[Advaita-l] ***UNCHECKED*** Re: Difficulty with Akhandakara Vrtti

H S Chandramouli hschandramouli at gmail.com
Tue Jun 23 03:52:51 CDT 2015


Dear Sri Aurobind Padiyath Ji,


 I am not by any means suggesting that any word should be used or
understood in the same sense everywhere. I am only suggesting that any word
should be interpreted in accordance with the context in which it is used by
the author and its appropriateness and meaning should be considered
accordingly. I have not considered it as a question of your views versus
those of other masters. I am not questioning your views on the subject of
Akhanda Akara as such. They may be applicable to the context identified by
you. But in the current thread I was referring to the context mentioned by
me in my mail. I had interpreted the term “ akhanda “ not in the sense of “
infinity “ , but in the sense of “ partless “ as opposed to “ khanda “
jnana ( knowledge with parts ). Details are available in the thread itself.


 Kindly do not misunderstand my position.


 Pranams and Regards

On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 1:46 PM, Aurobind Padiyath <
aurobind.padiyath at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sri Chandramouliji,
> I do not want to dispute what you quoted and establish my views against
> such knowledgeable masters.
> A vritti for me is in the vyavaharika level and result of mental activity.
> Having said that how can an activity which has limitations of reach
> (space)and limited validity in time can be called Akhanda?
> Mandukya refers to the Akhanda Aakara vritti in a totally different name
> viz. Amanibhava meaning a state or existence of "No mind".
>
> When the Guru tells an apt Shishya "Tat tvam asi " all his vritti settles
> like the dropping of kataka fruit in a muddy water. Swami Chinmayanandaji
> used to give a very down to earth example of a purgative removing all your
> torture of indigestible food and related trauma and leaving you in the
> happiness of your own nature. The indigestible food are the vritti that we
> have accumulated and the expunged state is the freedom and fullness of your
> own nature.
> The closest vritti which you can say Akhandaakara is for one who meditates
> on Aakasha as Brahman which is explained in the beginning of Chandogyam.
> There the vritti that Brahman will be Akhanda since you can't bifurcate the
> Aakasha,  but that is not the truth. Aakasha is not Brahman. And your
> vritti will be of Aakasha.
>
> Pranams.
>
> Aurobind Padiyath
> On 23 Jun 2015 13:20, "H S Chandramouli" <hschandramouli at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Sri Aurobindo Padiyath,
>>
>>
>>
>> I draw your attention to the following statements made by you earlier.
>>
>>
>>
>> << "akhandakara vritti"
>> Akhanda meaning unbroken, Akara meaning (here) Swaroopa,  Vritti (here)
>> meaning continues,  (not thoughts). >>
>>
>>
>>
>>  and
>>
>>
>>
>> << It is called a
>> vritti as a misnomer due to the absence of a better word. >>.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am citing here its usage by one of the earliest authors Sri Sadanada
>> Yogi in his work “ Vedanta Sara “ , a widely acclaimed and authoritative
>> Vedantic work . In statement 171 it states , inter alia ,
>>
>>
>>
>> << …….akhanda-aakaara-kaaritaa chittavrittih udeti >> translated as << ……an
>> akhandakara mental vritti ( thought )  is born >> ( translation into
>> English is mine from the kannada translation by Swami Harshananda  ) .
>>
>>
>>
>> Note that “ chitta vrittih udeti “ is specifically stated leaving no
>> doubts about the  meaning of the word “ vritti “. It is intended to mean “
>> thought “ only and is quite appropriate in this context . Concerning “
>> akhandakara “ , based on the brief footnotes given by Swami Harshananda in
>> his kannada translation for statement 171, I am elaborating on its meaning.
>> When the Guru pronounces the Maha Vakya “ tatvamasi “ , the Shabda produces
>> a chitta vritti which has for its “ object “ the meaning of the Shabda “
>> tatvmasi “ . The Shishya , who has already understood from the Guru the
>> meaning of the terms “ tat “ and “tvam “ , understands the meaning of the
>> Maha Vakya in accordance with its “ akhandartha “ as << I am Brahman >> (
>> and not according to the commonly accepted samsargartha or bhedartha as
>> proposed by Purvapakshins and rejected by Advaitins ) . This understanding
>> thus forms the “ object” for the vritti. Hence , similar to the terms “
>> ghatakara vritti “  or “ patakara vritti “ , the vritti in this case is
>> termed “ akhandakara vritti “ .
>>
>>
>>
>> Hence in the context in which the author has employed it, there does not
>> appear to be anything wrong in the appropriateness of the term “
>> akhandakara vritti “ . You have principally referred to the nature of the
>> knowledge gained through subsequent Realization  as the context and
>> dismissed its usage as inappropriate which , I respectfully submit , is not
>> warranted
>>
>>
>>
>> Pranams and Regards
>>
>> On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 6:05 PM, Aurobind Padiyath via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hari Om,
>>> "akhandakara vritti"
>>> Akhanda meaning unbroken, Akara meaning (here) Swaroopa,  Vritti (here)
>>> meaning continues,  (not thoughts).
>>> So, that continuous Swaroopa avastha which displaced the earlier wave
>>> like
>>> thoughts of vishaya which were arising and subsiding including that of
>>> deep
>>> sleep like state where visheshvijnana absence is felt, because even deep
>>> sleep
>>> is not continuous, is the true state of akhandakara vritti. It is called
>>> a
>>> vritti as a misnomer due to the absence of a better word.
>>>
>>> Hari om!!!
>>>
>>> Aurobind Padiyath
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>


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