neti neti

[Gummuluru Murthy]

On Wed, 25 Mar 1998, Govind Rengarajan wrote:

> On Wed, 25 Mar 1998, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:
>
> > 5. Anand brought up the matter of mumukshutvam as a necessity. I think
> > every vedanta student is a mumukshu (aspirant of moksha). If he/she is
> > not a mumukshu, then there is no point in following vedantic studies and
> > the ego would have forced the jeeva to give up vedanta studies long ago
> > and would have forced the jeeva to follow the so-called worldly pleasures.
> > It has to be accepted that every vedanta student is a deeply committed,
> > sincere aspirant of moksha. Even the aspiration for moksha would die out
> > in a committed vedantin and perfect vairAgya settles in.
> >
>
> I am sorry to interrupt this very interesting discussion. I am not
> so sure about every student of vedanta being a mumukshu.
> Interestingly, mumukshutvam is placed last in the list. A deep
> desire (better still - the only desire) for moksha will override the
> necessity for vairaagyaa, etc. However, vairaagyaa in itself is just
> a step towards mumukshutvam. I think when one is a true mumukshu,
> nothing will matter - discussions, notions, etc. He has not attained
> moksha yet, but  he is almost there. For advaitic viewpoint, I
> believe Shankara's explanation of the first sutra "athaatho brahma
> ji~jnaasa" clearly states the conditions for even beginning a study
> of brahman! When I had written about this sometime back, Alan Curry
> in fact remarked in a private mail that it seems that if one were to
> satisfy the requirements he might already be realized! I think
> mumukshutvam cannot be underestimated - the overriding deep desire
> will lead us to take mental,if not also physical sanyaasaa
> immediately.
>

Namaste.

I think I am not on solid ground in my interpretation of mumukshutvam
as a *general* desire to attain moksha, which any vedanta student would
have. Shri Govindarajan interprets this as the *intense* desire for
moksha. I agree that Shri Govindarajan's interpretation may be closer to
what Shri Shankara interprets in BrahmasutrabhAshhya-1,and the early
verses of Viveka ChuDAmaNi.

I am not sure of desire for moksha overriding vairAgya though. I thought
it would be the other way round: moksha overriding vairAgya is in bhakti
sampradAya, while in advaita, vairAgya overrides desire for moksha
also, it is complete oudAsInya and nirliptata.

>
> PS: Not quite related, but there were some mention of jnaanaa/
> ajnaana, and other schools of vedanta. In vishishhTaadvaita,
> bhakti is placed supreme, and complete surrender to naaraayanaa is
> considered the best path to Him, and indeed moksha is possible
> for everyone regardless of caste, etc.
>

Relevant to the present discussion, in bhakti sampradAya, an aspirant
considers him/herself to be an ajnAni and surrenders him/herself before
the personal God. Venkateshwara suprabhAtam says "ajnAninA mayA doshhAn
asheshhAn vihitAn hare, kshamassatvam, kshamassatvam sheshhashaila
shikhAmaNe.".  My understanding of advaita is that advaita takes us
beyond this step.

>
> Regards,
> -govindarajan

Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
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Yadaa sarve pramucyante kaamaa ye'sya hr^di shritaah
atha martyo'mr^to bhavatyatra brahma samashnute   Katha Upanishhad II.3.14

When all the desires that dwell in the heart fall away, then the mortal
becomes immortal, and attains Brahman even here.
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