[Advaita-l] Anantaa vai vedaah

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

A Brahma Jnani is sarvajna but this jnanam is undifferentiated because it is
an hindrance to the experience of bliss. His state, the state of Vishnu, is
beyond the known and unknown. Just as we cannot say with respect to Brahman
that it knows or it does not know, so is it with respect to a Brahma Jnani.
He is identical with the Nirupadhika Ishwara.  However, the question arises
because it is hard to see some one who is a sarvajna though we hear that
with respect to few. This is because, as you know, there are four stages of
jivan mukti and it is in the the highest stage that this is irrefutably
true. In the previous stages, though the ajnana associated with the jiva is
destroyed, the mental modifications continues to exist, which is the cause
of error. Even in these stages, if the mental modifications have been
destroyed through practice of yoga, then there is no possibility of error
because the mind becomes fully transparent to knowledge in Brahman. All that
we see in the Universe is particularization of Brahma Jnanam through Maya.

Vedas are ananta because they transcendental to space, being the breadth of
brahman, not because they have mathematically infinite number of mantras.
Mathematics itself is finite evne if it deals with the infinite.


 On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 9:01 AM, Shrinivas Gadkari
<sgadkari2001 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Namaste Shri Vidyasankar,
>
> I would like to suggest that we take statements like "when brahma
> vidyA is known, everything else is known", on face value - to
> encompass all knowledge including all vyavahArika sciences and arts.
>
> Though I myself am only an entry level student of brahma vidyA, I
> still feel quite certain that above statement is not at all an
> exaggeration. (It is just a matter of time spanning several
> lifetimes :-) that one will get to verify the correctness of this
> statement via direct personal experience.)
>
> Here is a high level summary of how this works - I am also quite
> sure that you must be more than familiar with this theory.
> - Whatever is in macrocosm is also in the microcosm.
> - Sometimes it is easier to deal with microcosm, at other times
>  vice versa.
> - Understanding this interrelationship and harnessing it is at the
>  heart of every vidyA.
> - One of the best tools in this context is dhAraNA-dhyAna-samAdhi
>  described by maharSi pAtanjali.
> - Chapter 13 of gItA calls the microcosm kSetra. One would expect
>  macrocosm would be called kSetra - this might be a subtle hint in
>  gitA on equivalence of microcosm and macrocosm.
> - Chapter 13 of gItA then on to state that the whatever RSi-s could
>  understand (via yoga or any other sAdhanA) of the components of
>  this kSetra they have encapsulated in the veda mantras (chanda-s).
> - Since there is no end to components of kSetra and their interactions,
>  there cannot be any end to veda mantras. Now, can we say that every
>  statement about components of kSetra and their interactions is a
>  veda mantra? Probably not. Though, through sAdhana, it may be
>  possible to refine every such statement until it attains the status
>  of a veda mantra. Not everyone is capable of this feat - those who
>  are, are known as mantra draSTA-s.
>  (This should also shed some light on veda-s being ananta.)
>
> hari om.
>
> Regards,
> Shrinivas
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------
> In a general sense, the word veda, as a noun form related to the verb vid -
> "to know"
> - can be seen as encapsulating every single element of human knowledge. In
> a different
> day and age, perhaps this attitude would be unexceptionable. However,
> making assertions
> about the unfolding of any and every kind of human knowledge from veda
> mantras, and
> that too at a vyAvahArika level is fraught with problems, especially in
> contemporary times.
> It should be seen as nothing more than arthavAda - stuti of knowledge in
> general. Given
> the weakness of social and ideological support for the transmission
> tradition today,
> combined with the motivation from multiple quarters to generate new texts
> aspiring to
> be called veda, I would urge a huge note of caution about pressing this
> point.
>
> Regards,
> Vidyasankar
>
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