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

[S Jayanarayanan]

--- On Mon, 5/17/10, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:

[..]

> So, what has been
> stated in the
> 'svarUpasiddhiprayojanaprakaraNam.h" is  a different
> case where doubt, a
> manifestation of avidya/ajnana has NOT been destroyed as
> yet.
> 

Not so! Let us read the JMV verse again (pages 279-280):

  tasmAdvidite.api tattve vishrAntirahitasya shukarAghavayoriva
  saMshaya utpadyate . sa chAGYAnamiva mokShasya pratibandhakaH . 
           ^^^^^^^^^

  "Therefore, doubt arises in him who is without tranquility
                    ^^^^^^
  even though he has known the truth like rAghava and shuka.
  And doubt (saMshaya) is an obstacle to Liberation (mokSha)
  like ignorance (aGYAna)."


The word used by VidyAraNya to qualify saMshaya (doubt) and viparayaya (error) is "utpadyate" (from "utpatti"), meaning "created". VidyAraNya is saying here that saMshaya and viparyaya ARISE OR ARE CREATED due to lack of chitta-vishrAnti (peace of mind), and then functions as an obstacle to Liberation! In other words, it is not that saMshaya remains undestroyed, rather saMshaya ARISES from chitta-vishrAnti after GYAna!

There can also be no doubt (no pun intended!) that the "GYAna" meant here is Atma-GYAna and nothing else. Is there any sense in saying that shAstra-GYAna is to be "protected" by jIvanmukti, especially as it is the conclusive teaching of all advaitins that jIvanmukti completely sublates ALL GYAna other than Atma-GYAna?! The claim that "jIvanmukti is for shAstra-GYAna-rakSha" is utterly meaningless, and Sankara would agree in the BSB 4.1.4 (quoting BU 4.3.22). Besides, there are innumerable occasions where the term "tattvaGYAna" (used in the JMV verse above) is used in the sense of "Atma-GYAna" by VidyAraNya (I don't want to quote the verses here again, as I have done so several times in the past already).

Clearly, only one reading is possible - even after achieving AtmaGYAna, if one lacks peace of mind, doubts may ARISE, causing a hindrance to mokSha in a like manner as ignorance (aGYAna).

I will take up the case of the akR^itopAsti mentioned in the JMV in a separate post.

[..]

Regards,
Kartik