[Advaita-l] Shruti prAmANya and jnAna

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Namaste Venkatraghavan ji

On 04-Oct-2016 7:08 pm, "Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> Namaste Praveenji,
>
> On Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 1:42 PM, Praveen R. Bhat <bhatpraveen at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> > If the pramAta, pramANa and prameya, are appropriately aligned,
knowledge
> >> is automatically generated. Now, the pramAta may refuse to accept the
> >> generated knowledge as pramA, or take efforts to preserve the knowledge
> >> generated; however, the capacity of the pramANa to generate the jnAna
> >> vritti is a given.
> >>
> >
> > The answer, IMO, lies in the definition of pramAtR/ प्रमाता, else ज्ञान
> > would arise even without साधनचातुष्टयसम्पत्ति। One of the
qualifications is
> > श्रद्धा, which although defined by तत्त्वबोध as गुरुवेदान्तवाक्येषु
> > विश्वासः, its not just a belief. It has to grow into प्रामाण्यबुद्धि।
For
> > श्रवण to take place, there has to be तात्पर्यनिर्णय। Without that, ज्ञान
> > cannot arise.
> >
> > Yes, unless the pramAta has the qualifications for knowledge, pramA will
> not arise - some jnAna (even bhrama may arise). shruti prAmANya-buddhi
must
> also definitely be there. However,  even that prAmANya-buddhi is based on
> certain basic axioms that need to be accepted for that prAmANya-buddhi to
> arise. And I believe it is to cultivate a belief in these axioms that
> shraddhA is talked about.
>
> And even if some form of ज्ञानवृत्ति is formed, it is not अखण्ड। Further,
> > as you say the person may reject it perhaps as भ्रम। At most it may
become
> > some kind of impression for स्मृति।
> >
> > I have to think about why you say the jnAna vritti is not akhaNda. Will
> mull over it.
>
It may be of interest that the alignment or conformity of the vRtti
generated in the mind when mahAvAkya is heard (with prAmAnya buddhi),
vis-a-vis the shruti's (Guru's) true intention, can vary between
1. Virochana's bhrama GYAna (although he had prAmAnya buddhi in the
preceptor ).
2.  injunction to meditate upAsitavyam -vRtti (the mImAmsaka-s had prAmANya
buddhi  in veda but read into the mahAvAkya an injunction to  meditate
'ahambrahmAsmi iti upAsIta' )
3. the true import of the mahAvAkya viz., grasped by akhanDAkAra vRtti.

Well maybe Virochana was not exactly taught the mahAvAkya, but i think you
get the general idea.

The degree of antahkaraNashuddhi, if its of a high order, the resistance to
owning up that 'aham brahmAsmi' is almost absent.

Why should the akhanDAkAra vRtti not arise? Because the shruti's true
intention is aikyArtha alone. So there is no pramANa doSha.  That leaves
only the pramatR antaHkaraNa as having the obstacles to artha sphuraNa. We
can ask this question and work backwards and see that resistive obstacles
like arthasya asambhAvanA will be not strongly felt if there is a shuddha
antaHkaraNa which is not strongly identified with the vyaShTi upAdhi. (As
in, how can i, a humbLe simbLe person, be brahman?!)

And if there is no pre-existing theological religious baggage in the mind
then ideas such as 'shruti says something else somewhere else or some Apta
has said something theological which i  believe about God' etc  will also
not to be there in a fresh mind and so shrutyanekatA will not be there,
temporarily at least. And same goes for dehAtmavAsana and other viparyayas.

I agree that a person need not know all about the process of knowledge and
how phalavyApti is not there etc., to get the appropriate vRtti.

In sum, if a kSheeNakalmaSha student is exposed to mahAvAkya, there are no
reasons why the akhaNDAkAra vRtti can't arise. Whether the pramA generated
by the vRtti will survive the further experiences and vicAra based on other
pramANa-s is another question. Perhaps as Sri LalitAlAlitaH ji (nearly)
quoted, the one who respects his experience will not fall. (I have slightly
modified it).

Actually this entire aspect was brought up by him when he said
svataHprAmANyam will have to be backed up by yukti etc.

In my present state of understanding, that svataHprAmAnyam of shabdapramANa
is sufficient for akhanDAkAra vRtti in the case of the uttamAdhikArI,
appears reasonable. The yukti and further shravaNam etc is only required to
protect the vRtti-janita pramA after it has arisen. Otherwise the one who
does not respect his experience falls... seems likely.

Om
Raghav