Ekajiiva vaada

[egodust]

Anand Hudli wrote:
>    After reading the various vaadas on creation, here is one of my initial
>    thoughts. The key point is that not all vaadas are suitable for
>    all people regardless of their current capabilities.
>    As HH Abhinava Vidyatirtha himself says, according to
>    the excerpt posted by Ramakrishnan, the dR^ishhTi-sR^ishhTi-vaada
>    will _not_be_suitable_ for many people. If you belive what he says
>    about the tenability of dR^ishhTi-sR^ishhTi-vaada, you should believe
>    this too. This point that various disciplines are suitable for various
>    people with differing current capabilities is completely ignored in
>    academic discussions and books on philosophy. So I feel this point can
>    be hardly overemphasized. This is the approach of the Vedas/Vedaanta.
>    This approach is for the benefit of aspirants, and certainly not to
>    mislead them.
>
>    A concrete example will make things clear. Consider the teaching of
>    the Giitaa. Krishna tells Arjuna about the Knowledge of the Self,
>    as early as Chapter 2, and again describes it in glowing terms in
>    the latter part of Chapter 4. But then Krishna asks Arjuna to take up
>    karma yoga. Now Arjuna is confused and at the beginning of Chapter 5,
>    he asks Krishna to tell him which of the two is better, sannyaasa or
>    karma yoga. Now as Guru, Krishna's duty is assess the capability of
>    his disciple, Arjuna, and then prescribe a suitable discipline. If
>    Arjuna should take up sannyaasa, he will do so simply because he wants
>    to avoid war and his duty as a Kshhatriya. So if Arjuna renounces the
>    world, it will be with an incorrect approach. In other words, Arjuna is
>    not yet ready for sannyaasa. With this assessment, Krishna asks Arjuna
>    to take up karma yoga, and later Bhakti yoga, as a means to achieving
>    the final objective, which is the Knowledge of the Self. Perhaps, Arjuna
>    will be perfectly capable of taking up sannyaasa at a later time, after
>    getting his mind purified through karma yoga. But the notable thing is
>    Arjuna accepts Krishna's advice and acts accordingly. He does not get
>    into an academic argument with Krishna, saying, "If the Self alone is
>    real, why should I worry about my duties? They are, after all unreal.
>    What you are prescribing to me will be a colossal waste of time!"
>    No, Arjuna does not do that because he is too intelligent to confuse
>    mere "intellectual or academic" understanding of concepts with actual
>    experience of those concepts.
>
>    Coming back to the various vaadas, both sR^ishhTi-dR^ishhTi and
>    dR^ishhTi-sR^ishhTi are sublated in the final paaramaartha state.
>    In this case, it is perhaps more sensible to accept the one which
>    appeals to commonsense of the vyaavahaarika level. According to the
>    dR^ishhTi-sR^ishhTi vaada, there is only a single jiiva, trying to
>    attain liberation. All other jiivas, Ishvara, Guru and Shruti are all
>    objects imagined by this jiiva. The jiiva must listen to an imaginary
>    Guru's instruction, and follow imaginary scriptures. So the jiiva
>    must cheer itself on toward the final goal of emancipation. This theory
>    looks so absurd from the commonsense viewpoint that it can only be
>    practised by advanced students, as HH Abhinava Vidyatirtha implies.
>    I must also add that the dR^ishhTi-sR^ishhTi-vaada is as logically
>    unassailable as it is absurd. The sR^ishhTi-dR^ishhTi view is,
>    in this respect, less absurd, and fits well with commonsense
>    notions of God, jiivas, and the world.
>
>    Anand


This is exactly what I was trying to say.  You put it in clearer terms.


Hari OM.