[Advaita-l] About Moksha or Enlightenment

[Kripa Shankar]

‎Namaste Venkata Sriram, 

I must say, you have hit the nail on the head. My doubt arised exactly because of Lakshmi, the cow who was apparently given enlightenment by the 'sheer grace' of RM.‎

Because of such claims, I am trying to understand the basics, the pillars of Shastras once again. I too thought of gajendra but then it could have been just a mukti from the clutches of crocodile. But then again, Abinava Gupta is a very illustrious nam‎e to take things lightly. I am still somehow skeptical because the other conditions will not be valid. 

For example, krishna doesn't explicitly say animals and birds. ‎It is just a commentary and commentaries don't enjoy a greater status in pramana. 

Next is, it becomes apparent that enlightenment can be given by guru's will alone. So a question may arise, why doesn't gurus like RM give enlightenment to everyone in the world with compassion? We cannot argue that the students should be prepared / mature / ready because obviously, humans are better positioned than a cow, any given day. Another question props up - can enlightenment be distributed like sweets? 

This also will go against what Adi Shankaracharya says that jnana alone is the cause for Moksha. He does not anywhere say that there are other ways to Moksha apart from jnana. He doesn't say Moksha can be attained either through jnana or Grace. 

Regards 
Kripa 


yo vedAdau svaraH prokto vedAnte cha pratiShThitaH |
tasya prakRRiti-lInasya yaH parassa maheshvaraH || 
  Original Message  
From: Venkata sriram P via Advaita-l
Sent: Thursday 2 February 2017 5:24 PM
To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Reply To: Venkata sriram P
Subject: [Advaita-l] About Moksha or Enlightenment

For the BG 9.32 :

मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य येऽपि स्युः पापयोनयः।
स्त्रियो वैश्यास्तथा शूद्रास्तेऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम्।।9.32।।

महामहेश्वर अभिनवगुप्त पादः while commenting on the BG 9.32 says:

"पापयोनयः" पशुपक्षिसरीसृपादयः ie., animals, birds and reptiles etc.

"तेऽपि मदाश्रिता मामेव यजन्ते। गजेन्द्रमोक्षणादीनि चरितानि हि परमकारुणिकस्य भगवतः सहस्रशः श्रूयन्ते"

ie., even they (animals, birds, reptiles etc.) who take refuge in Me, would reach Me and attain liberation.
The episode of "gajendra moksha" from Bhagavatam is the testimony to that. 

............................................

स्वामी रामसुखदास जी says:

// यहाँ पापयोनि शब्द ऐसा व्यापक है? जिसमें असुर? राक्षस? पशु? पक्षी आदि सभी लिये जा सकते हैं//

// यहाँ पापयोनयः पदमें पशु? पक्षी आदिको भी अपवादरूपसे ले सकते हैं। पशुपक्षियोंमें गजेन्द्र? जटायु आदि भगवद्भक्त हो चुके हैं //

The bhaktas like Gajendra, Jatayu etc. are mentioned above.

.......................

So, the above two great scholars are of the view the there is possibility of liberation for animals also.

In the recent century, Bhagavan Ramana liberated the ashram cow लक्ष्मी and Her samadhi is still intact in
premises. Of course, you may not agree with this because for you Bhagavan is not a jivanmukta 

regs
sriram



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