[Advaita-l] ’upAsana' and 'bhakti'

[Ramakrishna Upadrasta]

namaste Shri Subbu-ji,


2012/3/6 V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>:
>> The practice of mantra-s and the ability to get mantra-s to work does not
>> require any belief in an Ishvara. But if one subscribes to a particular
>> darshana then there comes an interpretation or one goes though thought
>> process as to who gives the phala of mantra-s. Is it Ishvara or is it
>> something else etc etc. This mImAmsa and the conlcusion coming from such an
>> enquiry does not effect how or when a mantra gives results.
>>
>
> But as stated earlier, this belief in the efficacy of the mantra/procedure
> is at the root of the mantra sadhana.  So, ultimately whether one believes
> in it or not or knows or not, the phalam of the karma/sadhana comes only
> from Ishwara.  Surely a phalam cannot come by itself. This is the crux of
> the sutra bhashya I have cited above.


The bhashya for BG. 7.23 and 9.23-24 seem relevant to Shri Satish-ji's
position. Your position is obviously the advaitin/siddAntin's position
in bhAShya for 9.25-26 when the Ishvara/bhAShyakAra says in 9.24 "ahaM
hi sarvayaGYAnAM bhokta cha prabhureva cha" but Shri Satish-ji's
position seems to have pramANa in the pUrvapaxin's position in these
verses when the bhAShya seems to confirm (as far as I understand) that
the devata-s (and hence the mantra-s) yield effect *independent* of
the sAdhaka's belief in Ishvaratva of the Lord.

There is even a pUrvapaxa between 9.24-25, "... The result of a
sacrifice is inevitable even for those who worship ignorantly out of
their devotion to other deities ..." which has close correspondence
with what Shri Satish-ji is saying that the result is dependent only
on the process and not on the sAdhaka's darshana point of view. The
Ishvara and the bhAShyakAra refute these positions saying that not
only are such other methods of finite result, but also are more
difficult. The worship of Ishvara is  "ananta-phalaM"/everlasting and
sukhArAdhanaM/easier as well  because of the Ashutoshitva of Ishvara:
"patraM-puShpaM-phalaM toyaM" in 9.26.

namaste
Ramakrishna