[Advaita-l] Self-knowledge

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

praNAms Amuthan prabhuji
Hare Krishna

AA prabhuji:

coming back to the topic, aparokSha j~nAna can spring
from shravaNa alone only in the rarest case. for most
candidates, what is obtained during shravaNa is only
parokSha j~nAna. in His bR^i. up. bhAShya (2.4.5),
bhagavatpAda says 'yadaikatvametAnyupagatAni tadA
saMyagdarshanaM brahmaikatvaviShayaM prasIdati **
nAnyathA shravaNamAtreNa **' - 'when these (shravaNa,
manana and nididhyAsana) are done, then the unity of
brahman becomes clear, ** not otherwise, by hearing
alone. **'

bhaskar :

I think the punch line in the above commentary is *yadA yEkatvaM yEtAni*.
Though it appears that after shravaNa, manana & nidhidhyAsana are
required...for a uttamAdhikAri shruti vAkya sharvaNa alone will give him
*all phala-s* of shrvaNa, manana & nidhidhyAsana...for him there is no
process like first shravaNa, then manana & finally nidhidhyAsana...since
shruti vAkya shravaNa jnAna itself helps him to sublate the notion of
pramAtrutva...once this sublation takes place there is no chance of
*planning* his further activities....Shankara makes this clear in muNdaka
shruti bhAshya while differentiating para & apara vidyA.  He says * yaThA
vidhiviShayE kartrAdhyanEka kArakOpasaMhAradvArENa vAkyArthajnAnakAlAt
anyatra anuSTEyOrThO asti agnihOtrAdilakShaNO, *na taThA iha paravidyA
viShayE, **vAkyArthajnAna samakAla yEvatu paryavasitO bhavati...kEvala
shabhdha prakAShita arThajnAnamAtra niShTA
vyaktiriktAbhAvAt**...So,prabhuji paravidyA is not always follows the order
of SMN (shravaNa, manana & nidhidhyAsana)..

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar