[Advaita-l] Vikalpa, Savikalpa, and Nirvikalpa

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> As I have said earlier, I do agree that sAdhana (practice) is required for 
> the brahma jnAna, there is no second opinion on that. But what is that 
> sAdhana that shankara recommends?? whether he says ashtAnga yOga & 
> resultant samAdhi anubhava is jnAna sAdhana?? Shankara, I think 
> invariably prescribes veda mArga not ashtAnga yOga mArga ( though it has 
> its own efficacy for the yOgAbhyAsi-s ). Suggestions like tadviddhi 

Here we go again. Please name the sources who you say INVARIABLY
prescribe yoga and dhyAna and samAdhi for ALL vedAnta jijnAsu-s and
mumukshu-s. This comment addresses Sri Venkatesh Murthy's remarks
as well. There is really no point in tilting at windmills, is there?
 
In fact, if you agree that most people are madhyama-manda-adhikArin-s,
then I would suggest reading the bhAshya on the eighth chapter of the
gItA. Here, dhAraNA yoga is described in detail and explicitly prescribed
for such adhikArin-s. Needless to say, there is a heavy dose of what you
would call pAtanjala ashTAnga yoga mArga in this bhAshya chapter. One
can talk all one wants about jnAna sAdhana, but if one shies away from
the explicit advice given by bhagavatpAda for the appropriate kind of
adhikArin, for fear of being labeled a yogin who is not a vedAntin, then
at a personal level, one is making no progress in jnAna mArga.
 
Vidyasankar