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

[savithri devaraj]

--- Vidyasankar Sundaresan <svidyasankar at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> On the one hand, the Self reveals itself, because it
> is sva-prakASa. Sruti 
> tells us what the Self is and that it is
> self-revealing. That is why Sruti 
> is pramANa.
>

...
 
> Finally, correlate all this with what Sankara says
> in his commentary on the 
> sUtra, "etena yogaH pratyuktaH" - generally
> speaking, sAMkhya is jnAna and 
> yoga is dhyAna that are in accordance with what is
> taught in the 
> upanishad-s. The reason they are not given
> independent status as pramANa-s, 
> is that one, they are smRti, and derive their
> pramANa status from Sruti, and 
> two, the vision(s) and power(s) obtained through
> yoga have to be carefully 
> monitored and interpreted under the guidance of a
> guru. Or else, it is easy 
> to be led astray.
> 
> Vidyasankar
> 

Not to add something to that which has already been
very clearly stated, but it would also seem to be that
vision(s), power(s), experiences of samAdhi, etc do
not lend themselves to universal corroboration or
universal experience (sArvatrikAnubhava). The Self
being so close and being the core of one's being has
to be in the purview of common experience, not just of
a chosen few who practice yoga or meditation.

Savithri

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