[Advaita-l] Does Brahman Know?

[V Subrahmanian]

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 1:47 AM, Rajaram Venkataramani <
rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ishwara* *knows nirguna brahman and its exstence as Himself, jIvA and
> jagat.
> He is also infinitely blissful. His devotees experience this bliss (as
> visuddha sattva does not obstruct). There are infinite attributes and
> experiences through karma, yoga and bhakti. Each one of these and the
> experience of jnana is also known to Ishwara (Lord Krishna says that there
> is nothing hire than jnana. So he must know that experience also). When a
> jIvA realizes Ishwara, he can get any or all of these experiences because
> Ishwara favours His devotees with sarsti etc. A jIvA who is attracted to
> Ishwara with the intention of becoming absolutely one with Him might
> consider that goal is achieved at some stage. But in reality, does he reach
> the same state as Vishnu of omniscience and omnipotence? Or does he get
> tricked in to a state by Vishnu that he thinks there is no Vishnu, jagat
> etc.? One who likes idli will eat it with chutney but not want to become
> flour.
>



Namaste.

Vedanta does not present Brahman as a bhogya vastu, an object that is to be
experienced/enjoyed. Any bhogya vastu is inert.  When a man is said to have
people as bhogya is not experiencing the chaitanya but only the body, mind,
etc. which all are prakRti and inert.  On the other hand Vedanta teaches
that the aspirant is none other than Brahman.  Brahman is taught as
'vijnAnam Anandam Brahma'.  Brahman IS Bliss.  The Upanishads do not say
'Brahman experiences Bliss'.  Such a propostion would make Brahman a
something/someone different from Bliss and the Bliss itself an inert
object.  The Upanishad also teaches 'He who realizes Brahman is Brahman',
'You are That', 'I am Brahman', etc.  Such a realization does not
*require*the Knower to 'experience' the Bliss
*of *Brahman, for, as stated earlier, Brahman IS Bliss; Brahman is not the
'experiencer' of Bliss.  Since the one who realizes Brahman IS Brahman, the
question of 'experiencing' (as a transitive verb)  Brahman/Bliss is simply
not there at all in the Vedantic moksha. The analogies of sugar-taster of
sugar, Idli-chutney and the eater thereof, etc. do not have any relevance in
the *final stages *of Vedanta sadhana, realization and moksha.  All the
vibhutis of Brahman that a devotee might find enjoyable/blissful are also
inert alone.  Even 'persons/gods' named as vibhutis of Brahman are
essentially Chaitanyam, none other than that Brahman but their name/form
belong to prakRti.  The teaching of Vibhuti-s and  their adoration is a
stepping stone for the final culmination of transcending even this stage and
realizing the identity with Brahman, free of all manifestations
(vibhuti-s).  This is because, the experiencer/adorer of these vibhuti-s is
a someone with the instruments/apparatus with which alone this adoration is
possible.  This apparatus is taught to be prakRti, not the essential
chaitanyam which alone is this adorer in truth.

Regards,
subrahmanian.v