[Advaita-l] Are actions essentially meaningless?

[V Subrahmanian]

In the Panchadashi Sri Vidyaranya says:

सदा विचारयेत्तस्माज्जगत्ज्जीवपरात्मनः | जीवभावजगद्भावबाधे स्वात्मैव शिष्यते
||6.12||
*नाप्रतीतिस्तयोर्बाधः किन्तु *मिथ्यात्वनिश्चयः** | नो
चेत्सुषुप्तिमूर्च्छादौ मुच्येता यत्नतो जनः ||6.13||

परमात्मावशेषोऽपि तत्सत्यत्वविनिश्चयः |*न जगद्विस्मृतिर्नो
चेज्जीवन्मुक्तिर्न सम्भवेत् *||७.४||

भोगकाले कदाचित्तु मर्त्योऽहमिति भासते ||७. २४४||
नैतावतापराधेन तत्त्वज्ञानं विनश्यति |*जीवन्मुक्तिव्रतं नेदं *किन्तु
वस्तुस्थितिः खलु ||७. २४५||


In the Jivanmukti viveka, vAsanAkshaya prakaraNam we have a dialogue thus:

// Objection: If attachment and aversion are admitted in a knower of the
Truth ('Jnani' as per the original), then, on account of the resulting
merit and demerit, there would arise the contingency of his being reborn
after death.  Reply: Such is not the case.  Likes and dislikes that are
akin to uncooked seeds (capable of sprouting) and foreshadowed by avidya
(and, so, by the erroneous identification of the Atman with the mind) are
the ones that, by virtue of their constituting the primary variety of
attachment and aversion, cause rebirth.  The attachment and the like of the
Knowers of the Truth are, however, like burnt seeds (which are incapable of
sprouting) and merely have the appearance of the primary ones. //


// (Though they be mere appearances of the primary likes and dislikes of
the ignorant and incapable of contributing to rebirth) t*he likes and
dislikes of the Jnani would, while they last, cause trouble like the
primary likes and dislikes.* A false snake seen in the place of a rope
causes, for the time being, fear just like a real snake.  The case of the
apparent likes and dislikes (of a Jnani) is like this.

Objection: There would be no trouble at all (even temporarily) if the
falsity of the apparent likes and dislikes were kept in mind.

Answer:  May you live long! This (keeping in mind the falsity) is what we
regard as marking jivanmukti.//  जीव्यतां चिरम् । इयमेवास्मदभिमता
जीवन्मुक्तिः ।

unquote

From the above it is known that Sri Vidyaranya holds the (mere) aparokSha
jnAni who is having the prapancha mithyAtva - Brahma satyatva buddhi (and
not necessarily someone in the fifth, etc. states of the saptabhUmikA ) to
be a jIvanmukta as 'his view of who a jivanmukta is'.  What he has said
with reference to the saptabhUmikA is a delineation according to that
scheme.

There is also a view among some Acharyas that even the fourth stage
'sattvApattiH' is not really aparokshajnAnam but only parokshajnanam and
that is very conducive for the arising of direct knowledge. I vaguely
remember to have read this long ago in  the Achyutarai Modak's commentary
(at a library) on the Jivanmukti viveka. I am yet to confirm this.

Sri Vidyaranya in the Taittiriya Upanishad vyAkhyAna (either in the deepikA
or the Taittiriya Upanishad bhAshyam of his) says that there are three
types of Jnanis owing to prArabdha:

1. This person is engaged in vyavahara and is exposed to rAga/dvesha that
arises out of this and is somewhat afflicted too.

2. This jnani is also engaged in vyavahara but quickly overcomes the  raga,
etc. by applying viveka.

3. The third type is completely dedicated to samAdhi and there is not even
the prasakti for rAga dvesha etc. arising.

I heard this being stated by a Swamiji at a recent conference.  As I have
no specific reference and the exact words of Vidyaranya on this, I am not
reproducing them here.  Once I get these I shall surely share them with
members here.

regards
subrahmanian.v



On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 1:19 AM, श्रीमल्ललितालालितः <
lalitaalaalitah at lalitaalaalitah.com> wrote:

> *श्रीमल्ललितालालितः
> *www.lalitaalaalitah.com
>
> सोऽयं चतुर्थीं भूमिकां प्राप्तो योगी ब्रह्मविद् इत्युच्यते ।
>
> The yogI, who has reached this fourth stage is called *brahmavid*.
> He is though not a jIvanmukta (a person with stable GYAna).
>
> *Q:* How could you say this ?
>
> *A: *Because the next sentence says that :
> पञ्चम्यादयः तिस्रो भूमयो जीवन्मुक्तेरवान्तरभेदाः ।
>
> The three stages, starting from fifth one, are the different stages of
> jIvanmukti.
>
> This shows that the person on the fourth stage is not a jIvanmukta. He is a
> aparoxa-GYAnI without stability of the same.
>
> This post hence shows that unstable and stable aparoxa-GYAna are mapped to
> last four stages among the mentioned seven stages of yoga.
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>