[Advaita-l] : Fw: Bhakti and Jnana

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Dear friends,

On Bhakti Rasayana Lance Edward Nelson himself says as follows:

Quote
The Bhaktirasayana (BR), the most important of these, is an 
independent composition which attempts a theoretical integration of 
non-dualist metaphysics and the ecstatic devotionalism of the Bhagavata 
Purana. The work's main thesis, borrowed from the Vaisnava 
devotionalists, is that bhakti is highest goal of life 
(paramapurusartha). To establish this in the face of the orthodox 
Advaita doctrine that liberation alone is the highest aim, Madhusudana 
argues (1) that bhakti is God (bhagavat) appearing in the melted mind of the devotee, (2) that, since bhagavat is supreme bliss, so is bhakti, 
and (3) that bhakti includes knowledge of the atman and is a more 
blissful experience than moksa.  While the argument for the experiential superiority of bhakti in the state of j ivanmukti ("liberation in 
life") is plausible, Madhusudana does not show, in Advaitic terms, how 
it can be experienced eternally after death. Moreover, he fails to 
establish that bhagavat is ontologically equal to Brahman, which makes 
it difficult to see how bhakti, as identified with bhagavat, can be 
ontologically superior, or even equal, to moksa. In short, he does not 
present a convincing argument for bhakti 's being the paramapurusartha.In later works such as the Gudarthadipika and Advaitassiddhi, 
Madhusudana abandons the idea that bhakti is an independent spiritual 
path and itself the paramapurusartha. The commonly accepted view that 
he was a champion of the cause of bhakti who successfully integrated 
devotion and Advaita cannot therefore be accepted without serious 
qualification.
Unquote


Regards,

Sunil KB


________________________________
 From: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>
To: "advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 2:24 PM
Subject: [Advaita-l] :  Fw:  Bhakti and Jnana
 


Nobody said that Bhakti is not necessary. You have conveniently forgotten that I wrote in the earlier mails that Bhakti is the driving force and it takes one to the goal. The goal itself is Jnana as the Mahavakya says "Prajnanam Brahma". There is  nohing like  Bhaktim Brahma. The Brahman is the consciousness / awareness/ Jnana  and there is no bhakti in the final count. Bhakti has to have two entities, the Bhakta and the Bhagavan. After attaining Bhagavan there is one entity and there is no Bhakti for anybody at that stage. In advaita one has to leave the five-koshas behind and merge with the Brahman.  Don't forget "Bhaktyartham kalpitam dvaita advaitatyadapi Sundaram". There cannot be Bhatyartham Advaita. This is as simple as that. 

Madhusudana, .as you admit yourself now, wrote the Gudhartha Dipika on the Bhagavad Gita only after writing the Bhagavd Bhakti Rasayana. So also he wrote the Advaitasiddhi after writing  the Bhagavad Bhakti Rasayana. Can you show me where in  the Gidhrtha Dipika and Advaitasiddhi does Madhusudana Saraswati say that there is Bhakti after attainment of Brahman. Bhakti is the means to rthe end. The end is Jnana and not Bhakti. 


That Bengali boy Kamalnayana had early education in Navadvipa, the centre-place  of the Bhakti scholol of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and you claim  that there is no evidence  to show he was influenced by Gaudiya Vaishnavam.Well then what according to you is the source of his early inspiration towards Bhakti. You cannot escape just by questioning some plausible views and without saying what is the right answer according to you. 


SKB


________________________________
From: "rajaramvenk at gmail.com" <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>
To: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>; A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Fw:  Bhakti and Jnana

I took pains to give you the chronology of Madhusudana's works. Dr. Sanjukta's has given a detailed analysis in her book. It is annoying
that you reject facts presented and propose your theories without any basis. I repeat, he wrote BhR after Advaita Siddhi and GD definitely after BhR. He refers to BhR in GD for advanced knowledge of Bhakti (rf. Ch 18). In GD (18.66), he clearly asserts bhakti is the means and end of jnana and karma. So, there is no basis for you to say that he wrote on bhakti before he understood advaita. If you read him, you will not underestimate his genius like this. 

Also, there is no literary evidence to show he was influenced by Gaudiya Vaishnavam.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

-----Original Message-----
From: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>
Sender: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:14:34 
To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Reply-To: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>,
    A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
    <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Subject: [Advaita-l] Fw:  Bhakti and Jnana





Just a convenient assertion from you
as expected without any logical support. Madhusudana was  close to the Navadvipa school of Bhakti before he moved to Varanasi, where he was initiated into Advaita. Later on he took to Sanyasha. There is no proof to show that after initiation to Advaita he  looked back to Bhakti.

Sunil KB



________________________________
From: "rajaramvenk at gmail.com" <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>
To: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>; A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
Sent: Sunday, February
12, 2012 11:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Bhakti and Jnana

You asked the right question - chronology of his writings but seem to have formed a conclusion without looking up the reference I cited. Anyway, here it is for you. You can clearly see that your position is baseless. He wrote Advaita Siddhi before BhR and GD after.

1. Samksepa sariraka sara samgraha
2. Vedanta Kalpa Latika
3. Siddhanta Binder
4. Advaita Siddhi
5. Advaita Ratna Rakshana

6. Mahimnah Stotra Tika
7. Bhaktirasayana
8. Gudartha Dipika
9. Commentary on the first sloka of Bhagavata
10. Harilila vyakhya

There are 12 other works attributed to him.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>
Sender: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:03:06 
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Reply-To: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>,
    A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
    <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Bhakti and Jnana

Namaste,

The visishtadvaitins  are bent on showing that bhakti also transcends Prakriti, as
they do not understand the very concept of the panchakoshas
given in the Shruti. They want to show that Madhusudana Saraswati (MS) was a visishtadvain in the garb of an advaitin. They appear to pretend not to know that MS wrote Bhagavad Bhakti rasayana, when he was head over heels infatuated with the Achintya Bhedabheda, which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu professed  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's guru was Keshav kashmiri Bhattacharya, who was again a disciple of Nimbarkacharya. With that kind of spiritual heritage it was difficult for MS to accept Adi Sankara's advaita in the beginning. However MS being an intelligent person could later on realize the truth about Advaita, once he difficultly understood Adi Sankara's Bhagavad Gita Bhashya. Thereafter he (MS) did not look back, though the visihtadvaitins try to to drag him to his earlier views, in their (visishtadvaitin's) own interest.

Regards,

Sunil
KB


________________________________
From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2012 10:01 PM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Bhakti and Jnana

On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 11:48 PM, Rajaram Venkataramani <
rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Rajaram: With due respects, I disagree. If you re-read the quote posted
> earlier, the key point is bhakti rasa is *eternal* and
> *imperishable* like brahmavidya phala and not limited to body-mind as well
> as time-space limitations. It is not possible if it
is dependent on the
> body-mind complex and time-space as Sri
Subrahmanian says because then it
> will be perishable on death and cannot be called eternal. Also, the
> comparison of bhakti rasa with brahma-vidya phala will pose challenge.
> Also, Madhusudana has stated why it is eternal as I said in my quote
> earlier that it is because bhakti rasa is non-different from bhagavat being
> His reflection in the druta mana (melted mind).


I think here lies the distinct feature of the school MS seems to represent
here.  He stresses the presence of a medium of reflection, the melted mind,
to be an eternal feature in order to keep the bhakti rasa alive as an
eternal entity.  Here is where we can conclusively say that this position
differs from the Vedanta.  In Vedanta the mind is a product of PrakRti. The
Bhagavadgita chapters 7 and 13 are evidence for this.  And in
Vedanta,
Advaita, realization of moksha presupposes the knowledge that the
prakRti
is non-existent in all periods of time.  The BG 2.16 and the last verse of
the 13th chapter specifically teach this.  Shankara writes at the latter
occasion: bhUtaprakRti moksham = the abhAvagamanam of the prakRti.  Thus,
the position where the mind, in its melted form, is to remain eternally in
order to support the reflection of Bhagavan/Brahman in it to enable the
Bhakti rasa/brahmavidyA to be eternal is undoubtedly opposed to Vedanta and
Advaita as taught by Shankara.  The very idea of non-duality is sacrificed
in the bid to eternalize bhakti rasa through postulating a melted mind that
remains eternally.

It is important to note that Acharyas like Vachaspati Mishra and Appayya
Dikshita and Vidyaranya have authored works that are not restricted to the
Advaita school but a variety of others as well like
sAnkhya, alankAra,
yoga, etc.  It would be definitely wrong to strive to
somehow harvest
Advaita from all these patently other works of these Acharyas whose
reputation in Advaita is undoubtedly very high.  I would like to think that
Madhusudana Saraswati too has authored works like the Bhaktirasayana to
cater to a different audience.  For example Appayya Dikshita has penned a
popular commentary on a Vishishtadvaita work which is regarded by that
school as commendable.  He has written on Shaiva siddhanta and Dvaita as
well.  It would be wrong to say that these works are somehow talking about
Advaita.  Similarly MS's bhakti literature with the tell-tale-evidence of
maintaining a melted mind eternally cannot be taken to be a treatise on
Advaita by any means.  The distinction, even at the fundamental level, is
unmistakable.  The bhakta-bhagavan duality is clearly
maintained.  For, a
melted mind is of no use unless there is a someone who identifies with
it.
With no such person to identify with it, a melted mind cannot exist by
itself just bearing a reflection of Bhagavan.  Surely Bhagavan does not
need a reflecting medium called this melted mind for His reflection to be
borne.  It is only for the sake of the bhakta who has striven over several
lives cultivating this bhakti rasa and taking it to its pinnacle that this
melted mind, a receptacle, is maintained by MS.  So, without charging him
of not knowing Advaita or of having deviated from Shankara, one can happily
concede that such works of his are directed at some other audience/school.
Nothing wrong in it.

And that is the plain reason why such works of his are not studied/taught
as part of Advaita in traditional circles.  One might read them to increase
his bhakti like reading the Narada
bhakti sutras.  But trying to reconcile
these with Advaita would not take us
anywhere.

Also, the Eka jiva vAda is a construct not useful in this exercise.  It
only means that from the absolute standpoint there is no bondage, no
liberation, none liberated.  This position has nothing to do with MS's
bhakti rasa construct.  Great upasakas who are also Jnanis are rarely
directed by Ishwara to take up specific administrative positions in the
cosmic management purely owing to their extraordinary praarabdha karma and
even here at the end of such tenures these exalted jivas attain eternal
videha kaivalyam leaving no trace such as an eternal melted mind.  So, MS's
position on this has no relevance to the Eka jiva vada construct or the
aadhikArika purusha concepts of Vedanta.

Regards,
subrahmanian.v

So we cannot give an
> alternate explanation. Also, just as Sri Subrahmanian
stated that if
> continuance of bhakti rasa after death is what Madhusudana meant,
then it
> is a definite deviation from Advaita, Prof. Lance Nelson concluded that he
> has not successfully reconciled his position of bhakti with orthodox
> Advaita because he has asserted contunuance of bhakti rasa post death. Even
> Prof. Sanjukta is of the opinion that he added Bhakti Rasa to the Advaita
> literature by leveraging Bhakti in the previous writings and Upasana in the
> upanishads. According to her, he is orthodox in his philosophical
> affiliation to Advaita and heterodox in theology, thanks to the liberal
> atmosphere under Emperor Akbar. Not only academic scholars, one of the
> post-Madhusudana sanakracharyas is said to have ruthlessly critcized
> Madhusudana without naming him. Even Swami Gambhirananda in his
> introduction lists places where he differs from Sankara.  All
these show
> that Madhusudana's conclusions such as eternal bhakti rasa, bhakti
is
> the means and end of jnana (Gud. Dip. 18.66) etc. make many scholars
> believe that his views are not orthodox.  Long story short, Madhusudana is
> definitely at the centre of a controversy for saying that bhakti rasa is
> eternal, bhakti is an indpendent path to moksha without need for even a
> guru, jnana culminates in bhakti etc.
>
> On eternal bhakti rasa, I think the clue to the problem is in Madhusudana's
> support of eka-jiva-vada where the videha-mukti of even Suka etc. is an
> eulogy and not a fact. Nara Narayana rishis who were paramahamsa sannyasis
> did re-appear as KrishnArjuna as per smrti sastras. It is perhaps the
> classification of bhakti rasas according to Madhusudana, Sridhara, Hemadri,
> Jnaneshwar etc. and the origin of rasa theory perhaps in Hari Vamsa.
The
> key to the problem of bhakti over jnana is in tracing the traditional
> scholars
who link back to Madhusudana and have studied his works and that
> of his commentators such as Narayana Tirtha, author of Bhakti Chandrika. It
> would be a great find.
> __
>
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