[Advaita-l] Question on Mayavada

[V Subrahmanian]

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 1:04 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <
sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Dear Vidyasankarji,
>
> Can we give the example of Vishwamitra to illustrate the difference between
> the Jivanmukti and Videhamukti? Vishwamitra, after he became a Brahmarshi,
> ie. after he became a jivanmukta (I guess we can call a Brahmajnani like
> Vishwamitra as Jivanmukta) could fall for Menaka shows that the Jivanmukta
> can be amukta at times, due to carelesness, till the Videhamukti is finally
> achieved. The period between the achievement of Jivanmukti and the
> Videhamukti is a period of vigilance for the Jivanmukta. Probably the
> Srividya helps one to get immunized from passion, the last of the great
> impediments in the spiritual journey. Any comment?
>
> Regards,
>
> Sunil K. Bhattacharjya
>




In contemporary history, here is an incident reported by Swami Saradananda
in  'Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master':

(Quote) The Master: 'Ah, lust does not vanish till God is realized.  *So
long as the body lasts, a little of it continues even after realization but
then it cannot raise its head.*  Do you think I myself am altogether free
from it? At one time I thought I had conquered lust.  When I was sitting
under PanchavaTi such an onrush of lust came that it seemed to be beyond my
power of control.  I then wept rubbing my face against the dust on the
ground and said to Mother, ' I have done a great wrong, Mother.  I shall
never again harbour the idea that I have conquered lust.'  It was then only
it vanished.' (unquote)

While Srividya could be a method, Vedanta has a variety of methods to handle
any problem pertaining to vAsana-management.  The Jivanmuktiviveka of Swami
Vidyaranya is a work specializing on this topic.  The methods range from
Bhagavadbhakti to discrimination on the real-unreal, nitya-anitya, etc.

In Vedanta, videhamukti is not 'finally achieved'; the jivanmukti simply
dovetails into videhamukti.  The above work of Vidyaranya has a discussion
on the meaning(s) of videhamukti too.  We have discussed these in a thread
titled 'GyAnimAtra...' in this forum some months ago.

Regards,
subrahmanian.v