[Advaita-l] ***UNCHECKED*** The Jivanmukta's attitude

Bhaskar YR bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com
Fri Dec 15 05:09:14 EST 2017


praNAms 
Hare Krishna

Well, when it comes to ramaNa's take on prArabdha karma and jnAni's body he is quite categorical at least when the same is being specifically asked.

//quote //

A jnani has attained Liberation even while alive, here and now. It is immaterial to him as to how, where and when he leaves the body. Some jnanis may appear to suffer, others may be in samadhi; still others may disappear from sight before death. But that makes no difference to their jnana. Such suffering is apparent, seems real to the onlooker, but not felt by the jnani, for he has already transcended the mistaken identity of the Self with the body.
The jnani does not think he is the body. He does not even see the body. He sees only the Self in the body.  If the body is not there, but only the Self, the question of its disappearing in any form does not arise

here is what Ramana Maharshi says at other place.  

The scriptures say that jnana is the fire which burns away all karma
(sarvakarmani). Sarva (all) is interpreted in two way : (1) to include
prarabhda
(2) to exclude it. In the first way : if a man with three wives dies, it
is asked, "Can two of them be called widows and the third not?" All are
widows. So it is with prarabdha, agami and sanchita. When there is no
karta none of them can hold out any longer.

        The second explanation is, however, given only to satisfy the
enquirer. It is said that all karma is burnt away leaving prarabdha
alone. The body is said to continue in the functions for which it has
taken birth. That is prarabdha. But from the jnani's point of view, there
is only Self which manifests in such variety. There is no body or karma
apart from Self, so that the actions don't affect him.

// unquote //

I am quoting above from the posts I have in archieves (1996-2000).  I am searching one more quote by ramaNa maharshi wherein he denies even normal movements / actions of the jnAni like avoding the objects like table, wall etc. while walking, sitting on the chair, talking to the people, eating food etc. when maharshi  being specifically asked how can a jnAni be ashareeri when we are very much seeing 'him' in the body.  ramaNa clarifies jnAni's sashareeratvaM is only in the view of 'onlookers'.  Anyway, that quote has been rejected by some traditionalists citing the reason that this explanation is untraditional and ramaNa's explanation in this context is 'asaMpradAyik' :-) 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar 


More information about the Advaita-l mailing list