[Advaita-l] Ramana Maharshi - Advaitin or Neo Advaitin?

[Praveen R. Bhat]

Namaste Swamiji,

On Sat, Oct 1, 2016 at 11:22 AM, Praveen R. Bhat <bhatpraveen at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> I can talk of myself that I do understand the importance of shAstre
> prAmANyabuddhi. There cannot be more than one pramANa for any knowledge.
> However, w.r.t., I have a question. In a response to someone else, you said
> that prAmANyabuddhi in earlier life does not help in this life. This is
> something I am unable to understand as to why that is. In conclusion, I
> completely agree with your analysis, except for the knowledge gained with
> prAmANyabuddhi in earlier life not helping in this one. Please clarify.
>
>
Sorry, I forgot to add one additional point in connection to the
clarification sought. A corollary to "Shruti is the only means to
aikyaj~nAna" is that if anyone, anywhere, gets the aikyaj~nAna, then it is
only due to its source being Shruti, be it in any language, in this life or
earlier. This is what Swami Dayanandaji also says when he says that one
cannot stumble upon the truth about oneself. Now, it is a different story
whether a person's j~nAna itself is doubted/ not confirmed, but if it is
considered that a person gained the aikyaj~nAna and he did not study
shAstras in this life, then पारिशेष्यात् he must have studied in the
earlier life/ lives.

Kind rgds,
--Praveen R. Bhat
/* Through what should one know That owing to which all this is known!
[Br.Up. 4.5.15] */