[Advaita-l] sadhana

Rajaram Venkataramani rajaramvenk at gmail.com
Fri Jul 12 04:43:54 CDT 2013


bhakti is closely knitted in all these vaidika sAdhana since saguNOpAsaNa in
> vaidika mArga sAdhana will play a vital role.
>
RV: We see in practice that even vaidhika brahmanas and bhaktas have
occasional or even habitual lapses. According to Rupa Gosvami, these will
not go away until one reaches sthAyi bhAvA stage of devotion. I would like
to know if there is a structured process in advaita tradition. I have not
seen any one give it other than Madhusudana.

>
> >  I donot want to comment anything on above as it plainly goes against
> the shankara siddhAnta of jeevan mukti or tattva jnAna or paramArtha
> jnAna.
>
RV: From his first work to the last, Madhusudana has shown total commitment
to advaita and bhakti. His devotion to Sankara cannot be challenged so
easily though his reading appears different at places. We all know that
there is this avidya-lesha, which makes even a jnani act in a prohibited
manner.  Madhusudana says in his introduction to Gudarthadipika, "Through
the power of tattva jnana, anArabda or sancita karma get destroyed and
agAmini karma does not bear fruit. But prarabda karma phala creates
disturbances and the hence the vvasana does not get destroyed. That is
eliminated through samyama, the strongest of all disciplines. The five
disciplines yama etc. practised before the rise of tattva jnana become
condusive to that samyana which is a triad consisiting of dhArana, dhyAna
and samadhi. However, samAdhi is quickly accomplished through special
devotion to God. From that comes mano nasa (elimination of mental
modifications) and vasana kshaya (dissipation of past impressions. When
tattva jnana is combined with the practice of manonasa and vasanakshaya,
jivanmukti will be firm."  He details these in his work.



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