[Advaita-l] Difficulty with Akhandakara Vrtti

Aurobind Padiyath aurobind.padiyath at gmail.com
Tue Jun 23 06:27:16 CDT 2015


Dear Sri Chandramouliji,
Hari Om!!
I have not misunderstood you nor your questions. Since the reference was to
Brahma Jnana and Akhandakara Vritti, I thought of giving the difference the
two. As you rightly said the context in which these are being used are to
be taken into consideration and answered.

Hari Om!!!

Aurobind Padiyath

On 23 June 2015 at 14:22, H S Chandramouli <hschandramouli at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
>>>> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>>>>
>>>> To unsubscribe or change your options:
>>>> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>>>>
>>>> For assistance, contact:
>>>> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>


More information about the Advaita-l mailing list