(modern nitwit = Brahman) ?

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

On Thu, 2 Oct 1997 un824 at freenet.victoria.bc.ca wrote:

[..]

> I get the partial impression that it may not be so un-orthodox after all
> (at least from the Advaita point of view), to seek the paravidya (higher
> knowledge of truth itself) in the Upanishads and basically ignore as much
> of the aparavidya as you like. It may *not* be the mandatory "package deal"
> which I had feared it was being presented by some to be.

Read Sankara's commentary on the first sUtra "athAto brahmajijnAsA" where
the qualifications for such a route are spelt out. All other interpreters
say that the word atha refers to the necessity of learning all the
karmakANDa and the pUrva mImAmsA first, before embarking upon
brahmajijnAsA. Sankara says no, and gives the traditional requirements for
a candidate who is eligible for it. This one passage in his commentary
will answer this issue.


Vidyasankar