[Advaita-l] Re:jivanmukti,

[V. Krishnamurthy]

Namaste

I am reposting the following which I posted on advaitin
list (under the thread ‘AtmajnAna and vyavahAra’) in August
2001:
------------------------------------------
I have been reading the posts on this subject with
interest. 
    Since this is a standard subject of debate among
students and 
    experts of advaita I was wondering what Adi Sankara had
to 
    say on this in his expository works for the beginner.
In Viveka 
    chudamani for instance, slokas 415-419 and 453 to 465, 
this 
    topic and the related topic of prarabdha-karma
vis-a-vis  the  
    jnAni are dwelt. 
    The 34th occupant of the Sringeri Pitham, Sri
Chandrasekhara 
    Bharati Swamigal has written a sanskrit commentary for 
    Vivekachudamani. Sri Jnanananda Bharati Swamiji, (1889-
    1975),  a most worthy disciple of the Sringeri
paramparA, has 
    written a very lucid explanation, in Tamil,  of the
above 
    commentary.  I pulled out the following ideas from this
Tamil 
    exposition, particularly for the slokas  mentioned
above. 
    Though Atma-jnAna is the same, in terms of the
phenomenal 
    world the Atma-jnAnis may be classified into four
categories. 
    To the first category belongs those to whom the
universe is just 
    mithyA. Such a one is a brahma-vit (meaning, one who
knows 
    brahman and therefore has become brahman). Sage Yajna-
    valkya of the upanishadic fame belonged to this
category. They 
    are not only brahma-vits but they taught others to rise
to the 
    level of a brahma-vit To that extent they lived in the
vyvavahara 
    world 
    To the 2nd category belongs those to whom the
'universe-is-
    mithyA' experience is stronger and they, even though
engulfed 
    by their samAdhi state,  could  descend down to the
vyavahAra 
    level and look at the universe as mithyA even though
acting in 
    it. These are the sthita-prajnas of the Gita.  They
should be 
    known as brahmavid-varaH (meaning, better than a
brahma-vit). 
    (vk's note: Perhaps our Ramana Maharishi belongs to
this).
    There is a third category who do not rise from their
samAdhi 
    state except by external sAtvic intervention and  even
then 
    looks at the world only as mithyA.  These are called
brahma-vid-
    varIyAn (meaning, best among brahmavits). The author
cites 
    Prahlada who is said to have been woken up only by the
sound 
    of  Vishnu's Conch pAnca-janya.
    There is a fourth category which is called
brahmavid-varishTaH 
    (meaning the most superlative among brahmvits). For
them the 
    world does not appear at all. Sloka No.417 says there
is 
    nothing except the brahman-experience for this fourth
category. 
    The first three kinds will have the prArabda-karma
effect, though 
    they are not affected by it. 
    
    -----------------------
PraNAms to all seekers of Truth
profvk





=====
Prof. V. Krishnamurthy
My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/
You can  access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and Practice,  and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.
Also see the webpages on Paramacharya's Soundaryalahari :
http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/DPDS.html