[Advaita-l] [advaitin] BHAKTI AND JNANA COMPARED

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms
Hare Krishna

I think the bhakti aspect has to be finely blended with both pravrutti and nivrutti mArga.  Bhakti is not an exclusive mArga to salvation.  Arta, arthi, jignAsu &  jnAni all adopt the bhakti mArga either in pravrutti or nivrutti mArga.  Even to get Advaita vAsana and to pursue jnana mArga IshwarAnugraha is must.  And to beget IshwarAnugraha Ishwara praNidAna / bhakti is required.  It is all interlinked and go hand in hand.  The last statement below by Sri Shivananda highlighted this culmination of  bhakti and jnana in the real vedAnta :

// quote //
To decry Jnana altogether as some sectarian devotees do, is the height of folly. To deny Bhakti and Ishwara as some dry Vedantins do, is nothing but sheer foolishness. A happy combination of head and heart is true perfection.
//unquote//

Sri SSS somewhere writes : bhagavatpAda was not mere dry logician he was a saint par excellence.  Ishwara sharaNAgati, Ishwara bhakti its significance and importance have been abundantly shown by all mahatma-s, sages and saints in Advaita jnana mArga sampradaya.  So there is no question of Advaita sans bhakti in shankara’s Advaita sampradaya.  In sUtra bhAshya bhagavatpAda says : avidyAvasthayAM kAryakAraNasaMghAtAvivekadarshinO avidyA timirAndhasya sataH parasmAdAtmanaH karmAdhyakshAt sarvabhUtAdhivAsAt sAkshiNaH chetayituH IshwarAt tadanujnayA kartrutva bhOktrutva lakshaNasya saMsArasya siddhiH, tadanugraha hetukenaiva cha vijnAnena mOksha siddhiH bhavituM arhati.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
Bhaskar YR


From: advaitin at googlegroups.com <advaitin at googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of V Subrahmanian
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 9:16 AM
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Subject: [advaitin] BHAKTI AND JNANA COMPARED

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Sri Swami Sivananda...🌹🌹🌹

BHAKTI AND JNANA COMPARED

1. Jnana is like swimming across a river. Bhakti is like crossing a river by boat.
2. The Jnani gets knowledge by means of self-reliance and assertion. The Bhakta gets Darshan of God through self-surrender.
3. The Jnani asserts and expands. The Bhakta surrenders and dedicates himself to the Lord. He contracts himself.
       Let us assume that there is a rupee coin in the body of a small circle. It begins to contract and ultimately merges itself into the centre. This is Bhakti. If this coin so expands that it occupies the whole body of the circle and the circumference too, it is Jnana.
4. A Bhakta wants to eat sugar-candy. A Jnani wants to become sugar-candy.
5. A Bhakta is like a kitten that cries for help. A Jnani is like a baby monkey that clings boldly to its mother.
6. A Bhakta attains progressive liberation. A Jnani gets immediate liberation.
7. A Jnani exhibits powers through will and strong resolve. A Bhakta receives all the divine gifts through self-surrender and the consequent descent of Divine Grace.
     In the Gita Lord Krishna clearly points out that Bhakti and Jnana are not incompatible like oil and water.
     He says: "The man who is full of faith obtaineth wisdom".
     "To these, ever harmonious, worshipping in love, I give discrimination, by which they come unto Me".
     "By devotion he knoweth Me in essence, who and what I am; having thus known Me in essence, he forthwith entereth into the Supreme".
     To decry Jnana altogether as some sectarian devotees do, is the height of folly. To deny Bhakti and Ishwara as some dry Vedantins do, is nothing but sheer foolishness. A happy combination of head and heart is true perfection.

 - Sri Swami Sivananda (Science of Yoga, Volume 3, Second Edition July 1982 pp 216 - 217)
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