[Advaita-l] True or False

[Anand Hudli]

>*Half truth. What about abheda bhakti where a jnani identifies Himself with
>His Lord but knows the visEshas also? The disciple in Vivekachudamani says
>"I am Vishnu", "I was Manu" etc. after realization.  I dont know if Sankara
>wrote Vivekachudamani but concede that it is written by one who was in the
>line. *

You must be referring to verse 494, "nArAyaNo .ahaM narakAntako .ahaM
purAntako .ahaM...". The disciple, after Self realization, proclaims that he
is nArayaNa, shiva, etc. In what sense does his say this?
sarvopAdhisaMbandhavinirmukta, free from being related to anything by
limiting adjuncts (limitations). The Self-realized person does not feel any
limitations of space, time, identity, etc. He can identify himself with the
Self that exists in all beings from Brahma down to an ant.

You speak of abheda bhakti but the true meaning of that is to worship God as
the Self, not necessarily as possessing a shankha-chakra-gadA-padma. In
fact, the GopikAs worshipped Krishna in the form of a simple cowherd boy.
They could not care less if He were shriman nArAyaNa Himself, the ruler of
VaikunTha, bearing the shankha-chakra-gadA-padma and other insignia. There
is a reason behind this. If you worship God as an immensely powerful being,
totally different from you, it is difficult to identify with Him and say "I
am He." On the other hand, if you worship Him in a simple form, it is
relatively easy to identify with Him. In any case, MadhusUdana Sarasvati,
has explained the role of bhakti or saguNa Brahman worship in his gItA
commentary (Chapter 12), as one that takes the successful bhakta to
Brahmaloka. After enjoying the stay in Brahmaloka, he realizes the VedAntic
truths and attains the same result as those with nirguNa BrahmavidyA. It is
important to note that MadhusUdana has not said that saguNa Brahman is the
*final* result attained by those in bhakti yoga, but rather the *final*
result is the nirguNa Brahman. In this final state, there is no Ishvara, no
jIva, and no jagat. In this respect, he is in agreement with the rest of the
advaitins.

Anand