Is experience of Maya necessary ?

[Gummuluru Murthy]

On Thu, 16 Jan 1997, sadananda wrote:

> There is the famous question - who realizes?  Brahman does not need any
> realization.  As long as jeeva notion is there ,there is no realization!
> Realization is the only the dropping of the notion (since it is only
> notional it can be dropped!) that I am a jeeva and I need to realize
> Brahman- that mumukshutvam -that seeking for realization - as long it is
> there ,there is no realization and without that there is no realization
> either and that is true. This dichotomy arises because of realization is
> assumed to be a process.
>

Realization: the recognition that we are none other than Brahman. It is
only the delusion of maaya that makes us see that we are other than That.

>From what was written above by Shri Sadananda, is realization considered
a discontinuous step or a gradual evolution ?

We all recognize to some extent or other that we are Brahman, except that
feeling is not at the top of the mind when we attend to our daily duties.
Do we give up our daily duties (duties prescribed to us by fate) for
Realization ? The only example we had of a universally acclaimed Realized
soul is Shri Ramana Maharshi: even He had attended to His daily duties.

Thus, I would like to argue that there may be many realized souls. The
statement "As long as there is jeeva notion, there is no realization"
may be too narrowing a definition for a realized soul, although
technically the right one. I realize that jeeva, technically, is
individualized, but it can be taken in a broader perspective. If not,
as Shri Sadananda pointed out in that logic, realized souls may be
very rare: and indeed there may never be.

As long as one is above sukha and dukha whatever the circumstances are,
looks at everything in the world as the same oneness, attends to what
he/she is doing with a balanced mind, such is a jnani and a realized
soul. I will add in the earlier parameters of nirapeksha and not seeking
anything (neither happiness nor sadness). Such are the qualities of a
realized soul. Shri Vishvarupananda, of our List, recently put in a
much better well-worded statement about jnanis.

I would be grateful for clarifications.

>
> Hari Om!
>
> Sadananda
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your
> gift to Him: Swami Chinmayananda
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>

Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
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Adau ante ca yan nAsti vartamAnepi tat tathA !
                                GaudapAda in Mandukya kArika
What did not exist at the beginning and what is not going to exist at the
 end is as good as non-existent even in the present.
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