnAnI's body?
> questions 8 to 11 arising coz. of our ajnAna drushti on jnAni which
cannot go beyond jnAni's BMI...But jnAni does not have this individuality
& resultant jnAtru, jneya & jnAna triputi...So what happens to my upAdhi-s
?? is not a valid question at all for the jnAni who is seeing ONE in ALL
and ALL in one and for him upAdhi-s are kevala AbhAsa eva cha..when jnAni
realizes his savrAtma bhAva & sarvavyApakatva his mind is no more an
individual mind it dissolves (as if) in that one without second Atman. It
does not mean that jnAni had a mind like thing in the pre-realization
period & it would vanish in thin air in the period of post-realization..It
is the realization that he was/is/will always be ashareeri & his jnAna is
NOT upAdhi paricchinna parimita jnAna.
Here is the relevant extracts from the ramaNa's works sent by one of my
cyber net friends :
(a) About jnAni's mind :
// quote //
Question: For the jnani then, there is no distinction between the three
states of mind?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: How can there be, when the mind itself is dissolved
and lost in the light of consciousness?
For the jnani all the three states are equally unreal. But the ajnani is
unable to comprehend this, because for him the standard of reality is the
waking state, whereas for the jnani the standard is reality itself. This
reality of pure consciousness is eternal by its nature and therefore
subsists equally during what you call waking, dreaming and sleep. To him
who is one with that reality there is neither the mind nor its three
states and, therefore, neither introversion nor extroversion.
His is the ever waking state, because he is awake to the eternal Self; his
is the ever dreaming state, because to him the world is no better than a
repeatedly presented dream phenomenon; his is the ever sleeping state,
because he is at all times without the ‘body-am I’ consciousness.
Question: Is there no Dehatma Buddhi (I-am-the-body idea) for the jnani?
If, for instance, Sri Bhagavan is bitten by an insect, is there no
sensation?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: There is the sensation and there is also the dehatma
buddhi. The latter is common to both jnani and ajnani with this
difference, that the ajnani thinks only the body is myself, whereas the
jnani knows all is of the Self, or all this is Brahman. If there be pain
let it be. It is also part of the Self. The Self is Poorna (perfect).
After transcending dehatma buddhi one becomes a jnani. In the absence of
that idea there cannot be either Kartritva (doership) or Karta (doer). So
a jnani has no karma (that is, a jnani performs no actions). That is his
experience. Otherwise he is not a jnani. However, the ajnani identifies
the jnani with his body, which the jnani does not do.
(b) About jnAni's activities :
// quote //
Question: I see you doing things. How can you say that you never perform
actions?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The radio sings and speaks, but if you open it you
will find no one inside. Similarly, my existence is like the space; though
this body speaks like the radio, there is no one inside as a doer.
Question: I find this hard to understand. Could you please elaborate on
this?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Various illustrations are given in books to enable us
to understand how the jnani can live and act without the mind, although
living and acting require the use of the mind. The potter’s wheel goes on
turning round even after the potter has ceased to turn it because the pot
is finished. In the same way, the electric fan goes on revolving for some
minutes after we switch off the current. Prarabdha (predestined Karma)
which created the body will make it go through whatever activities it was
meant for. But the jnani goes through all these activities without the
notion that he is the doer of them. It is hard to understand how this is
possible. The illustration generally given is that the jnani performs
actions in some such way as a child that is roused from sleep to eat eats
but does not remember next morning that it ate. It has to be remembered
that all these explanations are not for the jnani. He knows and has no
doubts. He knows that he is not the body and he knows that he is not doing
anything even though his body may be engaged in some activity. These
explanations are for the onlookers who think of the jnani as one with a
body and cannot help identifying him with his body.
// unquote //
(c) about jnAni's ahamkAra or paricchinna chaitanya or reflected
consciousness :
// quote //
Question:In the jnani the ego subsists in the pure form and therefore it
appears as something real. Am I right?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The existence of the ego in any form, either in the
jnani or ajnani, is itself an experience. But to the ajnani who is deluded
into thinking that the waking state and the world are real, the ego also
appears to be real. Since he sees the jnani act like other individuals, he
feels constrained to posit some notion of individuality with reference to
the jnani also.
Question: How then does the Aham-Vritti (‘I’ thought, the sense of
individuality) function in the jnani?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: It does not function in him at all. The jnani’s real
nature is the Heart itself, because he is one and identical with the
undifferentiated, pure consciousness referred to by the Upanishads as the
Prajnana (full consciousness). Prajnana is truly Brahman, the absolute,
and there is no Brahman other than Prajnana.
// unquote //
(d) about jnAni's perception of the world OR sarVatmabhAva :
// quote //
Question: Does Bhagavan see the world as part and parcel of himself? How
does he see the world?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The Self alone is and nothing else. However, it is
differentiated owing to ignorance. Differentiation is threefold:
1. Of the same kind
2. Of a different kind; and
3. As parts in itself
The world is not another Self similar to the Self. It is not different
from the Self; nor is it part of the Self.
Question: Is not the world reflected on the Self?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: For reflection there must be object and an image. But
the self does not admit of these differences.
Question: What is the difference between the Baddha and the Mukta, the
bound man and the one liberated?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The ordinary man lives in the brain unaware of
himself in the Heart. The jnana-siddha (jnani) lives in the Heart. When he
moves about and deals with men and things, he knows that what he sees is
not separate from the one supreme reality, the Brahman which he realised
in the Heart as his own Self, the real.
// unquote //
> That's it....Infact, earlier, I had planned for a more elaborated reply
on the above questions with more quotes from shankara bhAshya & Sri SSS
works...But now, since I lost the interest in continuing this discussion
anymore, I am cutting short my reply to the minimum...
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar
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