[Advaita-l] Vikalpa, Savikalpa, and Nirvikalpa

[V Subrahmanian]

I would like to present my thoughts on this:

There is no doubt that Jnanam is mokSha sAdhanam.  And from the
Br.Up.Bhashya passage that says: Jnanam itself results in Atyantika chitta
vRtti nirodha, I understand that the BhAShyakArapAda means: That aparokSha
jnAnam that has resulted / arisen from the jnAnaniShThA practiced as stated
elaborately in the sixth chapter of the Gita, the 18th Chapter there and in
the Gita bhashya for the 13th chapter verse: dhyAnenAtmani pashyanti
kechit....and the various glosses and Madhusudani: that even those
attaining jnAna thru sAnkhyena..karmaNA of that same verse too finally
attain jnAna thru dhyAna only -  it is this aparokSha Atma jnAnam that
automatically results in AtmasmRti santati and puts an end to all other
chitta vRtti (nirodha).  This automatically results in jivanmukti, shAnti,
etc.

But then we have another stream of thinking on this topic raised and
handled elaborately in the Jivanmukti viveka by Vidyaranya.  There he
supplies us instances of Jnanis like Yajnavalkya as an elaborate case
study.  Yajnavalkya is an aparokSha jnani, a brahmavidyAchArya of the
Upanishad and whose words are pramANa for AtmajnAna and therefore is not to
be taken as a paroksha jnani.  So argues Vidyaranya.  Yet here is a case
where  the shAnti, etc. were not present and as the various incidents in
the Upanishad itself point out (like Y cursing shAkalya to death, heated
debating, amassing wealth thru debates, etc.) Y finally decided to renounce
and take to a state where he will be devoting all his time for mending the
mind.  Vidyaranya also explicitly says in that work: there are people who
come to AtmajnAna vichAra without going thru the preceding upAsana but
still manage to get aparoksha jnanam which will surely give them moksha.
But the fruit of shAnti, etc. will elude them as they have not practiced
upAsana to the extent of getting manonasha and vasanakshaya.  Hence, for
those jnanis there is still open the practice that leads to attain that and
this involves dhyana, etc.

So, there we have the one type of 'ideal' route that is what I strongly
feel Shankara has in mind when the Br.Up.bhashyam passage is said.  We have
also the other type not ideal but also not impossible where there is jnanam
and the resultant atmasmrti santati is not there but needing a specific
practice to attain that, rather set it in motion.

Thus chitta vRtti nirodha that the Gita sixth chapter teaches as a
precursor to aparoksha jnana is a practice available to the one who gets
aparoksha jnana without that but in order to put in place the atma smRti
santati.  If anAtmavRtti is not there there is AtmasmRti santati.  If this
santati is not there, it is not that (moksha dAyaka) Atma jnanam itself is
not there but only the shAnti, etc. fruit in jIvanmukti is not there.

This is my understanding that arises by the study of the Acharya's
bhashyas, the JMV of Vidyaranya, the sayings and writings of contemporary
VedantaAcharyas who have been known to be adepts in samAdhi and are
acclaimed as Jnanins.

Regards
subrahmanian.v

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 11:23 PM, श्रीमल्ललितालालितः <
lalitaalaalitah at lalitaalaalitah.com> wrote:

> I didn't want to interrupt as I have said everything needed.
> Yet this quote makes me write again :
> I will suggest everyone to read vArttikam and it's commentary and if not
> sufficient vArttika-sAra.
> Ananda-giri says while commenting on vArttika you quoted once :
> pratyagGYAne niruddhyante ........
> that GYAna is Atyantika-nirodha-sAdhana of manaH or it's vR^itti-s. If one
> could understand the meaning of the word Atyantika, he would never say that
> this nirodha is samAdhi which is practiced.
> Moreover, if anyhow I assume that GYAna is sAdhana of nirodha, then I have
> to also accept that GYAna is not moxa-sAdhana and nirodha is. And nirodha
> is
> superior to GYana as it is needed for that and only nirodha makes
> everything
> including GYAna culminate in moxa.
>
> *श्रीमल्ललितालालितः <http://www.lalitaalaalitah.com>
> lalitAlAlitaH <http://dooid.com/lalitaalaalitah>*
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 10:51 PM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <
> svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ananya sAdhanatvAc ca nirodhasya. na hy Atma vijnAna tat smRti saMtAna
> > vyatirekeNa citta vRtti nirodhasya sAdhanam asti - so says the very same
> > bRhadAraNyaka bhAshya in the very same passage.
> >
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