[Advaita-l] jnAna-karma samuccaya

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Dear Shrinivasji.

Namaste,

What you say is completely in line with the Bhagavad Gita. The goal of an advaitin is to realize the oneness with the Brahman or in other wordsto being one with the Brahman unless we attempt to find difference between these two statements. Adi Sankara had written in the beginning of his Gitabhashya as to what made him write the bhashya as he found that the earlier attempts by others did not succeed in resolving the seemingly controversial points. For example, one confusion arises in interpreting the Karma itself and in chapter 4 the Lord advises us to renounce the fruits of action,  be ever content, and be independent so that  one will not really be acting though in action. Many actions like Yogabhyasha cannot really  be considered as actions  as these  will not attract retribution though these may appear to be actions to others, who are not aware of what the Lord says.  In the same chapter he Lord has advised us to kill our doubts with Jnana and
 then take to Yoga. 

In chapter 6 the Lord  says that Yogi is higher than the Jnanai and also says that the yogi needs Kriya to reach the height of yoga but having reached the height he needs only to maintain  the calmness  and quietness.

The Lord says that Adhyatmavidys is the highest of all vidyas and in chapter 10 he says that Dhyana or Meditation is higher than Jnana. 

As regards Bhakti or devotion the Lord says that he gives buddhiyoga to his devotees by which they go to him and later in chapter 14 the Lord says that by devoyion the bhakta knows him and knowing that they enter the Lord, This means even in the path of devotion the Lord himself provides the Jnana so that the devotee has no problem in being one with the Lord. Bhakti gives all the concentration needed. Being absorbed in bhakti to the Lord is not any different fron meditating on OM. 

In the Bhagavad Gita the Lord has shown that no path is inferior whether it is karma yoga, Bhaktiyoga, or Jnanayoga  or Yoga itself. One should read the Bhagavad Gita with Sankarbhashya more often and may find  new meanings many a times in each reading and one  should do thi particularly after reading any other Vedanta literatur. The Lord had granted the people living in the Kali yuga a great favour through his Gita, which was no available in the earlier yugas.

Regards,

Sunil K. Bhattacharjya
.

--- On Sun, 11/14/10, Shrinivas Gadkari <sgadkari2001 at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Shrinivas Gadkari <sgadkari2001 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Advaita-l] jnAna-karma samuccaya
To: "Advaita-l List" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Sunday, November 14, 2010, 8:59 PM

subject matter.I am sure that Shankara,the brilliant logician that he
is,has answered all only from the Adwaithic point of view.This must be
kept in mind before studying his bhashyas.That is the greatness of
Shankara.We must also realise that there is no"Jnana-karma samuccaya in
his bhashyas,as some subscribers have suggested
                                                N.Srikanta.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Namaste,

For an ordinary sAdhaka like me the upAsanA marga in which jnAna, karma,
and yoga are beautifully integrated with the thread of bhakti is by far the best
path to adopt. If someone were to argue : .... but in the final analysis there
is only jnAna etc etc ... , to them I would say: Okay. In that case since jnAna 
is an integral component of upAsanA marga, I will begin to see the truth of
claims like these when I am ready.

upAsanA marga / bhakti is a well rounded path capable of granting any and every
puruSartha.

hari om,
regards,
Shrinivas


      
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