[Advaita-l] Modern science and Vedanta.

[Srikanta Narayanaswami]

RV:  In 18.66 Sankara refers to the ultimate jnani as a bhakta only. In fact
he specifically refers to verses in Ch. 10 and 12, where the Lord
specifically describes a jnani as bhakta dear to Him (*yo mad-bhaktah sa me
priyah)*. From Sankara bhashya, " 'noble indeed' are all the three (classes
of) unenlightened persons, 'but the man of Knowledge is the very Self. (This
is) My opinion' (7.18); the unenlightened who perform their rites and
duties, 'who are desirous of pleasures, attain the state of going and
returning' (9.21); 'becoming non-different from Me and meditative' (9.22)
and endowed with steadfast devotion, they worship (Me) the Self which has
been described as comparable to space and taintless; and 'I grant that
possession of wisdom by which they reach Me' (10.10); i.e., the
unenlightened persons who perform rites and duties 'do not reach Me.' Those
who perform works for the Lord and who, though they be the most devout, are
ignorant persons performing rites and duties,-they remain involved in
practices which, in a descending order, culminate in giving up the fruit of
actions (cf. 12.6-11). But those who meditate on the indefinable Immutable
take recourse to the disciplines stated in the passages beginning with 'He
who is not hateful towards any creature' (12.13) and ending with that
Chapter, and also resort to the path of Knowledge presented in the three
chapters beginning with the Chapter on the 'field'. The three results of
actions, viz the undesirable etc. (cf. 12), do not accrue only to the
mendicants belonging to the Order of Paramahamsas (the highest Order of
monks)-who have renounced all actions that originate from the five causes
beginning with the locus (cf. 14), who possess the knowledge of the oneness
and non-agentship of the Self (17,20), who continue in the supreme
steadfastness in Knowledge, who know the real nature of the Lord, and who
have taken refuge in the unity of the real nature of the Lord with the Self.
It does accrue to the others who are not monks, the ignorant persons who
perform rites and duties. Such is this distinction made in the scripture
Gita with regard to what is duty and what is not.
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with reference to your above Email,the Lord says "Chatuvidhamam Bhajante'Arthah,Artharthi,Jignasu,Jnani ca Bharatharshabha.Tesam.Udarah tu sarve,tesam Jnanih sreshtahsa ca mamapriyah'because he is my very self.If the Lord has stated without mentioning this,then you may conclude this way.But,he continues "Jnani is sreshta".Iam not talking about Karma,those who perfom the karmas etc.The topic of discussion is who is a Jnani and who is a Bhaktha?It is not the qualification a Jnani must possess,as per your specifications.A Jnani neednot be a mendicant.This point has been cleared in the list before.Further,Shankara has not detailed what are these qualities.If onenes(Adwaita) is mentioned then it is not all these qualifications.How to distinguish the non-agent ship or not in that state?Does that means the Jnani will be in a state of amnesia?We cannot take the statements of BG verbatim and come to our own conclusions.What is the purport of the BG?More over,in
 the statement,'sarva karmakhilam Partha Jnane parisamyate"clearly removes this doubt.Otherwise e will be continuing to read BG endlessly without knowing its conclusion.Shankara also corroborates this in his bhashyas of upanishads,Brahmasutra bhashhya and the BG.Again and again he stresses that these three donot state differently.
N.Srikanta.