Bhakti yoga

[hbdave]

Stephanie Stean wrote:

> Hello:
>
> The way I had interpreted the comments of Bhakti being the same as jnana,
> was not that they "were the same/ synonymous" but that during moksha, there
> exist no distinctions between any of the paths.  They all become one/
> intersect.  I read this recently in an introduction to Sankaracharya's Atma
> Bodha, by Vidyaratna P.N. Menon.
> Is this what was meant?
>
> I have another question for the group.  The idea of jnana and bhakti being
> ONE during moksha; Can anyone give me some references of where this idea is
> covered more thoroughly?
>
> Thanks
> Stephanie

I do not think any one can give you a reference to show that Jnana and Bhakti
are the same. Let me explain. It depends upon whether your interest in this
question is from academic view point or from view-point of Knowledge.

You have to understand that those who Know do do describe it, because they
can't. Those who talk about these things can not explain the Real thing.

The process of realization has many paths, but the final step is one, unique,
you may call is Jnana (Knowledge with capital K) or Bhakti, it really does
not matter.

I would like to mention example of water kept in a vessel to be turned into
ice. You cool the water by some means (whatever means, put in a fridge,
Jnana, Bhakti :-)  ), but it will NOT turn into ice. That requires a final
step. Generally to cool something you have to remove heat (energy),
but to turn cooled water into ice requires a final step of imparting a small
amount of energy. Give a little tap to the super-cooled water and Lo and
behold!  in front of your eyes it will turn into ice!

This final step is just not written about anywhere (not even in Vedas)
as it can not be described. So you will not get any reference to it!
Followers of Advata (as per Adi Shankara), like myself, will go on
saying that it is only Jnana which leads to Moksha. Vaishnavas will
talk about Bhakti. But all of us are talking about a partial journey.


In my opinion, the discussion is futile. As I understand, the main
attribute of Bhakti is self-surrender. Is Jnani not surrendering
his self (that is the limited I) to Him (that is the real I)?

I would like to have Ken's response on this.

-- Himanshu