Advaita 1001

[Anand Hudli]

On Mon, 11 Nov 1996, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

>
> I have sometimes wondered about the same thing, i.e., sha.nkara's stressing of
> the sanyaasa aashrama. Since the aachaarya has also written a bhaashhya on the
> giita, which separates the sanyaasa from the sanyaasaashrama. Perhaps he did
> not want dedicated aspirants into being mislead that they had actually
> renounced everything when they had not. After all suffering the pangs of
 hunger
> (quite a possibility as a sanyaasi) would be much more difficult.

   True.
   In the giitaa bhaashhya, Shankara makes it clear that karma done
  with renunciation of fruits thereof acts as a great purifier and leads
  one to jnaana. However, he is quite emphatic in saying that it is jnaana
 alone, not a combination of karma and jnaana, that results in mokshha.
 He makes the same argument in the upadeshasaahasrii also, regarding the
 combination of karma and jnaana. But the Achaarya does recognize that not
 everyone is fit for sannyaasa, citing Arjuna as an example, and points out
 that Krishna prescribes karma yoga (and bhakti) to such persons.

 Anand