[Advaita-l] How can prANa be Brahman?

Sujal Upadhyay sujal.u at gmail.com
Tue Sep 6 06:01:17 CDT 2016


Namaste Venkararaghavan ji,

I also agree with you that the attainment of Brahman by jnAna is
> essentially prAptasya prApti - it is simply the eradication of ignorance
> that I am not Brahman. In fact, I think jnAnam is both necessary and
> sufficient for mokshA. That is, 1) only jnAnam can lead to moksha 2)
> nothing other than jnAnam is required at all.  This is where I differ from
> the various yogic upanishads you quote that cite the requirement for jnAna
> and yoga.
>

Yes, advaita way is pure and direct way. there is no need of any other
means *if* one is able to contemplate on Brahman with ease. However, not
all want just yoga (Jnana), most of us want yoga+bloga. Advaita is only for
selected few purified souls.

There are different paths. Yoga is one of them. I personally believe in old
days it used to be tightly integrated to any spiritual progress even
advaita. That is why rishis like agasthya, vasistha, vishvamitra could
perform miracles. they were adept yogis and tatvajnanis. Even today we find
traces of yoga in daily rituals like sandhyAvandanA.

Each upanishad will sing hymn. Since these are yoga upanishads like Yoga
chudamani, yoga shokha, etc, they glorify yoga. There is no need to follow
them.

By "destruction of mind" I thought you implied a 'physical destruction' of
> the mind (if I have misunderstood your views, please clarify. This is
> something that I do not consider is necessary - in fact this is
> undesirable, without a mind where will jnAna arise? A clear understanding
> that the mind, being anAtma, is mithyA is sufficient. That is, use the mind
> to claim that I, the witness consciousness am Brahman, while saying that
> the mind is mithyA, dependent on me, the witness.
>


Jnana and agnana are opposite of each other and they arise in mind. When we
are told of rising above jana and ajnana, beyond dvaita and advaita, then
it is this Jnana and advaita sthiti that mind experiences - I am witness, I
am infiinite, I am ever expanding (if one tries to find boundaries of his
body, one fails to do so and keeps extending his vision as far as it can
go. Then such experience happens), I am limitless, etc - all arise in mind
only.

The final advaita sthiti is beyond this advaita sthiti i.e. experience of
oneness -- as it is also an experience and hence is inside mind and hence
under the control of mAyA.

In advaita sthiti i.e. jnana, there is no other to say -I am infinite' -
Non-duality cannot be experienced as a separate entity. Hence it is
indescribable.

All else that happens, any thought, feeling, experience, be it of oneness,
completeness, deep peace, etc, it is all experienced by mind. There is
still a separate entity that is experiencing something.

These experiences though not final state are for sure driving force in one
sAdhanA.

After one enters into non-dual state, nothing else exists. But when mind
again is activated, same as in case of deep sleep, duality is perceived.
It is the nature of mind to retain pleasant experiences keep longing them.
Hence mind tries to retain this deep peace which is experienced in deep
meditation state and the feels stays throughout the day. Also mind keeps
longing for this deep peace and bliss and is no more interested in worldly
happiness.

Mind is nothing but continuous flow of thoughts. Mind, jIva-bhAva, ego, etc
are used interchangeably. they do not exist if any one of them perishies.
If ego dies, duality dies, there cannot be any thoughts. How will think
about what?

Sri Ramakrishna explains, Mind of Jnani is like a burned rope. Rope even
after it is burnt retains the shape, but cannot be used for tying. another
examlpe is that a sword after being touched by pArasmaNi, transforms into
Gold. Now it cannot be used in fighting. It is for show purpose only.
Similarly, in order to retain physical body, mind is necessary. Hence
Jnanis- either keep ego of knowledge (like Shankaracharya) or ego of a
bhakta or they keep interest in delicacies, cooking or any other activity
like gardening, etc. Mind connects consciousness and physical body. It is
the bridge between them. Sri Ramakrishna says that mother (Kali Maa) asked
him to stay inbetween normal consciousness and nirvikalp samadhi. If one
always stays in sarvAtma bhAva, then for him, no one is bound. All are
free. All are one. Such a person cannot give any upadesha to anyone. When
Vivekananda realized this truth, he quit his body with the power of Yoga.

Kind Regards
Sujal




On Tue, Sep 6, 2016 at 3:56 PM, Venkatraghavan S <agnimile at gmail.com> wrote:

> Namaste Sujal ji
>
> Thank you for your reply.
>
> I agree with you in that yoga can help attain shama, samAdhAnam etc
> required as part of sAdhana catusthTayam in order to purify and focus the
> mind to enable it be an efficient receptacle for jnAna. That is it serves a
> purpose before jnAna sAdhana.
>
> Yoga also serves a purpose during nidhidhyAsana for those who despite
> shravaNam and mananam are beset with viparIta bhAvana (deep set mental
> obstacles that prevent one from claiming one's status as Brahman) - that is
> despite jnAna arising in their mind, they are unable to reconcile that
> jnAna with everyday reality. For such people, nidhidhyAsanam  (yoga-based
> vedAnta nidhidhyAsanam)  can be helpful to get rid of notions of viparIta
> bhAvana, through a process of mithyAtva nishchaya.
>
> I also agree with you that the attainment of Brahman by jnAna is
> essentially prAptasya prApti - it is simply the eradication of ignorance
> that I am not Brahman. In fact, I think jnAnam is both necessary and
> sufficient for mokshA. That is, 1) only jnAnam can lead to moksha 2)
> nothing other than jnAnam is required at all.  This is where I differ from
> the various yogic upanishads you quote that cite the requirement for jnAna
> and yoga.
>
> By "destruction of mind" I thought you implied a 'physical destruction' of
> the mind (if I have misunderstood your views, please clarify. This is
> something that I do not consider is necessary - in fact this is
> undesirable, without a mind where will jnAna arise? A clear understanding
> that the mind, being anAtma, is mithyA is sufficient. That is, use the mind
> to claim that I, the witness consciousness am Brahman, while saying that
> the mind is mithyA, dependent on me, the witness.
>
> Regards
> Venkatraghavan
>
>
>
>


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