[Advaita-l] Sankara commentary for Chandogya Upanishad

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

But in Adi Sankara's Bhashya he has said the enjoyment of women and
vehicles is through mind only but he did not say  the enjoyment is
only a Stuti.

Moreover the Dvaitis also say when you get Moksha you will be in
Vaikuntha. The conditions in Vaikuntha are very pleasing.

http://madhwabrahmanas.blogspot.com/2009/07/sri-harivayu-stuti-translation.html

ye.amu.nbhAva.nbhaja.nte suramukhasujanArAdhita.n te tR^itIyam.h |
bhAsa.nte bhAsuraiste sahacharachalitaishchAmaraishchAruveshAH |
vaikuNThe kaNThalagna sthirashuchi vilasatkA.nti tAruNyalIlA |
lAvaNyA pUrNakA.ntA kuchabharasulabhAshleshhasammodasA.ndrAH || 9||

Translation:

Those who adore and worship with all devotion
The third incarnation which is worshipped by gods
Will be honoured in the heaven, Vaikunthaloka
They get delightful divine robes and all the comforts
The heavenly servants provide cool breeze with chamaras
Divine damsels will hug them and provide the charms of embrace.


Explanation:

Sri Ananda Thirtha is the third incarnation of Sri Vayu. Reverential
homage at his lotus feet is the prime requisite for earning his good
graces. Homage comes of a heart that tacitly believes in his greatness.
To regard him as the greatest Guru, a intelligent grasp of his
authoritative works on Dvaita Philosophy is absolutely indispensable.
They, who worship him as such, enhance their joy in Moksha. Our Acharaya
is thus worshipped by Gods and sages alike. These blessed devotees of Sri
Vayu are dressed in lustrous robes and decked with diamonds and jewellery
by the divine attendants who fan the pleasures of these Muktiyogyas. In
Vaikuntha staying with their swaroopa deva (void of all flesh and blood)
they become and recipents of full-some joy in the close embrace of
youthful damsels of dazzling beauty and per force they feel their joy
enhanced with philosophical appreciation of Sri Hari's and Sri Vayu's
graces in the form of these mysterious jokes.  Men and women devotees, Who
were destined to an eternal stay in Vaikunta, can never dream of any sense
of casual pleasures of the Earth. They are in Muktha Prapancha. They are
permanently severed from the bonds of prakruthi.

One more  translator Srinivasacharya Hombali says the youthful damsels
will embrace him who is in Vaikuntha. The beauty of these damsels will
not reduce with time like earthly women. They will be beautiful for
ever.  He gets pleasure from toes to head with these embraces and he
will feel the heaviness of their full breasts.

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 4:36 PM, V Subrahmanian
<v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Venkatesh Murthy <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Namaste
>>
>> What is Sankara's opinion regarding this Chandogya Upanishad Mantra
>> 8:12 3? Kindly explain with analysis.
>>
>
> Namaste.
>
> This is the translation of the mantra 8.12.3:
>
> //"So does this serene Being, arising from this body and reaching  the
> Highest Light, appear in His own form. In that state He is  the Highest
> Person. *There He moves about, laughing, playing,  rejoicing—be it with
> women, chariots, or relatives,* never  thinking of the body into which he
> was born.  "As an animal is attached to a cart, so is the prana (i.e. the
> conscious self) attached to the body.  //
>
> The purport of the mantra pertaining to the highlighted portion, according
> to the Acharya is brought out by Anandagiri in the gloss:
> किमिति निर्गुणविद्याप्रकरणे विदुषि सत्यकामसंबन्धवचनम् ?
> How is it that in the context of nirguNa jnAnam there is the mention (in the
> Shruti) about the connection with 'satyakAma', etc. (which pertains to the
> saguNa Brahman)?
>
> तत्राह - For this (hypothetical) question, the BhAShyam replies:
>
> इत्यात्मज्ञानेति । (भष्यवाक्यम् -) इत्यात्मज्ञानस्तुतये निर्दिश्यन्ते अतः
> साधु एतद्विशिनष्टि -* य एते ब्रह्मलोक* इति ।
> // But those true mental desires covered by falsehood, which are perceived
> by those whose faults have been eradicated and whose desires have been
> removed, become united with one who had become identified with all, because
> of their having been revealed by enlightenment.  *In this way they are
> pointed out for the eulogy of the knowledge of the Self*.// Unquote
>
> Thus, according to the Acharya, the mention of enjoyment, etc. in the
> shruti  is a 'stuti' of AtmavidyA.  The mantra quoted by the Acharya in the
> above bhashyam is taken from 8.12.5: * य एते ब्रह्मलोके.
> * // He who is aware of the thought: ‘Let me think this,’ he is the  Self;
> the mind is his divine eye. He, the Self sees all these  desires in the
> World of Brahman through the divine eye, the  mind and rejoices. //
>
> This mantra is about saguNa Brahman. On the strength of this mantra,
> Shankaracharya establishes that the Atma jnAna is eulogised by mantra 8.12.3
> by alluding to the enjoyment of the saguNa brahman as being a part of/
> connected to the Atma jnAni.
>
> An  interpretation to another related sentence of the BhAShyam is given by
> another commentator, अभिनवनारायणानन्देन्द्रसरस्वती thus: यद्वा ब्रह्मैव लोको
> ब्रह्मलोकः अतस्सर्वेषां कामानां ब्रह्मण्येव विद्यमानत्वात्
> सार्वात्म्यविवक्षया ब्रह्मलोकविशेषणम् वक्ष्यमाणमुपपद्यते इति अर्थान्तरमाह -
> यत्रेति ।
>
> The BhaaShya vaakyam related here is: यत्र क्वचन भवन्तोऽपि ब्रह्मण्येव हि ते
> लोके भवन्तीति सर्वात्मत्त्वाद्ब्रह्मण उच्यन्ते ।
> //Since Brahman is identified with everything, therefore, wherever they
> (enjoyments) may be, they are said to be in the world of Brahman. //
>
> The conclusion of the above study is:
>
>   - The alluding to enjoyments in the case of AtmajnAni is only an eulogy,
>   stuti  of AtmajnAna.
>   - Such enjoyments may or may not be there to an exalted being, owing to
>   one's karma.
>   - These enjoyments belong to a superior loka, like Brahma loka.
>   - An AtmajnAni too can have such enjoyments owing to prArabdha of/by
>   acquiring appropriate superior bodies
>   - All enjoyments of all beings in the creation are only manifestations of
>   the Supreme Joy of/that is Brahman.
>   - So the enjoyments mentioned in the above mantra need not be physically
>   experienced by the jnani but theoretically appropriated/attributed to him on
>   the above logic.
>   - The above referred   second gloss gives another useful upapatti in this
>   connection:  It is reasonable to attribute all joys such as referred in this
>   mantra since joy is verily the svarUpa of Atman.  However, since duHkha is
>   maayika and since it is sublated/destroyed owing to Atma jnanam, there is no
>   attributing of this to the Jnani.
>   - In the SrImadbhAgavatam there is the mention of Chitraketu having
>   attained jnanam traversing  with celestial women.  See here for a detailed
>   account of the episode:
>   http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/hinduism-forum/790772-chitraketu-offends-angers-parvati-devi.html
>   - See here for the earlier life of Chitraketu:
> http://kvakutty.sulekha.com/blog/post/2010/01/chitraketu-story-from-srimad-bhagavatham.htm
>
>
> Regards
> subrahmanian.v


-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh