[Advaita-l] [advaitin] prapanchopashamam explained in karika bhashya 2.35

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, May 13, 2025 at 4:44 PM Bhaskar YR via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> praNAms
> Hare Krishna
>
> Even those who talk of nirvikalpa samadhi do not say that the sthula
> bhautika prapancha is annihilated.
>
>
>   *   But they definitely insist the literal experience of total absence
> of prapancha to get the ‘practical experience of advaita’ don’t they!!??
> As per them the theoretical knowledge of non-duality should be experienced
> in practical experience of NS…Hence even some Jagadguru-s say to experience
> the practical Advaita jnAna I entered NS from such and such time to such
> and such time and came back to world.  Etc.
>

In the Mandukya kārikā 2.32 bhāṣya Shankara says:

न हि मनोविकल्पनाया रज्जुसर्पादिलक्षणाया रज्ज्वां प्रलय उत्पत्तिर्वा ; न च
मनसि रज्जुसर्पस्योत्पत्तिः प्रलयो वा, न चोभयतो वा । तथा
मानसत्वाविशेषाद्द्वैतस्य । न हि नियते मनसि सुषुप्ते वा द्वैतं गृह्यते ; अतो
मनोविकल्पनामात्रं द्वैतमिति सिद्धम् ।

// There is no origination and destruction of the rope-snake (which is just
a mental concoction) in the rope. Nor is there its origination and
destruction in the mind. Even so, dvaita (dvaita prapancha) is
non-different from the mind. For, in the mind controlled (by meditation) or
during deep sleep one does not experience dvaita (dvaita prapancha).
Therefore it stands established that dvaita (dvaita prapancha) is only a
mental concoction.

Thus, in the above Bhashya Shankara accepts a state: niyata manas, that is,
samaahita chitta, in other words, samadhi, the world is not cognized. This
implies that Shankara accepts that Advaita is cognized in such a state.

>
> They only say that during that samadhi, the sthula sukshma karana
> prapancha is not experienced and when out of samadhi, it is bAdhita (due to
> samyak jnana) but anuvritti of bAdhita prapancha is there.
>
>
> Ø     So prapanchOpashamanaM does not mean prapanch will vanish in thin
> air after the dawn of jnAna.  avidyA srushti goes and Ishwara srushti would
> continue and in this sense jagat is brahmAbhinna.
>
> Gaudapada himself, in the Advaita prakarana, has discussed at length
> samadhi and the obstacles to samadhi and their remedy.
>
>
> Ø     There are various meanings to the word samAdhi it is not necessarily
> patanjali’s asaMprajnAta samAdhi or later vyAkhyAnakAra-s nirvikalpa
> samAdhi in ashtanga yOga sense.
>

No one can give any other meaning for Shankara/Gaudapada usage of the word
samadhi, other than the popular meaning the term has.

श्रीमद्भगवद्गीताभाष्यम्द्वितीयोऽध्यायःश्लोक ५३ - भाष्यम्………*यदि यस्मिन्
काले स्थास्यति स्थिरीभूता भविष्यति निश्चला विक्षेपचलनवर्जिता सती समाधौ,*
समाधीयते चित्तमस्मिन्निति समाधिः आत्मा, तस्मिन् आत्मनि इत्येतत् । अचला
तत्रापि………

Here, Shankara happily accepts a time, kaala, when such samadhi is had,
when the mind is sthira, free of vikshepa, nishchala.

माण्डूक्योपनिषद्भाष्यम्कारिका - भाष्यम्
………* समाधिः समाधिनिमित्तप्रज्ञावगम्यत्वात् ;* समाधीयते अस्मिन्निति वा
समाधिः ।

Atman is called samadhi here, because, Shankara explains, since the Atma
jnanam happens in samadhi.

regards
subbu

>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
> bhaskar
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