[Advaita-l] Brahman the cause of fear and fearlessness

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Tue Sep 24 06:54:20 EDT 2019


महाभारतम्-12-शांतिपर्व-192

https://sa.wikisource.org/s/2wg

न भवति विदुषां ततो भयं
यदविदुषां सुमहद्भयं भवेत्।  12.192.72

[To the Knowers there is no fear from That but to the ignorant there is
great fear from That.]

This is a verse from the Mahabharata where the discourse on Spiritual
Knowledge, adhyatma jnanam, is presented.
It would appear to be paradoxical that - Brahman which is the cause of
fearlessness to the Knowers of Brahman, is itself the cause of fear to the
ignorant. How can Brahman be a source of fear to the ignorant?  This subtle
point is elaborated in the Bhashyam:

The above line reminds one of the lines of the Taittiriya Bhashya
(Brahmananda valli 7th anuvaka):    The context is the statement of the
Upanishad that

Read the complete post with the Bhashyam and the translation of Swami
Brahmananda here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x7GqkZBNj5bzxucQsH25DWYvcLTXJsVI8r7IUIGYYj0/edit?usp=sharing

regards
subbu


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