[Advaita-l] (Advaita) Bhakti vs. Jnana

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 9:48 AM, Ramesh Krishnamurthy <rkmurthy at gmail.com>wrote:

> On 30 July 2011 23:16, Rajaram Venkataramani <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Apotheosis or final
> > beautication in the form of atma jnana is not attained only through
> > sravana,
> > manana and nidhidhyasana is my understanding. Pl. correct me if I am
> wrong.
> >
>
> That's the basic misunderstanding I have been trying to point out all
> along.
> The cause of bandha is avidyA and so the solution is j~nAna. j~nAna
> requires
> a pramANa which in this case is in the form of the vedAnta shAstra alone
> (specifically the mahAvAkya). So shravaNa is unavoidable.
>
> It in this sense that an understanding of avidyA/aj~nAna as the cause of
> bandha is so basic/fundamental/central to advaita-vedAnta. If this is
> understood, the search really is for a *pramANa* that, when operated,
> produces the j~nAna that can remove this aj~nAna.
>
> In fact, the primary theme of the naiShkarmyasiddhi, which I quoted
> earlier,
> is the central role of the vedAnta vAkya-s as a pramANa.
>
> Not only is j~nAna (obtained through the mahAvAkya) the sole direct means
> to
> mukti, nothing other than this j~nAna is required for mukti.
>
> All the effort of the sAdhaka, starting with karmayoga and including even
> manana-nidhidhyAsana, is really meant for creating the right mental
> conditions for the vedAnta pramANa to operate.
>
>
Actually even Bhakti, if it is a means to final beatitude, can deliver it
only by generating in the bhakta's mind the 'bhagavat tattva jnanam'.  And
that will encompass everything in creation, including the jiva's tattva.
 So, ultimately the jiva-bhakta will end up realizing that his true nature
is not the pancha koshas but the spirit beyond it which is not different
from Bhagavan's true nature.  If it is anything different then Bhagavan's
anantatva will be in peril.  As someone said: If Bhagavan is not the 'whole'
there will be so many 'holes' where there are so many jivas.  The Upanishad
presents Brahman as 'prajnAnaghana', 'vijnanaghana' with the analogy of
'saindhavaghana' (a rocky lump of salt) where everything, the whole of it is
nothing but itself, salt.

Regards,
subrahmanian.v