[Advaita-l] Paroksha to Aparoksha

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 5:40 PM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> praNAms Sri Subbu prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
>
> Sri Vidyaranya (I think) has said in the Panchadashi that certain things
> like the presence of jnAna, ajnAna, hunger, thirst, joy, sorrow in oneself
> are all directly known (aparokSha) to oneself (and not to others).
>
> >  Yes, this reminds me shankara bhAshya vAkya taThA sarvOpyanyO
> vyavahAraH Atmana eva vidushaH..But it is not like in sAkshi bhAva like I
> am witness and witnessing this world objects apart from me.  His
> realization is that ahamannaM, ahamannAdaH, ahaM shlOkakrut etc. i.e.
> sarvAtmabhAva.
>

I am unable to understand that vAkya:  sarvOpyanyO vyavahAraH Atmana eva
vidushaH.  Where does this sentence occur?  As it is, my objection to it
is: 'AtmanA' is in the tRtIyA, instrumental.  Atman cannot be an instrument
as It is niShkriya and akhaNDa.  How can the Jnani 'use' the Atman for his
vyavahAra?  If it is said: 'the jnani knows that all vyavahAra 'happens' in
the substratum that is Atman', then it is agreeable.

On the contrary, it is only based on the sAkshi bhAva can there be any
understanding about the jnAni's attitude.  Shankara brings this out in the
last sentence of the BGB 2.16: 'You too, Arjuna, by following the
Tattvadarshi-s, view the transformations (like sukha/duHkha, sheeta, uShNa,
mAna, apamAna, etc.) as mere appearances like mirage water and maintain
titikShA.'  This attitude is impossible without the sAkshi bhAva. 'duHkeShu
anudvignamanAH sukheShu vigataspRhaH' ['in the wake of joy and sorrow, the
sthitaprajna is not subjected to elation or dejection'] is impossible
unless one remains in the sAkshi bhAva.  Even the 'indriyAni indriyArtheShu
vartante, naiva kinchit karomi'['I do nothing; it is only the interaction
between the sense/motor organs and their respective objects'] is the
perfect articulation of the sAkshi bhAva alone.

>
> For others it is only inferentially (parokSha) known.
>
> >  Yes, that is why jnAni's socalled vyavahAra, his attachment, his
> suffering etc.  is from the drushti of avidyAvanta.  We only infer that
> jnAni has the deha, he has the bedha buddhi, resultant kAma krOdha etc.
> and we just do the katrutva ArOpa on jnAni as we cannot think beyond the
> BMI complex.  But in reality he is akatru, abhOktru only and that is what
> shankara too says in geeta bhAshya 4.22.
>

That Atman is akartR, abhoktR is the conviction of the jnAni.  But the
jnAni is not just the Atman; as long as a person called a jnani is alive,
there is this distinction that is inevitable.  'brahmavit is brahmaiva' but
the brahmavit is also a person who continues to live in the prakrtic
body/mind complex for a destined period.  Till such fall of the body/mind
all the happenings are only sAkShi bhAsya for the person called jnani.  He
does not have the 'I am the doer' buddhi.  The others, who are not exposed
to the vedanta shAstra, however, think that 'he is the doer'.  They have no
understanding that the Atman does not doe anything but only the organs
act.  This distinction was very nicely brought out in the famous dialogue
between the foreigner  and HH Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati of Sringeri.
What the foreigner saw was the HH doing the Chandramoulishwara puja.  He
could not discern that the Atman did not do the puja but only the organs of
the Holiness did the puja.  He had to be explained this by HH Himself, much
to the joyful acknowledgement of the foreigner.  It is only in this sense
that it is said that the ajnani-s/onlookers superimpose kartRtvam on the
jnani where the jnani himself does not appropriate kartRtvam/bhoktRtvam for
the Atman.

regards
vs

>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
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