[Advaita-l] GYAnimAtra and the sthitapraGYa (was Re: FW: Avidya, Jnanis and SSS' views)

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 11:53 PM, S Jayanarayanan <sjayana at yahoo.com> wrote:

> --- On Sat, 5/8/10, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 9:37 AM, S
> > Jayanarayanan <sjayana at yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > > In my opinion, if the Yajnavalkya
> > > > case is resolved, things will be very
> > > > clear about the mukta and jivanmukta as per the
> > JVM.
> > > > Personally I do not
> > > > see any problem here.  Sri Vidyaranya
> > himself agrees
> > > > that Yajnavalkya is an
> > > > aparoksha jnani with the authoriity of being a
> > Brahmavidya
> > > > Acharya of the
> > > > Upanishads. Nowhere he says that he is not a
> > mukta, to
> > >
> > > But VidyAraNya unambiguously says that YAGYavalkya is
> > NOT a jIvanmukta.
> > > Given that the discussion is about YAGYavalkya's state
> > when he was disputing
> > > with others, we are talking about whether or not a
> > living person has
> > > attained to mukti. If not jIvanmukti, what other
> > "mukti" are we talking
> > > about?!
> > >
> >
> > Dear Karthik, there is no doubt about this.  But I
> > have been asking for
> > evidence to from the JMV to say that Yajnavalkya was NOT a
> > liberated soul
> > and that he would be reborn.
>
> Being free of rebirth is one aspect of mukti. Being free vAsanAs is
> another.
>

Yes.  We have a somewhat peculiar situation here.  As long as one lives
after realization, one will have to 'live' with the body-mind apparatus.
Since the mind is the locus of vasana-s and that one will have to face it,
the shAstra teaches that it is better one has a mind free of vasana-s,
especially the troublesome ones.  And that is the genesis of
jivanmuktiviveka, the practice of vasanakshaya and manonasha.  This aspect,
'being free of vasana-s', of mukti is, however, temporary.  It is only
life-specific.  Whereas, being free of birth is the mukhya mukti. It is the
natural state of  Brahman: ajam.

>
> > To say or assert that
> > Yajnavalkya is not a
> > jivanmukta does not imply that he was not a mukta at
> > all.  Pl. see what the
> > JMV itself says, a little before the kRtopAsti - akRtopAsti
> > discussion:
> >
> > //As the obliteration of latent impressions (vasanakshaya)
> > and 'the
> > dissolution of the mind', are the PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF
> > JIVANMUKTI (liberation
> > in life), so Jnanam is the PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF VIDEHAMUKTI
>               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > (liberation after
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > death),
>  ^^^^^^^^^
>
> > it being the DIRECT means of attaining the same.
> > Says the Smriti;
> > From Jnana alone is attained kaivalya, whereweith one is
> > liberated.//
> >
> > Thus, Sri Vidyaranya does make a distinction between
> > jivanmukti and mukti in
> > general, also termed videha mukti or moksha.
> >
> > This is the settled view of the shastra and of the
> > JMV.  Going by this, the
> > akRtopAsti who has the samyagjnAnam, characterized by the
> > absence of
> > *ignorance, doubt and false pperception  *with real
> > Jnana achieved* is
> > a
> > mukta*.
> >
>
> You have said above that Videhamukti is "liberation after death", and yet
> you want to confer this status on YAGYavalkya the moment he attained to
> saMyagGYAna, which was during his life!
>
> Regards,
> Kartik
>

That is the general translation of the term 'videha mukti'.  However, Sri
Vidyaranya has deliberated much on this and concluded that for him 'videha
mukti' means 'the state that ensures, even now, that a future body will not
ensue'.  Also, he quotes the Sutra bhasyam in support of the view that
'videha mukti' is had 'at the very moment jnana dawns'.  The Jnani instantly
gains the unshakable conviction that he is in truth 'a-shareeri'.
'Ashareeratvam' is the nature of Brahman and the Jnani realizes that to be
his true nature.  Nevertheless, the shastra, Sri Bhagavatpada and Sri
Vidyaranya, do not deny the continuance of the body-mind apparatus that has
already begun to be and will go on for the period it is destined to.  Hence
they have a need to talk about jivanmukti too.

Warm regards,
subrahmanian.v



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