The Supreme Goal

[Allan Curry]

Namaskar

Gummuluru writes:

>
>The particular "challenge" posed by Allan Curry brings the early
>statements of the Br^hadAraNyaka upanishhad to mind. King Janaka
>in his court asks the assembled scholars and r^shis "If any of you
>think that you have the perfect knowledge of the Self, you can claim
>the prize [1000 cows with gold rings attached to each cow]". YAjnavalkya,
>the famous r^shhi of the upanishhads asks one of his disciples to drive
>the cows home implying that he (YAjnavalkya) has the perfect knowledge
>of the Self. The discussions and the challenges that ensued, led by the
>famous lady scholar GArgi forms the text of this major upanishhad.
>
>I do not think there are any modern YAjnavalkyas. I would interpret
>Allan's question, not as a challenge to the List members, but in this way:
>We are all jnanis, except we are covered by different thicknesses of
>layers of avidya. As each layer of avidya gets removed (by sAdhana through
>divine grace), our Self shines through. I would take Allan's question as
>who thinks that his/her layer of avidya cover is thin enough that the Self
>shines through. If the individual has a thought that binds the thought to
>that shape, then there is still avidya. Thus, no one can claim that I,
>presently bound by this body am the enlightened one [I bow before
>YAjnavalkya who made such a claim without attributing that claim to that
>particular shape of his in contrast to the other assembled scholars].
>

    Exactly right. I too bow to THAT which is not covered by
    any layer of avidya whatsoever. I was not saying that
    anyone has *claimed* to be Brahman without any avidya,
    but they may have *implied* as much and some of us may
    have believed them. I am not a perfectly realized being
    so I am unable to assess the realization of others with
    certainty. That is why I asked such egoless incarnations
    of the Divine to announce themselves, if indeed there
    are any on this list. I wasn't "seeking an easy answer"
    to the question "how to attain jnanihood". I wanted to
    clear the air of any intentional or accidental
    misunderstandings as to the source of comments appearing
    on Advaita-L. In the abscence of such self scrutiny, our
    subject matter can easily lend itself to very serious
    cases of mistaken identities with potentially dire
    consequences, IMO.

    The Upanishads may not accept anyone's claim to be a
    jnani unless perhaps one *is* a jnani as in the case of
    YAjnavalkya. So if any of you are as enlightened as
    Ramana Maharshi or Krisha or YAjnavalkya please say so.
    If you do not, then I suggest the rest of us interpret
    your silence as an honest admission that you are *not*
    the equal of these truly realized beings and we
    therefore consider your respective opinions accordingly.

regards,

- Allan Curry