Qualifications for studying vedanta

[Vivek Anand Ganesan]

NamashkAr,

   Subsequent to the discussion on MokshAdhikAram, I would like to
know the meaning and explanation for the four-fold qualifications for
studying vedanta.

Thanks,

-Vivek.
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>From  Fri May 15 19:29:41 1998
Message-Id: <FRI.15.MAY.1998.192941.0400.>
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:29:41 -0400
Reply-To: ramakris at erols.com
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
Subject: Re: Questions
Comments: To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
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Sankaran Jayanarayanan wrote:

> And there are rules about learning the Upanishads *only* by oral
> instruction (hence the name "shruti," that which is heard). I myself
> have observed several members quoting vedic mantras directly from books.
> In this light, I don't think it necessary to place the restriction on
> the BSB (on this list), though I fully believe it to be true.

The restriction is not because of the shruti passages being quoted in
the BSB. Such passages can be found in prakaraNa grantha-s also. The
advaita teachers (who practice advaita) in the line of shrI sha.nkara
say thus. I quoted shrI mahAsannidhAnam. I know you are a follower of
the Sringeri Mutt, that should mean something to you. Anyone can follow
his advice or go against it, that's their wish. IMHO, words of such
teachers should be listened to carefully. BTW, this list has not
descended from heaven or sprung up from the earth :-). In fact, as
followers of advaita we should take his words more seriously than other
people. My choice has been to follow his advice.

I think there is some misunderstanding about the stuff on
Descartes-advaita I said. I'll mail you personally later.

Rama.

>From  Fri May 15 19:41:42 1998
Message-Id: <FRI.15.MAY.1998.194142.0400.>
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:41:42 -0400
Reply-To: ramakris at erols.com
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
Subject: Re: viprataa (was Re: Sadhana)
Comments: To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
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Anand Hudli wrote:

>  6) It may appear that 4) contradicts 2). But this cannot be the case.
>    HH the Swami of Sringeri, himself a scholar in tarka-shAstra, can
>    never contradict Shankara. So we should interpret 4) in the manner
>   indicated by 5). That is, by studying the jnAna-yoga granthas, one
>   may get krama mukti. In other words, the study of such works
>   _eventually_ leads one to mokSha, not to jIvanmukti. Perhaps, by
>   such study, one gets an excellent birth in an excellent family in
>  the next life. Then every opportunity to study VedAnta directly
>  will become a certainty.

Not so. In fact by yoga vAshishhTha moxa _may_ be obtained right now by
_anyone_. The prime example is vidura and dharmavyAdha who were GYAni-s
(accepted by shrI sha.nkara). They may not have used the YV, but they
could not have used upanishhad-s either. The so called "contradiction"
is resolved not by assuming krama mukti. It means that they heard the
mahAvAkya-s in some previous birth, but because their minds were not
pure enough, produced results in the next birth only. shrI sureshvara
has explained this in naishhkarmya siddhi II.2-5. Here he raises a pUrva
paxa objection giving examples where people are known to have attained
GYAna and implies that they must have heard the mahAvAkya-s previously.
Apparently sarvaGYAtma muni makes this very explicit and states that
those who seem to attain moxa without mahAvAkya-s must have heard it in
their previous life (sorry, I can't give exact references).

So _anyone_ may obtain moxa here and now.

Note that HH has said anyone can obtain _GYAna_ => it is _not_ krama
mukti.

Rama.

>From  Fri May 15 19:53:38 1998
Message-Id: <FRI.15.MAY.1998.195338.0400.>
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:53:38 -0400
Reply-To: ramakris at erols.com
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
Subject: Re: viprataa (was Re: Sadhana)
Comments: To: Advaita-L <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

> Note that HH has said anyone can obtain _GYAna_ => it is _not_ krama
> mukti.

Pl. cross out this sentence! I wrote it in a hurry. HH mentioned only
moxa.

Rama.