[Advaita-l] Commentary on Ramana's Forty Verses

[Akilesh Ayyar]

There's no evidence that Ramana buys into Sri Vidyaranya's idea that the
so-called gyanimatra then requires physical sannyasa to complete things. He
never says this *anywhere* and actively discourages the idea that sannyasa
is some kind of requirement.

He never states or says that physical sannyasa is necessary to "steady the
mind."
ᐧ

On Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 5:54 PM S Jayanarayanan via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>  Akilesh Ayyar ayyar at akilesh.com wrote:
>
> > Another unequivocal Ramana quote. Let's not do Bhagavan the disservice of
> > suggesting he's lying to his disciple in response to a direct question:
> >
> > D: Can a married man realise the Self?
> > M: Certainly. Married or unmarried, a man can realise the Self; because
> > That is here and now. If it were not
> > so, but attainable by some effort at some time, and if it were new and
> had
> > to be acquired, it would not be worth pursuit. Because, what is not
> natural
> > is not permanent either. But what I say is that the Self is here and now,
> > and alone.
> >
> > (Maharishi's Gospel, Book 1, Chapter 1)
> >
>
> No doubt anyone can attain Atma-GYAna, but that does equate directly to
> the sthita-praGYa state.
> The distinction between GYAnimAtra and sthitapraGYa is the very essence of
> the jIvanmuktiviveka
> by Swami Vidyaranya, who gives examples of householders who attained
> Atma-GYAna but not jIvanmukti,
> e.g. yAGYavalkya, Janaka, durvAsa, etc. The summary is found here:
>
>
> https://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/2009-February/021329.html
>
> Ramana Bhagavan talks about the distinction between attaining
> Self-knowledge and *steadiness*
> in Self-knowledge several times:
>
> Talks with Ramana Maharshi, # 562
>
>  Q: There is a statement in the book Vichara Sangraha that though a
>  person realises the Self once, he cannot, for that simple reason
>  alone, become a mukta. He continues to remain a victim of vasanas
>  (latencies). Sri Bhagavan was asked whether the realisation referred
>  to was the same as the jnani's, and if so why there should be a
>  difference in their effects.
>
>  M.: The experience is the same. Every person experiences the Self
>  consciously or unconsciously. The ajnani's experience is clouded by
>  his latencies whereas the jnani's is not so. The jnani's experience
>  of the Self is therefore distinct and permanent. A practiser may by
>  long practice gain a glimpse of the Reality. This experience may be
>  vivid for the time being. And yet he will be distracted by the old
>  vasanas and so his experience will not avail him. Such a man must
>  continue his manana and nididhyasana so that all the obstacles may
>  be destroyed. He will then be able to remain permanently in the Real
>  State.
>
> ---
>
> Talks with Ramana Maharshi, # 289
>
>  M.: Some extraordinary persons get drdha jnana (unshaken knowledge)
>  even on hearing the Truth only once (sakrchhravana matrena).
>  Because they are krthopasakah (advanced seekers), whereas the
>  akrthopasakah (raw seekers) take longer to gain drdha jnana
>  (unshaken knowledge).
>
> ---
>
> Talks with Ramana Maharshi, # 95
>
>  M.: The seekers fall into two classes; kritopasaka and
>  akritopasaka. The former having already overcome his
>  predisposition by steady devotion, his mind thus made pure,
>  has had some kind of experience but does not comprehend it;
>  as soon as instructed by a competent master, permanent
>  experience results.
>  The other class of seeker needs great effort to
>  achieve this end.
>
> ---
>
> The above is exactly what Swami Vidyaranya calls the state of the
> GYAnimAtra.
>
> Regards,
> Kartik
>
>
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