[Advaita-l] Paper on Samadhi

[kman]

Pranam,
      I found this paper on
"The Question of the Importance of Samadhi in Modern and Classical Advaita
Vedanta"

By Michael Comans, Ph.D. here
http://www.realization.org/page/doc2/doc200.html

I found it very interesting. The author discusses how Samadhi is treated by
Shankara vs later
advaitins. Per him, Sankara deems Samadhi as only a means and not an end to
realization of Brahman.
where as later (contemporary)Advaitins deem to think the other way.

He also states his theory on why Vivekachudamani is not authored by
Sanakara. I reproduce
the conclusion from his paper below:
---Begin Quote----

Conclusion

Although the importance of concentration is evident from the early Upanisads
(BU 4.4.23), a form of yoga practice leading to the absorptive state of
samadhi is only in evidence in the later texts. We have seen that Sankara
does speak of a type of concentration upon the Self which is akin to yoga
insofar as there is the withdrawal of the mind from sense objects, but he
does not advocate more than that and he does not put forward the view that
we find in classical Yoga about the necessity of total thought suppression.
We have seen that he has used the word samadhi very sparingly, and when he
has used it, it was not always in an unambiguously favorable context. It
should be clear that Sankara does not set up nirvikalpasamadhi as a
spiritual goal. For if he had thought it to be an indispensable requirement
for liberation, then he would have said so. But he has not said so.
Contemplation on the Self is obviously a part of Sankara's teaching, but his
contemplation is directed toward seeing the ever present Self as free from
all conditionings rather than toward the attainment of nirvikalpasamadhi.
This is in significant contrast to many modem Advaitins for whom all of the
Vedanta amounts to "theory" which has its experimental counterpart in yoga
"practice." I suggest that their view of Vedanta is a departure from
Sankara's own position. The modem Advaitins, however, are not without their
forerunners, and I have tried to indicate that there has been a gradual
increase in samadhi-oriented practice in the centuries after Sankara, as we
can judge from the later Advaita texts.
---end Quote----

A discussion on this I think will be enlightening to the group.

If this has been discussed already, I apologize. I was not able to access
the archives to verify this
for quite some time. The web server is probably down.


-- 
Balu (Kman)