[Advaita-l] Fwd: Knowledge of Brahman

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

One can say that why talk about Moksha as we are always free. So, from that point of view one can also say that no discussion is at all necessary. Had Adi Shankara taken this view he would not and need not have written and taught on Advaita at all. 

If any talk on Koshas would not have been required in Advaita Vedanta,  the Vedanta text (the Taittiriya Upanishad) would nor have treated that subject at all. I wish to end the discussion with  this note. 

Regards,Sunil KB





     On Sunday, November 15, 2015 9:33 PM, Ravi Kiran <ravikiranm108 at gmail.com> wrote:
   

 

On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 8:55 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

Moksha is the end of the Maya and its creations, the Koshas. Thus Moksha is also the end of the Deha, i.e., attaining the Videhamukta state. So one cannnot be perturbed at the linking of Videhamuktata with Moksha as that is the end of the Maya, as well. 




The point is - by linking Moksha with Videhamukti alone, felt some reality is given to Maya (by the mention - though one is liberated, but one is still in his body) and as you know, any iota of reality given to (invested in) Maya or its creations ( Koshas, deha etc), directly or indirectly, will only remain as an obstacle to attain the firm knowledge in Absolute ( the only Reality, Sruti mAta declares repeatedly in all Upanishads, whose very knowledge is liberation, in this very life - sadyo/jIvan mukti ) 
स वा एष महानज आत्माजरोऽमरोऽमृतोऽभयो ब्रह्म; अभयं वै ब्रह्म; अभयं हि वै ब्रह्म भवति य एवं वेद ॥ २५ ॥ Br Up 4.4.25

That great, birthless Self is undecaying, immortal, undying, fearless Brahman (infinite). Brahman is indeed fearless. He who knows It as such becomes the fearless Brahman.

Thanks for this discussion thread ..it was helpful for my contemplation...warm regards






     On Sunday, November 15, 2015 5:12 PM, Ravi Kiran <ravikiranm108 at gmail.com> wrote:
   

 Yes, exactly ..Each ( koshas, creation etc ) has its place in the Vedas ..But, when Upanishads declares the highest truth ( paramArthika satya) and gives the Supreme knowledge for Moksha, there is no duality what-so-ever or any bondage remaining to be addressed (partial or otherwise, because of koshas) to a knower of Brahman, merged in Brahman. 
Agree to your point that one has to be established in this firm knowledge to avoid any fall during weak moments..and any and every effort to strengthen one's Knowledge ( through shravana, manana or nidhidyAsana) is worth every bit ...



On Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 1:55 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

Nobody has ever denied what the Taittiriya. Taittitiya has never made any self-contradictory things. 
The studies have to be in totality. 


     On Saturday, November 14, 2015 10:34 AM, Ravi Kiran <ravikiranm108 at gmail.com> wrote:
   

 
In Taittirya, Sruti says..
ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति परम् - The knower of Brahman reaches the Supreme.
the Sruti having denied all duality in the words “Here is no duality whatever.”(Bṛ. Up. 4-4-19), says ब्रह्म विद् ब्रह्मैव भवति - the knower of Brahman is Brahman Itself.ब्रह्मैव सन्ब्रह्माप्येति - Being but Brahman, he is merged in Brahman, which is untouched by any koshas.
So, importance is always to the knowledge of Brahman, the only Reality that ever IS...

On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 11:40 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

I will suggest you to read the Taittiriya upanishad to know about the Koshas. One who has got the knowledge of the paramarthica satya, rather experienced that  truth, is liberated  forthright and there is not an iota of doubt, but one is still in his body (of the five koshas). The body will take its own time to leave and one will have to be alert that one remains sthiraprajna, or else one will fall back into the clutch of Maya. To understand the Shruti properly one has to 
study the Ffifth Veda, so says the Mahabharata. The Fifth Veda is replete with cases where the Jnanis fell in their weak moments. Once one is Videhamukta the process of Moksha is complete. 


     On Wednesday, November 11, 2015 7:19 PM, Ravi Kiran <ravikiranm108 at gmail.com> wrote:
   

 

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 1:24 AM, Sunil Bhattacharjya via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

Namaste,
The Upanishada does talk about the five Koshas. After the Jiva  leaves behind the Sthula sarira, which consists of the Annamaya Kosha and the Pranamaya Kosha, it is left with Sukshma sarira, which consists of the three finer Koshas. The Jiva will have to leave the Sukshma sarira too, to become Videha-mukta, in order to become free from the Maya. It is Maya, which creates the false division between the Jiva and Brahman.


अथाकामयमानः—योऽकामो 
निष्काम आप्तकाम आत्मकामो न तस्य प्राणा उत्क्रामन्ति, 
ब्रह्मैव सन्ब्रह्माप्येति ॥ ६ ॥ 
Bri Up - 4.4.6 

He who sees the Self, as in the state of profound sleep, as undifferentiated, one without a second, and as the constant light of Pure Intelligence—only this disinterested man has no work and consequently no cause for transmigration; therefore his organs such as that of speech do not depart. Rather this man of realisation is Brahman in this very life, although he seems to have a body. Being but Brahman, he is merged in Brahman. Because he has no desires that cause the limitation of non-Brahmanhood, therefore ‘being but Brahman he is merged in Brahman’ in this very life, not after the body falls. A man of realisation, after his death, has no change of condition—something different from what he was in life, but he is only not connected with another body. This is what is meant by his becoming ‘merged in Brahman’; for if liberation was a change of condition, it would contradict the unity of the Self that all the Upaniṣads seek to teach. And liberation would be the effect of work, not of knowledge—which nobody would desire. Further, it would become transitory, for nothing that has been produced by an action is seen to be eternal, but liberation is admitted to be eternal, as the Mantra says, ‘This is the eternal glory (of a knower of Brahman),’ etc. (IV. iv. 23).

...
for the Supreme Self is the only entity that exists. As the Śruti says, ‘One only without a second’ (Ch. VI. ii. 1.). And there is no other entity that is bound, whose freedom from bondage, as from fetters, would be liberation,  the cessation of ignorance alone is commonly called liberation...



तदेष श्लोको भवति । 
    यदा सर्वे प्रमुच्यन्ते कामा येऽस्य हृदि श्रिताः । 
    अथ मर्त्योऽमृतो भवत्यत्र ब्रह्म समश्नुत ॥ इति । 
तद्यथाहिनिर्व्लयनी वल्मीके मृता प्रत्यस्ता शयीत, एवमेवेदं शरीरं शेते, अथायमशरीरोऽमृतः प्राणो ब्रह्मैव तेज एव; सोऽहं भगवते सहस्रं ददामीति होवाच जनको वैदेहः ॥ ७ ॥.....
But how is it that when the organs have been merged, and the body also has dissolved in its cause, the liberated sage lives in the body identified with all, but does not revert to his former embodied existence, which is subject to transmigration? The answer is being given: Here is an illustration in point. Just as in the world the lifeless slough of a snake is cast off by it as no more being a part of itself, and lies in the ant - hill, or any other nest of a snake, so does this body, discarded as non-self by the liberated man, who corresponds to the snake, lie like dead.
....आत्मानं चेद्विजानीयादयमस्मीति पूरुषः । 
किमिच्छन्कस्य कामाय शरीरमनुसंज्वरेत् ॥ १२ ॥

If a man knows the Self as ‘I am this,’ then desiring what and for whose sake will he suffer in the wake of the body?
...