[Advaita-l] Re: Advaita-l Digest, Vol 1, Issue 29

[Jay Nelamangala]

Dear Sankaran,

You have asked a set of good  questions.

> senses. On the other hand, Brahman is not an object of
> sense perception. It cannot be compared to mundane
> subjects, and neither can brahma-vidya be compared to
> mundane knowledge.

You are right.  That is why vEdAnta distinguishes the two
as vritti-jnAna and Atma-jnAna.

> So, if brahman is always known only partially, why do only
> some people get liberated? Is there a threshold of partial

All these questions have been answered in the phala-adhyAya of the
brahma-sootras.

Before we speculate on the "liberated" state,  let us understand
properly the "unliberated" state that we are in right now.
Each one of us, is carrying a "bucket"  so to speak which is full of
ajnAna, all bad and good deeds from our previous births, and may be
a tiny bit of  knowledge of God as well.
In this unliberated state,  it is pretty obvious that there are stalwarts
like Sri Madhusudana Saraswathi,  and then there are ordinary mortals
like me and you,  struggling  to understand them.   This tells us that
there is an innate huge capacity in those Acharyas that  me and you do not
have.
( I dont know about you,  but at least I know,  I do not have :-) )
This means that "bucket" sizes are also different.   Our Acharyas are an
ocean of knowledge, while we are not,  is just an indicator of this truth.


Upanishat says "puNya pApE vidhooya"  - Our "bucket" should be cleansed of
results of both 'good' and 'bad' deeds. When this "bucket" gets filled with
Brahma-jnAna
entirely,  that state is the Highest state that one can reach.   Because
your "bucket"
is full,  you can neither add to it, nor loose any of  it.  You will stay in
that
"jnAna-Ananda" state - which is your swaroopa - for ever.

SriKrishna  says  "yad gatvA na nivartantE tad dhAma paramam mama"  15.6
(That point-of-no-return which is the Highest that one can reach, that is
My abode).

SriKrishna also talks about the other end of this spectrum in the 16th
chapter as :
A-su-rIm  yO-ni-mA-pa-nnA
mU-DhA  ja-nma-ni   ja-nma-ni |
mA-ma-prA-pyai-va   kau-ntaE-ya
ta-tO  yA-ntya-dha-mAm  ga-tim ||16.20||

Some philosophies such as christianity do not believe in "eternal
damnation",
but SriKrishna clearly says that "tatO yAnti adhamAm gatim"  the final
destination for people described in 16.17, 16.18, 16.19 is  indeed "eternal
damnation"

So, whatever model of "mOksha"  that you have,
make sure it is consistent with  both 15.6 and 16.20

I hope I have answered most of your questions.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sankaran Aniruddhan" <ani at ee.washington.edu>
Cc: <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 7:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Re: Advaita-l Digest, Vol 1, Issue 29


> namaste,
>
> > Not really.  Take any branch of knowledge, say chemistry.
> >
> > Of course we know chemistry,  does it mean we should
> > stop all research on chemistry, because we know chemistry ?
> >
> > Do we say we don't know chemistry because research
> > is still going on all over the world on chemistry?.
> >
> > "Brahma vidyAm sarva vidyA pratiShTAm"
> >
> > If this is true for a mundane subject such as chemistry,
> > then it is necessarily true for Brahma-vidyA where the
> > subject matter by definition is Infinite.
>
> I think of it slightly differently. Chemistry is a subject
> which involves interpretation of data obtained from
> sensory perceptions. It is only such subjects which are
> limited and imperfect due to apprehension through the
> senses. On the other hand, Brahman is not an object of
> sense perception. It cannot be compared to mundane
> subjects, and neither can brahma-vidya be compared to
> mundane knowledge.
>
> > What we already know about God is miniscule.
> > What is  yet to be known about God is always infinite.
> > Otherwise, "ananta" becomes a mere word.
>
> In advaita, it is brahman/atman which knows itself. So it
> is not limited by this knowledge.
>
> So, if brahman is always known only partially, why do only
> some people get liberated? Is there a threshold of partial
> knowledge of brahman which needs to be crossed before
> liberation? If so, what is this threshold of knowledge,
> and when and how is it reached? Where is this threshold
> specified? Once this threshold is crossed, is there a
> difference in the knowledge between different jivas? Since
> the liberated jivas know brahman only partially, there
> might be a difference in the brahman-knowledge of
> different jivas, right?
>
> Aniruddhan
>
> Sruti smRti purANAnAm Alayam karuNAlayam
> namAmi bhagavatpAda Sam.karam lokaSam.karam
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