[Advaita-l] Supreme Brahman - the Ruler in Advaita?

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

It is sacrilegious to say Madhusudana, a parama jnani / uttama bhakta, has
asuree svabhava.

BTW, BhG 16.14 verse talks about one who falsely thinks "I am Ishwara" and
imagines his enjoyment with wealth and relatives will last forever. In
reality, he does not believe in Ishwara  (rf. BhG 16.8).

As far as the jnani is concerned, The Lord says "All of these, indeed, are
noble, but *the man of Knowledge* *is the very Self*. (This is) My
opinion." (BhG 7.18). And Sankara comments, "7.18 Sarve, ete, all of these
three, without exception; are eva, indeed, udarah, noble, i.e.; they are
verily dear to Me. For, no devotee of Mine can become disagreeable to Me
who am Vasudeva. But the man of Knowledge becomes very much dear. This is
the difference. Why is this so? In answer the Lord says: Tu but; jnani, the
man of Knowledge; is atma eva, the very Self, not different from Me. This
is me, My; matam, opinion, conviction. Hi, for; yuktatma, with a steadfast
mind-having his mind absorbed in the idea,* 'I am verily Vasudeva, the
Lord, and none else*', that man of Knowledge asthitah, is set on the path
leading to, he is engaged in ascending to, going to; mam eva, Me alone, to
the supreme Brahman; who am the anuttamam gatim, super-excellent Goal to be
reached."

Please note that the jnani thinks that he is the Lord Vasudeva or the
nirupadhika Brahman, the Self. It would be delusional to think I'm some one
that I'm not in reality. His mind has undergone a modification that is of
the nature of pure bliss. He continues to pursue the world. He will see a
pot as a pot and a ring as a ring. Otherwise, someone should get his eye
operated! He will see them as made of five elements, a result of karma, a
mere appearance wih predominance of sattva, rajas or tamas, an effect of
maya and in reality Brahman, the Self. If he sees the form of the Lord
Krishna, or any divine from in the Vedas, he will see it as having the
qualities of elements though not a created from them, not a result of
karma,  visuddha sattva rupam that reflects pure consciousness in an
unobtructed way, eternal maya rupam not an effect of maya and in Brahman.

On Monday, April 15, 2013, Srinath Vedagarbha wrote:

> On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 11:45 AM,  <rajaramvenk at gmail.com <javascript:;>>
> wrote:
> > According to Madhusudana, there are three levels of bhakti as you may
> know. In the first level, the devotee thinks I am His. In the second level,
> he thinks He is mine. Both these think I am one and the Lord is another. At
> the highest level, which gopis were in, they realise "I am He". Please note
> such a jnani is a type of devotee according to Lord Krishna (BhG 7) and the
> highest. It is fallacious to argue that bhakti needs duality.
>
> Look at what SriKrishna says in 6.14 "IswarO aham aham bhOgee siddhO
> aham balavAn sukhee"
> Geetha, classifies a thought such as "I am God" under "Asuree"
> svabhAva which is something to be given up like any other Asuree
> thoughts.
>
> > In fact, as Madhusudana puts it, real devotion is possible only in
> non-dual state.
>
> From Gita itself (incidentally on which Madhusudhana relies his
> pramANa), all such thoughts and preaching makes Madhusudana is having
> Asuree svabhAva.
>
> /SV
>