[Advaita-l] Yoga - aparOkshAnubhUti - Vedanta Sara

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

 On Tue, 1 Feb 2005, Srikrishna Ghadiyaram wrote:

> hariH Om !!
>
> I have not personally read the book aparOkshAnubhUti.
> But based on browsing a few slokas and also from what
> I heard from secondary sources, it deals with Yoga as
> a 'practical' method to  Self-Realisation.
>
> Would the members comment on the position of
> aparOkshAnubhUti in the tradition and also in the
> scholarly circles. How the contents of this book are
> explained in the context of Sankara's main
> preseciption for Self-Realization  ?
>

Aparokshanubhuti is traditionally regarded as a composition of
Shankaracharya.  There is a commentary Dipika by Swami Vidyaranya and
other illustrious Advaitin acharyas have also commented on it or quoted
from it.  However some modern historians question the genuineness of this
work in part precisely because it is replete with yogic references.

> Just a few days ago I was hearing Svami Dayananda's
> lectures on Vedanta Sara and therein I heard him
> saying Patanjali never called his method 'Raja Yoga',
> and it is Vivekananda who coined that word.

Patanjali didn't call his system Rajayoga and Vivekanandas' neat division
of "yogas" is bogus but it is a stretch to say he invented the term.

...

>
> Also, Vedanta Sara of Sadananda mentions SravaNa,
> manana, nididhyAsana, and samadhi as the four steps
> for sadhana. See paragraph 181.
>
> I understand Vedanta Sara is followed as a standard
> text book. So what is the tradition ? Does it mean
> that the Sankara's followers accept the position of
> this author, because they are teaching it.
>

As K. Kathirasan says, while it is replete with yogic ideas, the
aparokshanubhuti uses them to Advaita Vedantic ends.  So there is
no conflict there.

We have discussed in the past that the classical Samkhya/Yoga system was
gradually absorbed and "Vedantized"

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a boy! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/nilagriva/