[Advaita-l] Question about Sri Vidyaranya's JMV & jnani matra

[Akilesh Ayyar]

On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 2:03 AM Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> praNAms Sri Akilesh Ayyar prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
>
>
> >  Yes, it Is only in the view point of onlookers but is it their own
> imagination ?? certainly not, because in their vyavahAra nishchita jnana
> guru, upadesha, his activity everything is satya only and it is surprising
> to see hard core advaitins raising objections and asking is everything
> imagination according to you like our dvaita bandhu-s ??  😊  Are we not
> dare enough to say even Ishwara is avidya kalpita holds his place only in
> vyavahAra and even shAstra is within the sphere of avidyA 😊 And
> bhAshyakAra himself clarifies :  all vidhi-nishesha, shAsta etc. can
> function as such ONLY TILL ONE REACHES THE INTUITION 'I AM BRAHMAN'.  Till
> that time, shankara indeed wrote bhAshya, and bhagavatpAda AkAra (which we
> see in photographs today) is not certainly imagination of this tiny mind.
> It is indeed satya as we are yet to see 'parama satya' or satyasya satya
> 😊
>

Bhaskarji,

Very interesting comments. Ah yes, if that is what you mean then I am in
agreement. By their imaginations I certainly did not mean to say that it
came out of the onlookers' tiny minds.

Well, I am in agreement except for one small point. I prefer not to say
that Ishwara holds a place only in vyavaHara. That is true only of a
limited concept of Ishwara.

If by Ishwara is meant karma-phala-data, creator, and so on, yes, that is
avidya kalpita, but the true Ishwara is that which exceeds all those
concepts. The true Ishwara is Brahman.

Bhagavan says:

"Existence of Ishwara follows from our conception of Ishwara. Let us first
know whose concept He is. The concept will be only according to the one who
conceives. Find out who you are and the other problem will solve itself."

"Ishwara exists without and distinct from illusion, but there is no
illusion without Ishwara."

"Disciple: Convince me of the existence of God.
Maharshi: Realisation of the Self amounts to such conviction."

"Just as all beings, moving and unmoving, engage in their own activities
due to the mere presence of the sun, which rises without any prior
intention, so it is said in the scriptures that all actions are performed
by God [who in truth neither acts nor has intentions]."

"That eternal and subtlest Being which pervades and transcends all is God."


> He says: "In sahaja samadhi the activities, vital and mental, and the
> three states are destroyed, never to reappear. However, others notice the
> Jnani active e.g., eating, talking, moving etc. He is not himself aware of
> these activities, whereas others are aware of his activities. They pertain
> to his body and not to his Real Self, swarupa. For himself, he is like the
> sleeping passenger - or like a child interrupted from sound sleep and fed,
> being unaware of it."
>
> >  This reminds me bru. Up.  ( this again shows how mahAtma-s like
> ramaNa's words could easily be reconciled with mUlabhAshya and Shruti in
> this context).  When all the desires residing in one's heart have been got
> rid of, then the mortal being becomes immortal and attains brahman here, in
> this life,.  And now with regard to jnAni's socalled shareera it has been
> said here : just as the cast-off slough of a snake would lie lifeless in an
> ant-hill, so also does the body of the enlightened person lie there and HE
> IS NOW REALLY BODILESS, the prANa, brahman alone, the light of pure
> consciousness alone. Here in this statement it is quite evident that the
> effacement of the idea of one's identity with body as a result of his
> realization or identity with brahman, for the possession of a body was only
> through ignorance, while the intrinsic nature of bodilessness is revealed
> as soon as enlightenment dawns.  Some pro-ashtAnga yOga propagators
> comfortably linked this state of jnAni's body with that of body of
> experiencer of asaMprajnAtha or nirvikalpa samAdhi.  Where body looks like
> lifeless and prakaraNa-s like JMV & VC give special emphasis on this type
> of experience and categorize the jnAni-s based on method they adopt to come
> back to normal state from this samAdhi 😊
>

Thank you for this fascinating quote and explication.