Forwarded message: Jivanmukti as per Advaita-Vedanta FAQ

[Ashish Chandra]

>
> > And also if we look at many saints, there definitely seems to two
>groups,
> > saints like Sri Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharishi, Swami Chandrasekhara
>Bharati
> > etc are a class apart ..... being Jivanmuktas. But others realised souls
> > have definitely known something ...can call it Brahman ??  And also if
>we go
> > thru' some lectures of Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati's disciple, Sri
>Abhinava
> > Vidyathirtha, he says "he had Nirvikalpa Samadhi when he was 15  or 20
> > years"(I don;'t remember). But definitely he did not become a
>Jivanmukta,
> > then.
> >
>
>Karma cannot in anyway cause jnana.  But it helps in a roundabout way by
>destroying the obstacles that prevent jnana.  The effects of karma may not
>be just due to actions performed in this life but in prior lives.  If
>there seems to discrepencies like you mention in the lives of saints it is
>because of this prarabdha karma.
>
> > Can some learned member of the group clarify this doubt. Or am I
> > misinterpreting
> > realization of Brahman with Knowing of Brahman ??
>
>Once Brahman is known, moksha is inevitable but does not necessarily
>immediately follow for the reason mentioned above.
>

You might want to read Chapter 43 of Paramhamsa Yogananda's Autobiography of
a Yogi. He was a Paramhamsa Sannyasin of the Adviata order of monks. His
guru, Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri, was a jivan-mukta. In brief, this chapter
is about the resurrection of Yogananda's guru and his guru's subsequent
revelations to him about the state of deluded jivas upon mortal death. Sri
Yukteshwar tells him that he (Sri Yukteshwar) had been directed by the Lord
to incarnate on an astral planet called Hiranyalok where those beings, who
have atleast had the experience of Nirvikalpa Samaadhi, go to. Sri
Yukteshwar had been incarnated to help the residents of this astral planet
in making progress towards the next state of being, the causal state,
subsequent to which was the immersion (vilay) into the body of Brahman. So
from that standpoint, having the experience of Nirvikalpa Samaadhi is not
the same as being a jivan-mukta.

The entire chapter is available online at:
http://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/chap43/chap43.html

ashish
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