neti neti

[Anand Hudli]

Gummuluru Murthy wrote:

>I have read into Anand's statements that an aspirant has to make
repeated
>acknowledgements "I am ajnAni" and then only the aspirant is eligible
to
>"receive"(?) jnAna. Now, I read (correctly I hope) Anand saying that
the
>thought need not be held for ever. It is still not clear to me how and
>when this thought would be dropped. Is it sudden, or gradual,
voluntary,
>or involuntary (of the jeeva).
>

 Actually, if there is mumukshhutva, that means that one is keen
 on getting liberated. So how can such a person convince himself/
 herself that bondage cannot be terminated? Although, one need not
 keep repeating that he/she is in ajnaana, one should be aware or
 be intelligent enough to recognize that ajnaana is there, to
 begin with.

 In response to when the feeling of ajnaana is dropped, that depends
 entirely on the progress of the individual. For some, ajnaana goes
 away quickly; for some it goes away gradually. Again, for some it
 may take several lifetimes. For some, through the compassion of the
 Guru, the ajnaana is removed instantaneously even without proper
 effort, as in the case of toTakaachaarya who received the grace of
 his guru Shanakara. Again, for some, through the practice of bhakti
 to a personal God, this ajnaana disappears, as contended by
 Madhusuudana Sarasvatii.


>I enjoyed reading the analogy of ajnAna with a disease and the need of
>proper medication and discipline in getting rid of the disease. That is
>a very nice one. Taking this analogy further, does that mean that we
>are all roga-bhUyishhTa (born with disease of ajnAna) to start off ?
>

 Yes,  we should make that assumption. There may be some mahaatmaa's
 or incarnations of God, etc. who are never affected by ajnaana and
 whose only purpose to take birth is for the welfare of all beings.
 A positive way of looking at this is that, as the AchAryas point out,
 it is only by being born as a human does one get a chance to overcome
 ajnaana and achieve mukti.

 Anand

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