[Advaita-l] Eternal Loka

[Bishwa Prakash Subedi]

Dear Vidyasankar Sudaresan and Rajaramjee:
 
Namaskar. 
 
Regarding the issue under discussion that "a pure devotee does not want moksha", it is not only the Vaishnavas and Sri Prabhupada and his followers (bhakti margis) but even Shri Adi Shankaracharya also in many contexts contended that devotion is above jnana and moksha. For instance in devyapradhakshamapanastotra's 8th vers Shri Shankara says:

I don't have the desire to attain Moksha, neither I have the desire to attain luxuries and resplendence in the world. I don't have expectations of sciences, and O the Moon-faced Goddess! I don't even desire for luxuries and comfort. O Mother! Thus, I beg You, that whenever I am born, give me the chanting of these names to me — Mridani, Rudrani, Shiv, Bhavani.||8||
Similarly, Madhusoodana Sarasvati also is said to put devotion on high status than jnana...
 
Bishwa Prakash Subedi
Kaski, Nepal
 
 
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:22:11 -0700
From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan <svidyasankar at hotmail.com>
To: Advaita List <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Eternal Loka
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> 
> SBh says that a pure devotee does not want moksha. If you are a devotee and blissful, why would you want a state where the loving relationship between the lord and a devotee as in say Rama and Hanuman does not exist anymore? 
> Sent from my BlackBerry? wireless device
> 

Dear Rajaram,

If you are serious about sAdhana at a personal level, I think it is high time you took
a hard look at where your heart lies. Decide what your path is accordingly. "A pure
devotee does not want moksha" - where are you getting this from in the bhAgavata
purANa? It seems to me that your comment is based on an English translation (by
American followers) of Sri Prabhupada's interpretation of that purANa. 

Sri Subrahmanian has been more than patient in addressing your questions logically.
On the other hand, it is increasingly clear that what you want is not a logical answer
but an emotional one. Why would you want one state or the other? Unfortunately for
emotion, the state of moksha is not something that you can pick and choose as per
your wants. It just is.

brahmAtmajnAna is neutral to the emotions of human beings, even when these
emotions are directed towards profound tattva-s. It does not change to satisfy the
longings of this or the other person. Conversely, so long as there is a longing for
one thing or the other, there is no real interest in brahmAtmajnAna.

If it is extremely important to a person who wants to be a bhakta that he or she
should always maintain bheda-bhAva so as to have a relationship with bhagavAn,
then that person is completely ill-suited to a philosophy that is based on abheda,
that puts abheda at its center and points to abheda as its goal. bhedAbheda is not
a legitimate way out of this dilemma, no matter how acintya it is said to be. At
some point in time, logic places an inexorable demand on the human mind. It
forces anyone inclined to bhedAbheda to choose whether it is bheda or abheda
that is really being upheld. The choice is yours. 

Regards,
Vidyasankar