[Advaita-l] MOKSHA or MUKTI

Raghav Kumar Dwivedula raghavkumar00 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 14 20:25:34 EST 2019


> Namaste Subbuji and Chandramouli ji and Bhaskar ji
> Thank you for the responses. My further question is -
>  Can samAdhi practice *as described in vivekachUDAmaNih or JMV* be termed
> 'inert'  and 'like suShupti' (in so far as its utility for
> advaita-sAdhana)?
>
> I understand it is not, but wish to further clarify this matter.
>
> The following paras are not so much a question but more in the nature of
> observation.
>
> JMV and VC unambiguously commend the practice of vedAntic samAdhi. (in
> which the vRttis which lead up to samAdhi are pramANa-prApta i.e., of the
> nature of seeing things as they are, as advaitam-brahma. ).
>
> Its funny that most of the 'samAdhi-bashing' is a more recent phenomenon
> and coming from some modern Advaita students and teachers  who haven't the
> faintest clue from personal sAdhana what it's about. They do this by
> presenting a straw man argument - that samAdhi has no connexion with
> shravaNa manana, pramAna-vyApAra etc., and that's it's only mentioned in
> yoga sUtras which posit duality as absolute and so samAdhi cannot
> accomplish avidyA-nivRtti etc etc. Ergo - it is jaDa and no better than
> suShupti.
>
> Such a view, in my understanding, misrepresents what samAdhyabhyAsa is *as
> per VC and JMV*. What is missed is that the vRtti of brahmAtmaikyam does
> indeed accomplish vRtti nirodhah which is the essence of samadhi . This is
> the view of bhAshyakAra (in fact I remember him saying that vedAntic vRttis
> alone accomplish vRtti nirodhah). VC and JMV don't equate the word samadhi
> as necessarily constrained by the dualistic sAMkhyA framework.
>
> Also I am tempted to insinuate ;) that in most cases, an extroverted mind,
> insufficient vairAgya and sattva guNa are the causes of samAdhi-bashing (a
> sort of sour grapes syndrome to diss the importance of the practice of
> samAdhi for most madhyama adhikArIs!). Also it's not as if there are
> thousands of vedAntic sAdhakas lost in this wrong practice of samAdhi. And
> therefore , presumably, beware of VC and JMV samAdhi practice....! Its
> not as if the main obstacle to brahmAtma-GYAnam for many advaitic sAdhakas
> is the tendency to 'fall' in to samAdhi !!
>
>  The real situation today is that the moment a student gets some
> understanding and inspiration from bhAShya, he wants to start preaching
> whatever little he knows to others. And so samAdhi-bashing becomes a way of
> justifying or rationalising the lack of the required vixepa-rAhityam.
>
> When a great Acharya like shrI gauDapAdAcArya or shrI vidyAraNya/bhAratI
> tirtha who was himself accomplished  in samAdhi practices, makes fun of
> 'samAdhi independent of any GYAnam' as being fragile and prone to be
> disturbed by even a buzzing mosquito, it rings true.
>
> Otherwise it's amusing to see the practice of samAdhi being dissed.
>
> Om
> Raghav
>
>
> On Wed 13 Feb, 2019, 10:34 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 7:27 PM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>>> > Namaste
>>> > A follow up question -
>>> > What would be the key difference, in this nomenclature, between the
>>> > 'GYAnI' and the jIvanmukta?
>>>
>>
>> Dear Raghav ji,
>>
>> According to the Jivanmukti viveka of Swami Vidyaranya, a difference is
>> made between a Jnani and a Jivanmukta. He gives the example of Sage
>> Yajnavalkya of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and says he was a Jnani no
>> doubt, free from rebirth, but was not free from the onslaughts of prarabdha
>> in the form of raga, etc. He cites the instances when Y debated with
>> people, cursed an opponent to death, eyed the wealth offered as prize
>> money, etc. to make his point. He finally cites Y's departure from home for
>> sannyasa, seeking peace.  For a jivanmukta such peace is a natural state,
>> not to be sought.
>>
>> regards
>> subbu
>>
>>> >
>>>
>>>


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