[Advaita-l] Samnyasa and Sankara's position?

Akilesh Ayyar ayyar at akilesh.com
Sun Apr 14 09:33:25 EDT 2019


On Sun, Apr 14, 2019 at 8:20 AM H S Chandramouli via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
> Slightly off the main topic of this particular post, but which is relevant
> for this thread as it has comeup in other posts in this thread, Sri
> Bhagavatpada makes this observation in his Bhashya on Mundaka Upanishad
> enjoining sanyasa for attaining jnana
>
> << ज्ञानमात्रे यद्यपि सर्वाश्रमिणामधिकारः, तथापि संन्यासनिष्ठैव
> ब्रह्मविद्या
> मोक्षसाधनं न कर्मसहितेति ‘भैक्षचर्यां चरन्तः’ (मु. उ. १ । २ । ११)
> <
> http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Mundaka?page=1&id=MD_C01_S02_V11&hl=%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B7%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%82%20%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%83
> >
>  ‘संन्यासयोगात्’ (मु. उ. ३ । २ । ६)
> <
> http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/display/bhashya/Mundaka?page=3&id=MD_C03_S02_V06&hl=%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D
> >
>  इति च ब्रुवन्दर्शयति । >>
>
> <<  j~nAnamAtre yadyapi sarvAshramiNAmadhikAraH, tathApi saMnyAsaniShThaiva
> brahmavidyA mokShasAdhanaM na karmasahiteti ‘bhaikShacharyAM charantaH’
> (mu. u. 1 | 2 | 11) ‘saMnyAsayogAt’ (mu. u. 3 | 2 | 6) iti cha
> bruvandarshayati | >>.
>
> He follows this up there itself with
>
> << यत्तु गृहस्थेषु ब्रह्मविद्यासम्प्रदायकर्तृत्वादि लिङ्गं न तत्स्थितं
> न्यायं बाधितुमुत्सहते ; >>
>
> << yattu gRRihastheShu brahmavidyAsampradAyakartRRitvAdi li~NgaM na
> tatsthitaM nyAyaM  bAdhitumutsahate >>,
>
> He has indeed stated his stand vis a vis instances of gruhasthas like
> Janaka, Yajnavalkya etc  attaining jnAna.
>

Namaste Chandramouliji,

I think by this last passage he just means to say that the example of
householder sages can never show that the doing of rites or a sense of
doership ever *combine* with knowledge to cause liberation. That does not
mean these individuals were not fully liberated, nor that the householder
mode of life prohibits the acquisition of brahma jnana. Knowledge alone
liberates, not karma, but that does not mean ashrama sannyasa required for
the highest knowledge.

In the commentary at the end of Mundaka at 3.2.11, Sankara says of
"parama-rsibhyah" -- "those great seers, starting with Brahma, through whom
that knowledge was successively handed down..." which clearly includes
householders, that they in fact "directly saw and realized Brahman."


>
> Regards
>
> On Thu, Apr 11, 2019 at 1:57 AM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Apr 9, 2019 at 6:36 PM Akilesh Ayyar via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > > Namaste Bhaskarji,
> > >
> > > May I ask how you would interpret the Aitareya introduction excerpts
> > that I
> > > posted? I would be quite interested to know. Particularly these quotes:
> > >
> > > *Not so... the constant habit of resorting to any particular house of
> > one's
> > > own is prompted by desire. When there is no clinging to any particular
> > > house of one's own, there follows begging alone, as a matter of
> > course...*
> > >
> > > and
> > >
> > > *From the fact that a fresh injunction of renunciation, despite its
> > > emergence as a matter of course (as in the case of a man of
> > illumination),
> > > is met with [footnote: In Br. Up. III v. I. etc. -- 'Knowing this very
> > > Self, the Brahmanas renounce...and lead a mendicant life."] ,it becomes
> > > evident that it is obligatory for the man of illumination.
> >
> >
> > The shruti passage quoted above has been interpreted differently by two
> > authorities:
> >
> > In the Jivanmukti viveka, Sri Vidyaranya takes this passage as authority
> > for vidvat sannyasa.  In the gloss to the Brihadaranyaka Bhashya for this
> > passage, Sri Anandagiri says 'this is a reference to paroksha jnana.'  I
> > had pointed out this remark by Anandagiri ( I think in two places) to
> > renowned scholars some years back. Members here may please verify the
> above
> > and give their opinion.
> >
> > regards
> > subrahmanian.v
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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