[Advaita-l] Ritambara Prajna

[Ramesh Krishnamurthy]

On 19 August 2011 10:33, Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:

> The function of upasana in Vedanta is not to cause or increase jnana (or "a
> more subtle jnana" which is a concept that doesn't make sense.  jnana is
> jnana is jnana) but to annhilate ajnana which allows svayamaprakasha jnana
> to shine forth.  To this end an untainted intellect can be useful just as
> nirvikalpa samadhi can be useful but my point is it is orthogonal to whether
> one understands the shastra or not.
>


Well, the function of upAsana is only to produce an untainted intellect. In
an untainted intellect, the mahAvAkya pramANa can perform its function of
annihilating aj~nAna, in the sense that the pramANa is actually meant for
dvaita nivRtti rather than advaita siddhi (as AtmA is svavamprakAsha).

nirvikalpa samAdhi is certainly neither necessary nor sufficient, but it may
be an extreme statement to say that it is orthogonal. After all, an
untainted intellect is necessary for the pramANa to function. The
yogashAstra, which culminates in nirvikalpa samAdhi, is certainly a very
powerful tool for achieving this untainted intellect.