Meditation - Self and Brahman

[Viswanathan Krishnamurthy]

chandran wrote :

>bhakti  through chitta shuddhi leads to this jnAnam which is liberation
by itself
True. But this level of bhakti thru chitta suddhi will not be meditating
on an external Brahman (Ishta Deivam), but the Brahman within..
Meditating on an external Brahman can lead to chitta suddhi, but from
then on one should evolve towards meditating on the Self, which alone
will lead to liberation..

>But this jnAnam is distinctly different from "intellectual reasoning"
where the triad "known" "knower" >and knowledge" is inherent..
I think crux of our argument lies here. While (I think) you believe that
an external 'God' will remove the illusion of the triad, I believe that
only by 'intellectual reasoning' and meditating on the Self can this
illusion be removed. So for me Bhakti is to meditate on the Self within..

But if bhakti towards an external 'God' or ishta deivam can remove this
illusion, why Advaitam at all? Why bother about Maya or Creation
Theories or Non-Dualism etc When Advaitam means Non-Dualism how can your
argument be justified from the standpoint of Advaitam. And reading
standard texts of Advaitam leaves one with little doubt that from the
standpoint of Advaita Vedanta the other two paths, bhakti and karma, as
they're commonly interpreted, are lesser forms of sadhana..

krishna wrote:

There is no external or internal Brahman,  there is only ONE Brahman whether it is
within you or me.  The concept of Brahman is universal.

When one says that you have to meditate on a Ishta Deivam the first understanding
should be that the Ishta Deivam is another form of representation of Brahman and
since Brahman is abstract,  to start meditation on something abstract will be very difficult.

But before one starts meditating on a Ishta Deivam one should have a clear understanding that
it is Brahman.

What is Self?

The thought of Self originates from your intellect.  The first step to understand or realise
Brahman  is that you should realise that there is no Self.  It is a creation by your senses.

-krishna