[Advaita-l] Basic questions & neophyte's answers !!! - part-2

Bhaskar YR bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com
Thu Jul 8 05:28:39 CDT 2010


continued from part-1

8. What happens to the jnAnI's mind or intellect at the instant that jnAna 
arises
  (or is uncovered)? 

9. What happens to the jnAnI's mind or intellect AFTER this instant?

10. What happens to the jnAnI's mind or intellect at the moment of 
physical death?

11. Why does death even happen to a jnAnI's body? 

>  questions 8 to 11 arising coz. of our ajnAna drushti on jnAni which 
cannot go beyond jnAni's BMI...But jnAni does not have this individuality 
& resultant jnAtru, jneya & jnAna triputi...So what happens to my upAdhi-s 
??  is not a valid question at all for the jnAni who is seeing ONE in ALL 
and ALL in one and for him upAdhi-s are kevala AbhAsa eva cha..when jnAni 
realizes his savrAtma bhAva & sarvavyApakatva his mind is no more an 
individual mind it dissolves (as if) in that one without second Atman.  It 
does not mean that jnAni had a mind like thing in the pre-realization 
period & it would vanish in thin air in the period of post-realization..It 
is the realization that he was/is/will always be ashareeri & his jnAna is 
NOT upAdhi paricchinna parimita jnAna. 

Here is the relevant extracts from the ramaNa's works sent by one of my 
cyber net friends : 





(a) About jnAni's mind : 
// quote // 
Question: For the jnani then, there is no distinction between the three 
states of mind? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: How can there be, when the mind itself is dissolved 
and lost in the light of consciousness? 
For the jnani all the three states are equally unreal. But the ajnani is 
unable to comprehend this, because for him the standard of reality is the 
waking state, whereas for the jnani the standard is reality itself. This 
reality of pure consciousness is eternal by its nature and therefore 
subsists equally during what you call waking, dreaming and sleep. To him 
who is one with that reality there is neither the mind nor its three 
states and, therefore, neither introversion nor extroversion. 
His is the ever waking state, because he is awake to the eternal Self; his 
is the ever dreaming state, because to him the world is no better than a 
repeatedly presented dream phenomenon; his is the ever sleeping state, 
because he is at all times without the ‘body-am I’ consciousness. 
Question: Is there no Dehatma Buddhi (I-am-the-body idea) for the jnani? 
If, for instance, Sri Bhagavan is bitten by an insect, is there no 
sensation? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: There is the sensation and there is also the dehatma 
buddhi. The latter is common to both jnani and ajnani with this 
difference, that the ajnani thinks only the body is myself, whereas the 
jnani knows all is of the Self, or all this is Brahman. If there be pain 
let it be. It is also part of the Self. The Self is Poorna (perfect). 
After transcending dehatma buddhi one becomes a jnani. In the absence of 
that idea there cannot be either Kartritva (doership) or Karta (doer). So 
a jnani has no karma (that is, a jnani performs no actions). That is his 
experience. Otherwise he is not a jnani. However, the ajnani identifies 
the jnani with his body, which the jnani does not do. 
(b) About jnAni's activities : 
// quote // 
Question: I see you doing things. How can you say that you never perform 
actions? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The radio sings and speaks, but if you open it you 
will find no one inside. Similarly, my existence is like the space; though 
this body speaks like the radio, there is no one inside as a doer. 
Question: I find this hard to understand. Could you please elaborate on 
this? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Various illustrations are given in books to enable us 
to understand how the jnani can live and act without the mind, although 
living and acting require the use of the mind. The potter’s wheel goes on 
turning round even after the potter has ceased to turn it because the pot 
is finished. In the same way, the electric fan goes on revolving for some 
minutes after we switch off the current. Prarabdha (predestined Karma) 
which created the body will make it go through whatever activities it was 
meant for. But the jnani goes through all these activities without the 
notion that he is the doer of them. It is hard to understand how this is 
possible. The illustration generally given is that the jnani performs 
actions in some such way as a child that is roused from sleep to eat eats 
but does not remember next morning that it ate. It has to be remembered 
that all these explanations are not for the jnani. He knows and has no 
doubts. He knows that he is not the body and he knows that he is not doing 
anything even though his body may be engaged in some activity. These 
explanations are for the onlookers who think of the jnani as one with a 
body and cannot help identifying him with his body. 
// unquote // 
(c) about jnAni's ahamkAra or paricchinna chaitanya or reflected 
consciousness : 
// quote //



Question:In the jnani the ego subsists in the pure form and therefore it 
appears as something real. Am I right? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The existence of the ego in any form, either in the 
jnani or ajnani, is itself an experience. But to the ajnani who is deluded 
into thinking that the waking state and the world are real, the ego also 
appears to be real. Since he sees the jnani act like other individuals, he 
feels constrained to posit some notion of individuality with reference to 
the jnani also. 
Question: How then does the Aham-Vritti (‘I’ thought, the sense of 
individuality) function in the jnani? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: It does not function in him at all. The jnani’s real 
nature is the Heart itself, because he is one and identical with the 
undifferentiated, pure consciousness referred to by the Upanishads as the 
Prajnana (full consciousness). Prajnana is truly Brahman, the absolute, 
and there is no Brahman other than Prajnana. 
// unquote // 
(d) about jnAni's perception of the world OR sarVatmabhAva :



// quote // 


Question: Does Bhagavan see the world as part and parcel of himself? How 
does he see the world? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The Self alone is and nothing else. However, it is 
differentiated owing to ignorance. Differentiation is threefold: 
1.        Of the same kind 
2.        Of a different kind; and 
3.        As parts in itself 
The world is not another Self similar to the Self. It is not different 
from the Self; nor is it part of the Self. 
Question: Is not the world reflected on the Self? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: For reflection there must be object and an image. But 
the self does not admit of these differences. 
Question: What is the difference between the Baddha and the Mukta, the 
bound man and the one liberated? 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: The ordinary man lives in the brain unaware of 
himself in the Heart. The jnana-siddha (jnani) lives in the Heart. When he 
moves about and deals with men and things, he knows that what he sees is 
not separate from the one supreme reality, the Brahman which he realised 
in the Heart as his own Self, the real. 
// unquote //


>  That's it....Infact, earlier, I had planned for a more elaborated reply 
on the above questions with more quotes from shankara bhAshya & Sri SSS 
works...But now, since I lost the interest in continuing this discussion 
anymore, I am cutting short my reply to the minimum... 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!! 
bhaskar


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