The point

[Greg Goode]

At 05:56 PM 10/28/97 -0500, Prashant Sharma wrote:
>        Is there a path at all?  One would assume (from a neti-neti
>approach) that attainment of *jnaana* is an acausal event in the sense
>that no single thing can cause it.


This is my understanding.  There is really no single or joint cause for
anything, the same way that there are no causes or effects in a movie or a
dream.  This is one of the main thrusts of the Gaudapada Karika.

So of course there is no cause for jnaana.  Jnaana is anterior to maya,
phenomenality, the observable world.  So nothing in maya, phenomenality or
the observable world can "cause" or "make" jnaana happen.

>Or more precisely:
>At time "t" : a man efforting to be a jnani (or ajnani :)
>At time "t+0" : the man is  jnaani but now doesnot relate to the previous
>state (except through memory...).  So the event is acausal for him.  There
>is no center left to which he can relate his being.

I really like this last sentence.  It is Nisargadatta Maharaj's core teaching.

--Greg