[Advaita-l] Two types of Atma jnAni-s &their approachtoreallife situation

[Shyam]

Pranams.
Due to time contraints I have been unable to participate in this interesting thread, but would like to succinctly point out something that I feel is relevant here.

When Vedanta talks about the transcendentalist, i.e. the Jnani - it decidedly points to one who has gone beyond the pairs of opposites, not just one who has polarized himself in alignment with the positive side to the extreme.

In Ishwara srshti from the Cosmic standpoint, from the standpoint of the Order, there is nothing positive or negative. Anger is very much part of the Order. There is no separate entity that is parallel to, or opposed to, the Order.

Let us say you feel a object about you hit you in the head and you *instinctively* duck or bring your hands up to ward off that threat. Turns out its a soft toy your five year old is bobbing at you, and the very next second when he repeats this you have used your intellect to decide to simply catch it and bob it back. What is at play in the first instance is pure instinct - what comes unto play the second time is an intellectual modulated expression. If a sliding rock is coming in the jnani's path, he will attempt to move away - immediately. Such is the Order.

Consider anger now. Someone violates dharma - and if the jnani is witness to this - say an innocent calf getting killed. There is anger. It is non-volitional, it is not reasoned nor calculated. It just is. Ishwara srshti. It is no one's power to alter what is an integral component of the Order. In the Rudram it is to the Order in the form of Anger alone that salutations are placed - Parino rudrasya hetirvrnaktu paritvesyadurmatira ghayoh | Rudrasya = Belongs to Rudra, Hetih = Weapon; Nah = Us; Parivunaktu = Leave us; Aghayoh = As a means of anger to invite sin; Tvedasya = burning with anger, Durmatih = The attitude of mind to trouble; parivrnaktu = Let it be removed; Oh Rudra! Let the fiersome disposition of Rudra blazing with anger related to our sins, and keen to punish us, depart from us. 
In the Ramayan we see Lord Rama get angry at Varuna Dev when the latter is noncooperative in helping the vanar-sena cross the Ocean - His eyes exude such molten fury that the waters started boiling. So even the Lord will develop anger if provoked, as even as he will feel physical pain when inflicted - and humans and animals are no exception. 

What then is the difference between the ajnani's anger and the jnani or even the Lord's anger. The absence of abhimana. In the case of the ajnani - the anger is provoked by circumstances that are not conducive to his limited wants and needs, that occur when the Order presents a sitution that is not in tune with his individuality-centric raga-dveshas.

On the other hand, in the case of Bhagawan, (or a jnani - there is no difference), such an anger is merely precipitated/ directed by the Order, and is all along recognized to be purely in the field of Prakrti - "guna guneshu vartante"

That at which the anger is directed, that which gets angry, and the anger - all is Shiva all is Shiva.

And this of course holds true for any physical or mental state.

Needless to say for a sadhaka, still gasping for survival, amidst the torrential lashes of vasanas, it would be foolish to then consider this a license to give free reign to his ahankara-borne kama and krodha - and it is to this ajnani sadhaka that Krishna's very stern warning about kama and krodha being the gateways to self-destruction relevant.

Hari OM
Shri Gurubhyoh namah
Shyam


--- On Fri, 6/25/10, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> From: Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com>
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Two types of Atma jnAni-s &their approachtoreallife situation
> To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Date: Friday, June 25, 2010, 4:55 AM
> This applies as much to negative states such
> as kAma and 
> krodha as
> to any other mental state, however positive it may be.
> 
> sAshtAnga praNAms Sri Vidya prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
> 
> Your humble servant
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar