[Advaita-l] Self-knowledge

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

praNAms Sri Amuthan prabhuji
Hare Krishna

AA prabhuji:

i used the word 'brahmavit' in the sense described in
an earlier mail. only a brahmavidvariShTha, who is a
jIvanmukta, has no residual avidyA left.

bhaskar :

I would like to pose the same questions which I asked Sri Aditya Varun
Chadha prabhuji...See, shruti says brahmavit is brahman (brahmavit is
brahmaiva bhavati)..The  'Jnani' (Knower of brahman or brahmavit)refers to
one who has, in the light of his own intuitive knowledge, understood the
meaning of the shruti vAkya such as 'tattvamasi' He who realized that he
himself is the secondless Brahman (yEkamEva advitIya brhman), and apart
from IT there never was, is or will be anything else. And as said above,
this is what shruti also declaring i.e. brahma vid brahmaiva bhavati' (The
Knower
of Brahman IS Brahman..I dont want to see any *time gap* between the stages
of brahma vid & brahmaiva bhavati). From this it is evident that since
there
is only one Brahman, and the Jnani is Brahman, there cannot be jnAni AND
brahman. There are not many Jnanis since there is ONLY brahman!! Assuming
that this brahman/jnAni has avidyA is something hard to digest from
advaita's perspective.

AA prabhuji:

i don't know anything about sadyo mukti. probably shrI
ramaNa maharShi falls under this category. but
jIvanmukti is the complete destruction of avidyA. a
jIvanmukta is brahman. there is nothing for him to
perceive. more fundamentally, there is nothing called
perception for him. we may see his body. but he
doesn't. (i'm writing this solely based on what i've
read about bhagavAn ramaNa maharShi.)

bhaskar :

Yes prabhuji, I completely agree with you...sadyaH means at the very
moment. The moment referred to here is the instant of full, right knowledge
of Brahman-Atman. Of course, this will  happen when jnAni is there in the
socalled body...and the embodiment of this knower may seem to continue for
those who *see* the body of the jnAni, but it does not anyway mean the
jnAni with *body* has the residual of avidyA!!! The bruhadAraNyaka
upanishad has the relevant mantra for this.for sadyomukta, there is no
question of reaching
brahmaloka and there is no question of any further step in liberation and
more importantly he will not carry any avidyAlEsha even after realization
of brahma jnAna.
bruhadAraNyaka shruti further confirms this by saying *For where there is
duality, as it were, there one sees something, one tastes something, one
says something, one hears something, one thinks something, one touches
something, one knows something. But when, to this knower of Brahman,
everything has become the Self alone, then what can one possibly see and
through what? What can one smell and through what,..what can one know and
through what?*

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar