[Advaita-l] Defintion of anubhava

Praveen R. Bhat bhatpraveen at gmail.com
Tue Jul 4 12:13:02 EDT 2017


Namaste Chandramouliji

On Tue, Jul 4, 2017 at 7:22 PM, H S Chandramouli <hschandramouli at gmail.com>
wrote
​​

>
>
>> Our understanding of the term  अनुभव (anubhava) is invariably of the
>> त्रिपुटि (tripuTi) type. Hence it cannot convey the correct implication
>> when used in connection with ब्रह्मज्ञान (brahmaj~nAna) because it is of
>> the non-tripuTi type. Same applies to the use of the term “experience” for
>> anubhava. A slightly better term is “intuitive experience”. This also
>> suffers from the same limitation of tripuTi.
>>
> ​That's an interesting point, which I too subscribe too, but it has a
slight tilt towards Bhamati, since lack of त्रिपुटि usually means
निर्विकल्पकसमाधि। I am okay with that, but I'm not sure if everyone is,
especially those who have trouble using the word अनुभव।


> While these cannot convey the meaning fully, there is unfortunately no
>> better terminology than अनुभव (anubhava) or “intuitive experience” for
>> conveying the meaning of ब्रह्मज्ञान (brahmaj~nAna)fully either.
>>
> Agreed.​

>
>> Perhaps this also answers your two questions in your latest post namely
>>
>>
>
>> <<  1) Whether we agree with the Nyaya definition स्मृतिभिन्नज्ञानम्
>> अनुभवः। If
>> not,
>>
>> 2) What is our definition of अनुभव? >>
>>
>>
>
>> In this connection reference could be made to verse 474/475 of
>> Vivekachudamani and the Bhashya thereon by Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara
>> Bharati Swaminah. He mentions
>>
>>
>>
>> << अन्तःसिद्दा शास्त्र-युक्ति-गुरूक्त्यनुरूपा स्वानुभूतिश्च >>
>>
>>
>>
>> << antaHsiddA shAstra-yukti-gurUktyanurUpA svAnubhUtishcha >>
>>
>>
>>
>> Translation by Sri Shankaranarayanan  << experience in oneself in accord
>> with shAstra, reasoning and words of the teacher >>
>>
>>
>
>> This would be the “ definition “ of अनुभव (anubhava).
>>
>
​I do not have the book with me readily, but that चकार tells me that its
not a definition. Its also not a definition due to the reason mentioned in
my first post that only suffixes used are different between अनुभव and
अनुभूति, so its like a dictionary meaning. The qualifiers used are equally
true for any word used there, be it ज्ञान, अनुभव or अनुभूति।

Thanks.

gurupAdukAbhyAm,
--Praveen R. Bhat
/* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one know
That owing to which all this is known! [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */


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