SSS on "Effort after GYAna" (was Re: [Advaita-l] Re: Pa~nchapAdikAchArya)

S Jayanarayanan sjayana at yahoo.com
Fri Oct 13 20:17:11 CDT 2006


--- bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com wrote:

> 
> praNAms Sri Karthik prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
> 
> K prabhuji:
> 
> Actually, I was questioning SSS's claim that effort need not be
> made
> after GYAna. You had written: "According to SSS answer for the (d)
> is
> NO...*effort* implies *katrutva* whereas brahma jnAna sublates this
> very notion of *katrutva* *pramAtrutva* etc.  prasaNkhyAna vAda
> simply does not fit into the context of shruti pratipAdita *brahma
> jnAni*."
> 
> bhaskar :
> 
> prabhuji, kindly let me know if there is anything wrong in my above
> observation.  shruti says brahmavit brahmaiva bhavati...and
> shankara too
> confirms this in gItA bhAshya that after the dawn of knowledge the
> notion
> of very knowership (pramAtrutva) will get sublated...There is no
> katrutva
> nor bhOktruva bhAva in jnAni since he is brahman himself (brahmaiva
> bhavati
> confirms this)...
> 


Here's VidyAraNya's thesis in a nutshell again:

Firm sAdhanachatushhTaya   --> Firm BrahmaGYAna    =   mukti

Infirm sAdhanachatushhTaya --> Inirm BrahmaGYAna  =/=  mukti

I.e. trace of vAsanAs still remain in this BrahmaGYAnI who has
attained BrahmaGYAna with infirm qualifications. Only these
BrahmaGYAnIs will have to practise vAsanAkshaya to attain mukti.


VidyAraNya considers objections like the ones you have given above,
where quotes from scripture seem to indicate that "knowledge of
Brahman destroys ignorance completely", and his reply is that this
refers to those who have attained BrahmaGYAna with firm
qualifications.

Ramana Maharshi as well as H.H. Chandrasekhara Bharati have both
spoken about effort to be made after BrahmaGYAna for some specific
people. There is no doubt that our tradition considers that effort
*may* need to be made after BrahmaGYAna to attain nishhTha in it.

> K prabhuji:
> 
> My question is: how does SSS interpret Sankara's commentary on the
> Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.7, where Sankara quite clearly speaks
> of
> effort to be made after GYAna. Sankara says here that even after
> obtaining GYAna, there may be a trace of karma, and therefore
> further
> Sadhana is required for eradicating this karma (Note: the reference
> to niyama vidhi was discussed in the past in this list, but not the
> reference to GYAna and karma in this context):
> 
> bhaskar :
> 
> prabhuji, kindly pardon me I am not clear here...dont you think
> discussion
> about  *niyama vidhi* is part & parcel of karma..kindly elaborate
> what
> exactly you are trying to insist here.... its been said that jnAni
> does not
> have apUrvavidhi but has to observe niyama vidhi...but this niyama
> vidhi
> should be understood not as an injuction but as an automated
> process in the
> jnAni.  As a matter of fact, unlike other schools, bhagavadpAda is
> the
> first to argue that there is nothing left for a jnAni once the Atma
> jnAna
> has fully dawned. (bhidhyate hrudaya grantiM chidyaNte sarva
> saMshayAH
> asserts shruti).  Further he confirms that after realization, there
> is no
> more jIvatva, so there can be no individual who can put effort to
> stabilize
> & sustain anything.  If the Atma jnAna loses its intensity due to
> lack of
> *effort* & needs recharing process time & again from the holder of
> jnAna
> then it cannot be called as brahma jnAna & that jnAni cannot be a
> brahmajnAni...saMyag jnAna is not a temporary state which calls for
> refurbishing act regularly...this is anyway my humble understanding
> prabhuji.
> 

Sankara's commentary on BU 1.4.7 provided in the previous email gives
such a quote from Sankara as well. I just received an email saying
that when Sankara refers to "samyagGYAna", he refers only to "True,
aparoksha BrahmaGYAna" and nothing else. The BU 1.4.7 quote contained
this term, and Sankara's recommendation to effort after samyagGYAna
can only mean that Sankara also accepts that sometimes effort needs
to be made after BrahmaGYAna.

> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
> 

Regards,
Kartik

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