Jivanmuktiviveka of Swami Vidyaranya

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 29 Oct 1999, Charles Wikner wrote:

> I follow the logic of that, for such complete vairAgya arises
> only from direct Self-knowledge (YogasUtra 1.16).  But another
> question arises here: what fills the "gap" between the life of
> the gRhastha and that of the ekadaNDin?  The gRhastha is under
> pressure from family/employer/customer to produce _results_,
> which militates against vairAgya.

But remember Arjuna was also under pressure to produce results! :-)

>  Practising the threefold tapas
> (gItA 17:14-16) as best he can leads to unselfishness, but there
> is still far too much rajas in his life to lead to "complete
> vairAgya".  For that a more contemplative life is required:
> vAnaprastha?
>

The Vanaprastha Ashrama is rather ill-defined compared to the others.  I
was not able to find out much about it.  But in contemporary Hindu society
there is the informal idea that one should gradually withdraw from public
life, handing over responsibilities to children etc and take up more
religious and specifically austere practices.

> Is the tridaNDin here the same as vAnaprastha?  Is Vidyaranya
> using the term saMnyAsa loosely to include vAnaprastha, whereas
> you would restrict it to the ekadaNDin?
>

It is seems from the sources I have read that a Tridandin is definitely
a sannyasi.  Advaita authors such as Swami Vidyaranya consider
them inferior to "real" sannyasis though.


--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

Archives : http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html
Help     : Email to listmaster at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Options  : To leave the list send a mail to
           listserv at lists.advaita-vedanta.org with
           SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L in the body.