[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Re: Meditation on the Nirguna Brahman results in Parama Ananda

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste.

//Nirguna Brahman cannot be an object of meditation anywhere in
shankarabhashya. Hence it is not an upasya vastu or even dhyeya vastu. An
attributeless Brahman cannot be meditated upon.//

If the object of meditation is not an anAtma-vastu, then that can be
referred as meditation of nirguNa Brahman. So, it is not that the
attributeless-Brahman is made an object of meditation. However, the fact
that the object of meditation is not a saguNa-vastu can be said to be
equivalent of "meditation on nirguNa-Brahman".

That is what is referred to as AtmAkAra-vritti. केचित्तु पण्डितंमन्याः
‘निराकारत्वात् आत्मवस्तु न उपैति बुद्धिः । अतः दुःसाध्या सम्यग्ज्ञाननिष्ठा’
इत्याहुः। सत्यम् ; एवं गुरुसम्प्रदायरहितानाम् अश्रुतवेदान्तानाम्
अत्यन्तबहिर्विषयासक्तबुद्धीनां सम्यक्प्रमाणेषु अकृतश्रमाणाम् । .........
तस्मात् बाह्याकारभेदबुद्धिनिवृत्तिरेव आत्मस्वरूपावलम्बनकारणम् । - GItA
bhAshya 18.50.

Thus, "buddhi not having anAtma-vastu as the object" is equivalent to
"nirguNa Brahman as the object of meditation". So, the effort in meditation
is not to have nirguNa Brahman as the object, but to merely renounce
thoughts (as they are always anAtma-vastu-vishayaka).

//One can say lower capability people can meditate only on Saguna Brahman
but higher capability folks can. In that case, it does not become upasana.
It becomes a denial of all that is not self.  In Bhagavatham these aspects
are not explained in the original verses. They vaguely state meditation on
nirguna-brahman.//

"Denial" of "everything that is non-self" itself comes within the purview
of non-self. This denial is also supposed to stop in nididhyAsana. All
efforts cease in nididhyAsana.

Regards.
Sudhanshu Shekhar.