[Advaita-l] How can one claim to know Brahman?

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 10 Mar 2005, Mahesh Ursekar wrote:

>
> The whole point of the above is to emphaize that without direct
> experience wherein one can say that Brahman is what it is said to be,
> words can and will be debated all the time. But when one has tasted
> the mango, there is no need to discuss its taste. One knows it so one
> can keep quiet and enjoy the others debating.
>

If they are not willing to say, we don't know if such direct experiencers
even exist.  If they make statements about Brahman, we can evaluate them
with our rational faculties, same as any other statement on any other
subject.

> That said the above is also true. Knowledge of Brahman without Jnana

...is a non-sequiter.  What Advaita Vedanta describes as jnana is not any
special mystical kind of knowlege but the same kind of knowledge as 2+2.

>
> Which opens up a pandora's box which has been nagging me also: If as
> per the shastras, on the realization of Brahman, one is freed from the
> cylce of brith and death, then is it true for one whose Kundalini is
> raised but who does not understand it's significance? And so if you
> wish to carry this to an extreme, can the Kundanlini be just a product
> of not-yet-understood biology and has nothing to do with spirituality?
>

Biology is no less Brahman than spirituality.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>