[Advaita-l] Physical death of the Jnani and related issues

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

All of SArIraka mImAMsA aims at establishing the (real) bodilessness of the (apparently) embodied. The continued apparent embodiment of the one who has realized the real bodilessness is a riddle that confuses many! 

 

Sri Subrahmanianji, I would like to make one suggestion in your references to the chAndogya bhAshya in this context - to drop the usage of "enjoyment" as a translation of bhoga, when it comes to karma-phala, whether in the ordinary case or in the case of the prArabdha karma of the jnAnI. Normally, the word "enjoyment" is taken in a positive sense of engagement and getting enmeshed deeper into saMsAra. Clearly, what is meant by bhoga in this context is not an enjoyment in this sense, but merely the experience of or the playing out of the prArabdha karma phala.

 

I think that a key point that most miss is the materiality of the mind. Most people have completely internalized the Western philosophical notion that the mind is not a material entity, without examining the issue criically. Instead, we should start taking seriously the Indian philosophical traditions that insist that what is called mind is itself subtly material. Then there needs to be no confusion about the continued appearance of the mind for a jnAnI. After all, the material body (kAya) of the jnAnin very obviously continues its predestined course and jnAnins are well documented to have used speech (vAk). So there is no pressing need to insist that out of the triad of vA^n-manaH-kAya of a jnAnI, the manas alone should become completely non-existent!

 

Regards,

Vidyasankar
 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469228/direct/01/