[Advaita-l] Brahma Loka the highest within creation - the Advaitic position

[Sri B]

Subbu much appreciated for detailed replies. You mentioned: "Yes. If one strives for Nirguna Atma jnana but dies before attaining, he is called Yoga bhrashTa and will go to punya lokas, have bhogas, and return to this world to continue his sadhana from where he left in the earlier birth.” - I am bit confused….when we say ‘mukti', does it not mean ‘release from samsara - transmigration’. Where is the question of returning to this world. If a return is envisaged then it is no different to the concept of reward of going to the heaven and returning back to this world as preached in Christianity. It is either a ‘mukti’ or ‘transmigration’. 

Secondly are you able to elaborate on the gradations, I am just curious. When you say depends on spiritual practices, what are you implying, are you saying the belief system i.e. Vaishnava vs Shivasam? 

Thank you
Sridhar

> On 28 May 2020, at 6:14 pm, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:
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> 
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> On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 6:57 AM Sri B <sriadvaitam at gmail.com <mailto:sriadvaitam at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Namaskaram Subbu, first of all thank you for sharing this interesting read. I wish to seek clarity and also confirm my understanding: Apologies for asking some basic questions, these may have been elaborated in some earlier discussions. 
> 
> So, Advaita, espouses two types of Mukti - Jeevanmukti and Kramamukti. Former is the result of shedding avidya and discovering the Self as the Brahman (nirguna), which happens instantaneously and while in this body.  On death of the body, the Jeevanmukta also gets freed of the sukshma sharira and therefore attains freedom from samsara, which is in my understanding, referred to as Videhi Mukti. 
> 
> Kramamukti is the Atma reaching another Loka, i.e. Brahmaloka upon shedding its body. 
> Is this Brahmaloka basically the Advaitic equivalent of Vaikunta of the Vaishnavites and Kailasam of the Shivites? 
> Pitambara tika on Vicharsaagar mentions that Vaikuntha, Kailash, Deviloka etc. are Brahmaloka only. It is a special feature of this loka that it appears differently to different upaasakas according to their Samskaras. The same loka appears as presided by Vishnu being surrounded by Chaturbhuja brahmalokvaasis for a Vishnu Upasaka and presided by Mahadeva and surrounded by Trinetra-dhaari brahmalokavaasis for a rudra upasaka and so on. Others suggest that Vaikuntha, Kailasha etc. are different spheres of existence within Brahmaloka itself. Those who attain the highest level definitely have Krama-mukti at the end of a Kalpa.  
> Is this the equivalent of heaven alluded to in the semitic religions 
> Could be. If they say none returns from that Heaven, this could also be so. 
> Does this mean that the Atma along with suksma sharira reaches the abode of Brahma.  
> Yes. 
> What happens to the karana sharira, i.e. will the avidya continue to remain?
> When Avidya goes, karana sharira too will go. We can say, a lesha of it will remain, as samskara, to enable jivanmukti / prarabdha bhoga. 
> Is Kramamukti a result of upasanas -meaning bhakthi and observing vidika karma? Fruits of punyam?
> 
> Yes.  
> Is it to be considered as ‘next best’ to Jeevanmukthi. Advaita teaches us that the purpose of this life is to attain Moksha interpreting as Jeevanmukta, failing which or if one falls short then Kramamukthi is the next best outcome?
> Yes. If one strives for Nirguna Atma jnana but dies before attaining, he is called Yoga bhrashTa and will go to punya lokas, have bhogas, and return to this world to continue his sadhana from where he left in the earlier birth. 
>   
> Could you please elaborate further: What are these gradations of attainment, which Sri Vidyaranya endorses, upon reaching Brahmaloka. Does it mean that the Atma will reside in an another world and will gradually makes its way to what (the Brahman?) Does Sri Sankara Baghavadpada  and Sri Chandrashekara Bharathi Mahaswami have a different view?
> 
> The gradations are due to diff in the spiritual/religious practices. 
> 
> regards
> subbu 
> 
> Thank you in advance
> Sridhar