[Advaita-l] Bhakti vs Jnana

[V Subrahmanian]

Thank you Ramana for a very insightful post on the subject.  The quotations
from the annapUrnAShTakam form a very apt input in orienting one's sadhana.

Regards,
subrahmanian.v

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 2:23 PM, Ramana Mallela <ramana.mallela at gmail.com>wrote:

> My few cents worth on the bhakti and Jnana:
>
> Various Yogas are said to be reference points for individuals to
> travel the path to liberation. The penultimate stage has to be
> vairagya (from material bondages and body consciousness) before one
> experiences the bliss of moksha.
>
> 1) Vairagya cannot be reached without Jnana - wisdom of true nature of
> Atma.
>
> Jnana cannot be reached without Bhakti - dedicated effort to realize
> Atma (antascharathi bhuthEshu guhAyAm vishvamUrthishu...)
>
> from Soundarya Lahari:
>
> avidyAnAm antasthimira mihira dveepanagareem
> jadAnAm chaitanya sthabaka makaranda sruthijhareem
> daridrAnAm chintAmani gunanikA janmajaladhou
> nimagnAnAm damshtrA muraripu varAhasya bhavathi
>
>
> 2) Bhakati is the state where many start their journey and many
> brilliant people have given us beautiful hymns and commentaries to
> practice this
>
> For example Sankara in AnnapUrnAshtakam:
>
> ....
> yogAnandakarI ripukshayakaree dharmaikanishtAkaree
> chandrArkAnala bhAsamAna laharee trailokya rakshAkaree
> sarvaisvarya karee thapah phalakaree kAseepurAdheeswari
> bikshAndEhi kripAvalambanakarE mAtAnnapurneshwari
> ...
>
> and look at this last stanza of AnnapUrnAshtakam - entire yearning is
> for jnAna and vairAgya!
>
> annapurne sadApurne sankara prAnavallabhe
> jnAnavairagya sidhyartham bikshandehicha pArvathi
> mAtacha pArvatidevi pitAdevO maheswaraha
> bAndhavaha sivabhaktAscha swadesO bhuvanatrayam
>