[Advaita-l] brahma sAkshAtkAra (was RE: Apaurusheyatva of Vedas.)

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

Changing the topic name, to be more pertinent to this discussion that branched off from
the ongoing thread on veda apaurusheyatva.
 

> That is really well said prabhuji. But I reckon, some school take a 
> different step from the above. According to them, mere vedAnta jnAna does 
> not suffice this jnAna has to culminate in the 'experience' like 
> nirvikalpa samAdhi / sAkshAtkAra etc. You might have noticed the recent 
> thread on 'avagati' with regard to this. I am quoting for your ready 
> reference from Sri praveen kumar's mail :
> 
> //quote//
> 
> The author Vachaspati mishra in his work Bhamati says
> 
> ''Not mere knowledge alone is desired but that leads to Avagati or
> Sakshataka(direct experience).That which
> culminates in Avagati is the object of desire denoted by the suffix san
> 
> This is in the context of atman.All the sub commentators of shankara 
> bhashya
> did suggest direct experience
> as a means of realisation not just mere vedantic knowledge of atman.
> 
> // unquote//
> 

Bhaskar, to me it seems as if you always deliberately impute unnecessary extra meanings
to sentences like that quoted above and always bring in a negative reference to nirvikalpa
samAdhi.
 
It is clear to most of the rest of us that what is meant by vAcaspati miSra is the following:

 
avagati/sAkshAtkAra/samAdhi = transcending the mere knowledge of the words and the
sentences as described below and abiding in brahman.
 
mere vedAnta jnAna = the kind of knowledge that the vast majority of us have on this list,
viz. the words and the sentences such as tat tvam asi and ahaM brahmAsmi, without ever
even a second of really "Atmanaiva avasthAnam". We are even able to write reams and
reams of material on the topic, agreeing with some, fighting with others etc. 
 
Surely, you can see that there is a qualitative difference of description involved here and 
that you are raising a strawman argument and then debunking it. Every discussion thread
need not be an opportunity for you to reiterate the thesis that the bhAmati and vivaraNa
subschools misunderstand the SAnkara bhAshya.
 
Vidyasankar