[Advaita-l] Why Yoga is not a Pramana ??

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

--- "Sundaram, Vaidya (MED)" <Vaidya.Sundaram at med.ge.com> wrote:

> Well, you are right in the sense that the sruti is the only source of
> knowledge about matters of existence after death of the body, or means
> to liberation etc. Having said that, knowledge of tat tvam asi does
> not
> by itself lead to liberation. So much so that, knowledge of tat tvam
> asi
> before karma has "readied" the individual is useless. It can at best
> act
> as a motivating factor, and at worst lull the individual into a false
> sense of already there.
>  So, what I am saying is, sruti by itself does nothing to the
> individual. It is by strict observance of karma, followed by, or
> concurrent with, repeated meditation on sruti vakyas (the latter of
> which I am calling dhyaana) which liberates the individual.
>  I guess we are both saying the same thing though in different
> words/perspectives.
> bhava shankara desikame sharaNam
> Vaidya.

As I understand,

Vaidya - Shankara's position is not exactly the above - your statement
may be more close to Bhamati school – According to that school after
shravaNam, karma and upaasana has to be done. 
 
Aproskhaanubhuuti implies direct and immediate.

Tat tvam asi - that involves bhaagatyaga lakshaNa - involves immediate
knowledge - just as in soyam devadattaH - this is that Devadatta
-statement. Provided if one knows who is that Devadatta and seeing this
Devadatta and when teacher says he is that Devadatta - there is no
further karma or upaasana required to recognize that fact.

What you implied is if the student does not have the prerequisite
qualifications - then he needs to purify the mind - but the statement
tat tvam asi statement still works now in the seat of meditation, as the
mind becomes pure.  Dhyaana here is not upaasana but enquiry of tvam and
tat and seeing the identity as fact by dropping the virodha lakshaNa-s. 
 Purity of the mind comes here in terms being doubt free and vasana
free.  May be this is what you implied.  Upasana and karma yoga etc are
all only for the purification  of the mind – for prerequisite
qualifications for the  shruti statement  to work directly.  It is still
aparokshaanubhuuti. 

Hari OM!
Sadananda


=====
What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your gift to Him - Swami Chinmayananda.

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