[Advaita-l] jIvanmukti (liberation right in this life) - A State or Status

[H S Chandramouli]

A small correction.

In JMV, Swami Vidyaranya groups the three categories
Brahmavidvara,BrahmavidvarIyAn and Brahmavidvarishtha as three distinctions
amongst jIvanmuktAs.

Regards

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 4:39 PM H S Chandramouli <hschandramouli at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Ramesam Ji,
>
> Namaskarams.
>
> The topic of prArabdha for a jnAni is also discussed elaborately by
> Sringeri Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati MahaSwaminah in his bhashya
> on Vivekachudamani, verses 452 to 461 (Verse numbers could be different by
> 1 or 2 points in different editions). Verse 454 is copied below.
>
> << प्रारब्धं बलवत्तरं खलु विदां भोगेन तस्य क्षयः
> सम्यग्ज्ञानहुताशनेन विलयः प्राक्सञ्चितागामिनाम् ।
> ब्रह्मात्मैक्यमवेक्ष्य तन्मयतया ये सर्वदा संस्थिता -
> स्तेषां तत्त्रितयं न हि क्वचिदपि ब्रह्मैव ते निर्गुणम् ॥ ४५४ ॥ >>
>
> <<  prArabdhaM balavattaraM khalu vidAM bhogena tasya kShayaH
>
> samyagj~nAnahutAshanena vilayaH prAksa~nchitAgAminAm |
>
> brahmAtmaikyamavekShya tanmayatayA ye sarvadA saMsthitA -
>
> steShAM tattritayaM na hi kvachidapi brahmaiva te nirguNam || 454 || >>.
>
> Bhashya of Sri HH for the same reads as below
>
> << ज्ञानस्यैकरूपत्वेपि समाधिप्रकर्षेण ब्रह्मवित्, ब्रह्मविद्वरः,
> ब्रहमविद्वरीयान्, व्रह्मविद्वरिष्ठः इति
> सत्वापत्त्यसंसक्ति-पदार्थाभावना-तुर्यगेति भूमिकानुसारेण
> समुपाजातब्रह्मसाक्षात्काराः व्यवह्रियन्ते । तत्र तुर्यगाख्य-भूमिकांगतस्य
> ब्रह्मविद्वरिष्ठस्य  केवलनिर्गणब्रह्मरूपत्वात् परकृतप्रबोधोपि नास्तीति
> त्रिविधमपि कर्मम् नास्ति । >>
>
> << samupAjAtabrahmasAkShAtkArAH vyavahriyante | tatra
> turyagAkhya-bhUmikAMgatasya brahmavidvariShThasya
> kevalanirgaNabrahmarUpatvAt parakRRitaprabodhopi nAstIti trividhamapi
> karmam nAsti | >>
>
> It is clear from the above Bhashya that absence of prArabdha phala is
> applicable only in respect of  ब्रह्मविद्वरिष्ठ (brahmavidvariShTha)
> only. The term jIvanmukta is also applicable only for such a jnAni. In my
> understanding, the verse from aparokShAnubhUti (verse 91) you have referred
> to should also be understood accordingly only. Swami Vidyaranya also
> expounds the same in JMV.
>
> There is thus no contradiction in the stand of Sri Bhagavatpada as between
> his Bhashyas and his PrakaraNa Granthas.
> Regards
>
> On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 3:38 PM H S Chandramouli <hschandramouli at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Ramesam Ji,
>>
>> Namaskarams.
>>
>> Reg  << “The very use of the plural “*karmANi*” clearly indicates that
>> the shruti
>> is negating the ‘*prArabdha*’ also; it would have used the dual number “
>> *karmaNi*,” if it intended that only the *sancita* and* agAmi* were to be
>> meant here.” The mantra by itself did not talk of just two of the three
>> fruits of karma >>,
>>
>> I have not seen the “*dIpikA*” on *aparokShAnubhuUti * of Swami
>> Vidyaranya referred to. However Swami Sureswaracharya does indeed consider
>> only two, namely sanchita and AgAmi, to be part of the avidya which is
>> negated at the time of Realization.
>>
>> << यत्तु स्वात्माश्रयं कर्म ह्यानारब्ध फलं भवेत् ।
>>
>> उत्पित्सनागतं कृत्स्नम् ज्ञानं हन्ति तदेव नः ॥ >>  BUBV 1-4-1531
>>
>> << yattu svAtmAshrayaM karma hyAnArabdha phalaM bhavet |
>>
>> utpitsanAgataM kRRitsnam j~nAnaM hanti tadeva naH || >>  BUBV 1-4-1531
>>
>> Plural “*karmANi*” need not be with reference to the three types of
>> karma, sanchita/AgAmi/prArabdha. The term could very well be understood as
>> referring to the countless karmAs accumulated without reference to the
>> three types as such. Thus plural form is quite in order even if only two of
>> the three types are covered. That is exactly what Swami Sureswaracharya has
>> done as above.
>> Regards
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 5:01 AM Ramesam Vemuri via Advaita-l <
>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Shri Raghav Kumar Garu and Shri Subrahmanian Garu,
>>>
>>> Namaskarams
>>>
>>> Thank you for your kind inputs.
>>>
>>> I would also suppose, as you say, Shri Raghav Ji, that "seeking to live
>>> long enjoying the
>>> phala of *GYAnam* [is] an attitude [that] contradicts *GYAnam *and is
>>> usually a sign
>>> of inadequate preparedness such as vairagya."
>>>
>>> The instances like Shri Trailinga Swami that you referred to, IMHO, have
>>> to
>>> be treated separately, as I mentioned in the first post of mine. They are
>>> exceptions. Having attained liberation, they are virtually *brahman*
>>> except
>>> for the fact that they have to take care of a body also. But then, as
>>> Shri
>>> Subrahmanian Garu suggested, *brahman* Itself will look after those
>>> bodies
>>> (BG 9.22 and Shankara's commentary there on) without a sense of doership
>>> for the individual.
>>>
>>> Shankara discusses in detail at 3.3.32, BSB citing several examples of
>>> such
>>> divine individuals (*apAntaratama*-s; *adhikArika puruSha*-s) who
>>> continue to live in a corporeal body to complete a mission. They have
>>> achieved Identity with *brahman* Itself, and the world, after all, is a
>>> manifestation of *brahman*, non-different from them.
>>>
>>> Another argument in support of a long life for a *jIvanmukta* posed
>>> sometimes is that no source will be left for further transmission of the
>>> Knowledge of the Self if the "Realized" Guru does not last long. I am not
>>> sure that this is a very strong argument because, say, after a maha
>>> *pralaya
>>> *everything and everyone is absorbed back into *brahman*. That does not
>>> mean that the *parA vidyA* is irretrievably lost. Self-Knowledge Itself
>>> being *brahman*, It will always appear in some way again.
>>>
>>> Hence, we may perhaps conclude that the period of having to carry the
>>> burden of the body-mind as an *upAdhi *after liberation is generally,
>>> exceptions apart, is not too long - until the body falls. On the
>>> attainment
>>> of Self-Knowledge, as Shankara himself says at 3.3.32, all the actions of
>>> the seeker get dissipated (2.2.9, *muNDaka*), all the knots become untied
>>> (8.26.2, *chAndogya, *2.4.14 & 15*, kaTha*), BG 4.37 and so on.
>>>
>>> In addition, we have from *aparokShAnubhUti*:
>>>
>>>
>>> *“तत्त्वज्ञानोदयादूर्ध्वं प्रारब्धं नैव विद्यते ।**देहादीनामसत्यत्वात्तु
>>> यथा स्वप्नः प्रबोधतः ॥ *— 91.
>>>
>>> [After the origination of the Self-Knowledge, *prArabdha *verily ceases
>>> to
>>> exist, in as much as the body etc. become non-existent. Just as a dream
>>> does not exist on waking up.]
>>>
>>> Swami Vidyaranya, in his gloss “*dIpikA*” on *aparokShAnubhuUti *writes:
>>>
>>> “The very use of the plural “*karmANi*” clearly indicates that the shruti
>>> is negating the ‘*prArabdha*’ also; it would have used the dual number “
>>> *karmaNi*,” if it intended that only the *sancita* and* agAmi* were to be
>>> meant here.” The mantra by itself did not talk of just two of the three
>>> fruits of karma.
>>>
>>> And we can be sure that Swami Vidyaranya would NOT say anything that
>>> would
>>> be contrary to or that which would violate Shankara’s teaching.
>>> The earlier *shloka*s in *aparokShAnubhUti* make it abundantly clear that
>>> the concept of *prArabdha* was brought in the *shruti *commentaries only
>>> for the sake of the ignorant.
>>>
>>> We have to bear in mind that the model of “Superimposition – Sublation”
>>> was
>>> adopted in imparting the Advaitic message in the major Upanishads. So the
>>> shruti was explicated by Shankara in the context of “superimposing”
>>> creation. The concept of “creation” inevitably brings in its wake the
>>> downstream concepts of birth, rebirth, the  *kArmic *effects, *prArabdha
>>> *etc.
>>> We may assume, Shankara talked of the *prArabdha *in his very brief
>>> comment
>>> on *muNDaka *mantra 2.2.9, just to conform with the
>>> superimposition-sublation model followed by him in his *bhAShya-*s. In
>>> *aparokShAnubhuUti*, he is free from this constraint and he expressed
>>> clearly the position as confirmed by Swami Vidyaranya also.
>>>
>>> warm regards,
>>>
>>> [To Continue ...]
>>>
>>> On Sat, Mar 28, 2020 at 3:06 PM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
>>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> > A small addendum -
>>> > The acharya says that the jivanmukta can live and teach even long after
>>> > GYAnam and in fact this is how the Advaita parampara survives to this
>>> day.
>>> >
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>>