[Advaita-l] Why Yoga is not a Pramana ??

Sundaram, Vaidya (MED) Vaidya.Sundaram at med.ge.com
Mon Jun 30 11:30:32 CDT 2003


Namaskaram.

> It seems that the coverse is true. Shruti Pramana is the sole means of
> knowing the Self. It is the 'smoking gun' for the qualified seeker.
There is
> no other way. Jnana gained by shruti pramana alone leads to Moksha.
Dhyana
> is a karma and therefore it is preliminary. Karma makes the sadhaka an
> adhikari and there its utility ends. 

Well, you are right in the sense that the sruti is the only source of
knowledge about matters of existence after death of the body, or means
to liberation etc. Having said that, knowledge of tat tvam asi does not
by itself lead to liberation. So much so that, knowledge of tat tvam asi
before karma has "readied" the individual is useless. It can at best act
as a motivating factor, and at worst lull the individual into a false
sense of already there.
 So, what I am saying is, sruti by itself does nothing to the
individual. It is by strict observance of karma, followed by, or
concurrent with, repeated meditation on sruti vakyas (the latter of
which I am calling dhyaana) which liberates the individual.
 I guess we are both saying the same thing though in different
words/perspectives.
bhava shankara desikame sharaNam
Vaidya.



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