Antiquity of advaita vedanta (was : an open letter to all)

[Sankaran Kartik Jayanarayanan]

On Fri, 23 Jun 2000, nanda chandran wrote:

> >Then the Advaita acharyas are also guilty of undermining the Jnana
> >tradition!  Because with a single voice they have stressed the importance
> >of Bhakti as a complement to both the Karma _and_ Jnana margas.
>
> Knowledge is the act of knowing. Bhakti cannot in any of its forms be
> equated with this. According to the Upanishads and Advaita, brahman is
> something to be known - brahma vid brahmaiva bhavati.
>

Ramana Maharshi has said that "GYAna and bhakti are one and the same."
True bhakti IS knowledge of the Self.

Shankara interprets most of the GItA verses on bhakti to the Ishvara
(especially 18.66) as surrender to the Self.

> Bhakti involves duality - where the thought of the
> sAdhaka is fixed on an external or mental object - either on an idol or even
> one's own Self (objectified) - and thus it implies karma - either physical
> or mental. All duality implies karma.
>
> Atma VichAra on the other hand is the self reverting into itself and seeking
> itself - it is a non-dual search.

The VivekachuuDAmaNi defines bhakti as "seeking to know the Self."

Not all bhakti is dual in nature; this is only bhakti of a lower form.
Bhakti of a higher form is Atma vichAra. At the highest level, to the
GYAnii, bhakti is the Self.

[..]

-Kartik

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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