doubt on the role of shruti vAkyAs ( was Re: [Advaita-l] advaita and vedas)

[Sanjay Srivastava]

> Here's my "personal resolution" to the teachings of RM and Sankara on
> the role of scripture in attaining Atma GYAna, someone else will have
> a different perspective:-
>
> As mentioned above, RM completely accepts the claim of VedAnta that:
>
> shravaNa --eventually--> GYAna
>
> RM was however not of the view that:
>
> shravaNa, manana, nididhyAsana --directly--> GYAna
>
> RM would instead say:
>
> shravaNa, manana, nididhyAsana --> Atma-vichAra --directly--> GYAna
>
>
> As far as I can tell, the last sequence above resolves to a certain
> extent the "differences" between RM and Sankara on the role of
> scripture.

Actually, even this much "reconciliation" may not be required.

Swami Dayananda has credited his "reorientation"  to vedanta to yogi 
ramayya, who was a direct disciple of ramana. According to him, it is 
only the ignorant who think that ramana's Atma-vichAra is some 
different technique other than "shravaNa, manana, nididhyAsana". 
"Atma-vichAra" as recommended by ramana is exactly what the word says - 
Atma-vichAra. It is not simply asking in vacuum "Who am I?" , which by 
itself can't lead to anything. It is not simply repeating "Who am I?" 
but constantly trying to understand the nature of "I".  And how do we 
understand the nature of "I"? Through the only pramANa by which it can 
be understood viz. shruti. Simply put, constant asking of "Who am I?" 
is not a mechanical question asking but full-fledged nididhyAsana, 
which takes for granted a reasonable practice of shravaNa and manana 
beforehand.

praNAm