[Advaita-l] In Advaita alone the jiva is not jaDa

[V Subrahmanian]

On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 9:01 PM, Srinath Vedagarbha <svedagarbha at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> I am leaving out many other points for the present and addressing only the
> following:
>
> Taittiriya(2.1) also says the released selves experiences all joys in the
> company of Brahma (so.ashnute sarvAn.h kAmAn.h saha brahmaNA vipashchitA).
> Also ChandOgya (8.12.3) saying the released sports, plays etc. 'sa tatra
> paryeti jaxan.h krIDan.h ' etc.
>

Advaitin says: The Chandogya mantra 8.12.3 is, with translation:
एवमेवैष सम्प्रसादोऽस्माच्छरीरात्समुत्थाय परं ज्योतिरुपसम्पद्य स्वेन
रूपेणाभिनिष्पद्यते स उत्तमपुरुषः स तत्र पर्येति जक्षत्क्रीडन् रममाणः
स्त्रीभिर्वा यानैर्वा ज्ञातिभिर्वा नोपजनꣳ स्मरन्निदꣳ शरीरꣳ स यथा प्रयोग्य
आचरणे युक्त एवमेवायमस्मिञ्छरीरे प्राणो युक्तः ॥ ३ ॥

//"So does this serene Being, arising from this body and reaching  the
 Highest Light, appear in His own form. In that state He is  the
Highest Person. *There He moves about, laughing, playing,
rejoicing—be it with
 women, chariots, or relatives,* never  thinking of the body into
which he  was born.  "As an animal is attached to a cart, so is the
prana (i.e. the  conscious self) attached to the body.  //

 If the Dvaita mukta is enjoying multiple women, merrymaking, etc. it is to
be questioned: Did he give up desire for women, etc. of this world only to
enjoy multiple women (the mantra says 'women' in plural and the enjoying
male in singular) of Vaikuntha and the tasty dishes of this world for the
specially tasty dishes of Vaikuntha?

>
> Advaitins have difficulty to understand these vivid descriptions of
> mukta-s, is due to the fact that in their epistemology, in all pramANa
> prakriyas, the final entity which is responsible for perception of
> knowledge is anthakaraNa only. Jiva or chaitanya is just witness only and
> has quite passive role attributed to it in all these prakriyas. Since
> anthakaraNa is jada vastu and stays as long as one in banda and does not
> exist in mOksha, a advaitin have difficulty in explaining these
> descriptions of mukta-s in mOksha. As a result, they bring such vivid
> descriptions of mOksha under karma-mukti and attribute to brahma-lOka
> (saty-lOka).
>

All the Upanishads teach the antahkarana, indriyas as paancha bhautika and
jaDa only.  Nowhere is an a-paanchabhautika manas, indriyas are taught in
the Upanishads. That is what the BG 13th ch. too teaches. And  //
Taittiriya(2.1)
also says the released selves experiences all joys in the company of
Brahman// too is not teaching that Brahman is enjoying vishaya bhoga in
Vaikuntha. Brahman is nitya trupta, poorna kaama and does not require
apsara, etc. for bhoga. Such ideas are not entertained in the Upanishads.
Vijnanamaya is the same as   इदं महद्भूतमनन्तमपारं विज्ञानघन एव । of the
Br.Up. The Upanishads clearly teach that only jaDa manas, indriyas, prana
are impelled by Chaitanya. There is no teaching of a jiva separated from
jaDa manas, etc. who is impelled by Chaitanya.  Krama mukti is taught in
the shruti: chandogya 8.6.6   शतं चैका च हृदयस्य नाड्यस्तासां
मूर्धानमभिनिःसृतैका तयोर्ध्वमायन्नमृतत्वमेव विष्वङ्ङन्या उत्क्रमणे
भवन्त्युत्क्रमणे भवन्ति ॥ ६ ॥  where the upasaka leaves the body through
the special nADi and attains mukti.  The Upanishads preclude 'leaving the
body', utkraanti, for aparoksha jnanis. So, this mantra which talks of
leaving the body through a naaDi and then attaining mukti, it is a case of
krama mukti. The BG 8th ch. too talks of leaving the body by archiraadi
maarga and not returning to samsara. If he is aparoksha jnani, he will not
leave the body, his sukshma sharira will dissolve here itself, says the
shruti. Also there is the smruti:  ‘ब्रह्मणा सह ते सर्वे सम्प्राप्ते
प्रतिसञ्चरे । परस्यान्ते कृतात्मानः प्रविशन्ति परं पदम्’ इति स्मरणात्.
https://sa.wikisource.org/s/5p2 In Vayu and Agni purana with variations.
The smruti is cited by Madhva too in the same place where Shankara cites:
https://srimadhvyasa.wordpress.com/2017/ ॐ कार्यात्यये तदध्यक्षेण सहातः
परमभिधानात् ॐ॥ 10-535 ॥
‘ते ह ब्रह्माणमभिसम्पद्य यदैतद्विलीयतेऽथ सह ब्रह्मणा परमभिगच्छन्ति’ इति
सौपर्णश्रुतेर्महाप्रलये तदध्यक्षेण ब्रह्मणा सह गच्छन्ति ॥ 10 ॥
ॐ स्मृतेश्च ॐ ॥ 11-536 ॥ ‘ब्रह्मणा सह ते सर्वे सम्प्राप्ते प्रतिसञ्चरे
। परस्यान्ते
परात्मानः प्रविशन्ति परं पदम्’ इति ॥ 11 ॥

The meaning of the smruti is: the upasakas who are in Brahma loka will
attain mukti along with Brahma at the time of the dissolution of Brahma
loka.  The aparoksha jnani in this manushya loka will not go to any loka
for there is nothing in him for going to a loka. The sukshma sharira will
dissolve here itself. Br.up.3.2.11:  याज्ञवल्क्येति होवाच यत्रायं पुरुषो
म्रियत उदस्मात्प्राणाः क्रामन्त्याहो३ नेति नेति होवाच याज्ञवल्क्योऽत्रैव
समवनीयन्ते स उच्छ्वयत्याध्मायत्याध्मातो मृतः शेते ॥ ११ ॥

Thus, since the Upanishads teach chaitanya impelling only jaDa objects,
manas, etc. the jiva, without jaDa manas, etc. is only chit. Chit does not
require any impelling from any other force.  No such force exists. If the
jiva, niyamya, is depending on niyamana from niyamaka then he is no
different from jaDa.  Only jaDa requires niyamana from niyamaka.

vs