[Advaita-l] [advaitin] One Brahmaloka is for all Upasakas of Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, etc.- Mahabharata

V Subrahmanian v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
Sat Oct 22 12:56:55 EDT 2022


On Sat, Oct 22, 2022 at 6:39 PM Raman M <mraman.m at gmail.com> wrote:

> namaste,
> how are the concepts of sAlokam, sAroopam etc., to be interpreted under
> advaita? are they to be inferred/ dismissed as mere karma phalams of this
> vyavaharika loka?
>
> thanks
> Raman
>

Namaste.

Most of us have heard of these four kinds of mukti: sAlokya, sAmeepya,
sArupya and sAyujya. There are varying definitions of these but generally
we can understand them to be:

1.sAlokya – going to the ‘loka’ of the deity worshipped

2. sAmeepya – being in the proximity of the deity worshipped

3. sArUpya – taking on the form that looks alike the deity worshipped

4. sAyujya – getting into the ‘body’ of the deity worshipped

All these types of ‘mukti’ are only relative liberation and not the real
liberation intended in the Vedanta characterized by non-return to samsara
अपुनरावृत्तिः. About this we have a sentence from the commentary of Sri
Chandrashekhara Bharati SwaminaH for the Viveka chUDAmaNi verse 2 (end):

तेन सालोक्य-सामीप्य-सारूप्य-सायुज्यानां मुख्यमुक्तित्वाभावश्च सूचितो भवति ।
सगुणविषयकतया तेषां चतुर्णामपि मिथ्यात्वात्,
परिच्छेदत्रयशून्यत्वरूपब्रह्मत्वस्य सगु्णेऽसंभवात् । ब्रह्मात्मना संस्थितिः
–
कल्पित-सकलविधोपाधिसंबन्धविधुर-नित्यशुद्धबुद्धमुक्त-प्रत्यगभिन्न-परिपूर्णस्वरूपेण
अवस्थानं कैवल्यमेव मुक्तिः, ….

The salient features of the above sentences can be enumerated thus:

The four kinds described in the beginning are not the ‘real’ muktiH.

They pertain to the saguNa Brahman

They are therefore mithyA

Because, the Vedantic ultimate Brahman-nature of being free of the three
kinds of limitations of space, time and objects is impossible in the SaguNa
Brahman.

‘To remain established as Brahman Itself’ is the goal of Vedantic sadhana.

This is characterized by:

Freedom from association with all the erroneously imagined limiting
adjuncts like body, mind, etc.

Ever-Free, Ever-Pure, Ever-Conscious

Non-different from the innermost Self (Atman)

ParipUrNa-svarUpa

This is called ‘Kaivalya’ as different from the four types saalokya, etc.
Thus, in Vedanta, the four types have no primary status as mukti. They are
only relative. Elsewhere, the Acharya, in this very commentary (I think)
has stated that the case of Jaya-Vijaya returning from Vishnu loka, VishNu
sAmeepya and VishNu sArUpya (any or all of these) types is a case to prove
that these types of mukti-s are not free from the characteristic of
absolute non-return to samsara.

A further reading is here:
https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/the-four-kinds-of-mukti-compared-with-kaivalya-of-vedanta/

regards
subbu

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