[Advaita-l] Questions about mergence

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

sAshtAnga praNAms Sri Jaldhar Vyas prabhuji
Hare Krishna

JV prabhuji:

The entirety of Brahmasutra 4.4 deals with your question.  I am not too
fond of Swami Krshnanandas' translation.  Thibauts is more accurate

bhaskar :

I heard on the other list that Thibaut's translation of vEdAnta sUtra-s are
more inclined towards rAmAnuja's vishishTAdvaita philosophy..


JV prabhuji:

And from the context, it is obvious that the thing which is being urged to
be liberated is ones own self.

Thus the conclusion is that the highest end urged by the Vedas is
liberation of ones own self from samsara.

It is the testimony of the shastras that the liberated atma and Brahman
are one and indivisible.

bhaskar :

I need clarification here prabhuji...is it jIva who identifies *himself*
with brahman & realizes he/she & brahman are one & the same OR is it
brahman alone is the ONLY reality nothing else??  if it is former (i.e.
jIva & his identification that he is brahman), then I think we have to
accept anEka jIva vAda & their different types of antaHkaraNa upAdhi-s &
their ultimate realizations (one after another!!!) I remember, shankara in
sUtra bhAshya accepts nAnA jIvatva vAda while talking about bhOkta &
hiraNya garbha.  Here *bhOkta* denotes individual soul which has been taken
from the standpoint of various antaHkaraNa upAdhi-s as said above. If that
is the case then we are forced to accept nAnA jIvatva & their achievement
of brahma jnAna etc. in the liberation process...If it is later i.e.
brahman alone is ONE & ONLY reality considering jIvahood itself is a flase
appearance due to avidyA then I dont think there is any need of accepting
anEka jIvatva & their liberation & identification with brahman.
Kindly clarify.

Humble praNAms onceagain
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
Your humble servant
bhaskar