[Advaita-l] Yoga - aparOkshAnubhUti - Vedanta Sara

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

Namaste

praNAm Sri Kathirasan prabhuji
Hare Krishna

Kathirasan prabhuji:

Aparokshanubhuti is an interesting text. Shankara(?) re-interprets the 8
limbed Yoga with an additional 7 limbs. Altogether you will find 15 limbs
in the Yoga of Aparokshaanubhuti. But this Yoga is not Patanjala Yoga. It
is more of Mananam & Nididhyasana.

bhaskar :

Could it be possible for you to elaborate the above observation
prabhuji..in what way patanajali's ashtAnga yoga especially the last three
fold sAdhana-s i.e. dhAraNa, dhyAna & samAdhi differs from shankara's
shravaNa, manana & nidhidhyAsana...My parama guruji deals with this issue
in bruhadAraNyaka bhAshya..just I'd like to have others' opinion also on
this.

Kathirasan prabhuji:

I guess the word RajaYoga is to eulogize this re-interpretation by
Shankara. And then he recommends Karma (hatha yoga) for those not being
able to appreciate this (anadhikaris).

Good question about Vedanta Sara. I did mention in the other Advaitin list
the misleading nature of this 'traditional' text. He prescribes Patanjala
Yoga after shravana, manana & nididhyasana for the attainment of Samadhi.

bhaskar :

I believe there is definitely a place for yOga in advaita as an antaranga
sAdhana & for krama mukti..But vEda vihita nidhidhyAsana cannot be compared
with patanjali's dhyAna yOga & resultant asaMprajnaTha
samAdhi...vArtikakAra Sri sureshwara says that nidhidhyAsana & shruti vAkya
anusaNdhAna should be done after attaining mental purification through
yOgic practices...So, we can say patanjali's samAdhi yOga is not a *must*
in realising paramArtha jnAna...Nevertheless, it is evident that some
prakaraNa grantha-s in the name of shankara advocating that nirvikalpa
samAdhi is a must & direct as well as practical path to attain advitIya
paramArtha jnAna.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar