[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Re: On Ramana

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Sada prabhuji

1.   While anubhava is important from the individual point, it is not anubhave of triad type.

>  Yes prabhuji, you are right.  The anubhava which is talked alongwith shAstra as pramANa is not individual experience it is about universal experience (sArvatrika pUrNAnubhava) which is enshrined in shAstra-s.

2. Experience of others cannot be validated nor dismissed as it is subjective.

>  bhAshyakAra is very clear that individual experience which is the result of purusha taNtra  is not valid pramANa and if the teaching is NOT based on shAstra it is to be ignored.  Shankara gives the example of Kapila kAnAda etc.

3. Hence it follows that to follow a teacher based on his personal anubhava alone will require lot of faith.

>  Yes, as per some advaitins Sri rAghavendra Swamiji of mantrAlaya is not yOgi, siddha / pavada purusha, yativarya etc.  as he has written against Advaita.  But mAdhva-s and even some of the advaitins ( including me) he is Kaliyuga kalpavruksha, kAmadhenu and yati vareNya.  So is the subjective of some to avadhUta guru Sri Shirdi Sai bAba.   So it is quite subjective not that everyone should accept it.  Whereas shAstra and its verdict is the pramANa for all the followers of vaidika mArga.

4. Hence Shankara defines the faith or shraddhaa

shaastraya guruvaakyasya satya budhyaavadharaNa - Faith is that the scripture statements as interpreted by teacher are indeed true.

  *   And he also warns us against blind belief.  He clarifies even shruti is saying something against sarvatrika anubhava (like fire is cold etc.) we have to discard it as it is against our common experience.

5. Hence the scriptures declare - tat vijnaartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet samit paaNiH, shrotriyam brahmanishTam - He should be Shrotriya.

>  prabhuji it is very simple, in advaita’s shAstreeya sampradaya the direct sAdhana is based on shAstra vAkya shravaNa, manana nidhidhyAsana. No need to tell all the three sAdhana-s based on shAstra-s.  Though shAstra directly teach brahman as this and that, we have to accept the fact that it will give us vidyA since we are in avidyA needs vidyA to eradicate avidyA.  It is just like as you said running is required to realize running is not required.  And this realization we get only through shAstrOpadesha bestowed by shrotreeya brahmanishTa guru.

6. Bhagavan's Ramana Maharshi's texts Upadesha saara and Sat Darshanam are in tune with Vedanta. Only one has to be careful in explaining the slokas like

maanasantu kim maargane kRite, naiva maanasam

  *   Yes that is true for that matter BRM is the epitome of Advaita’s paramArtha jnana his teachings are indeed Advaita in nature though may not be a traditional shAstric way of teaching.  And it is to be noted that for those who do not have adhikAra for doing shAstrAdhyayana would get that ultimate jnana through other valid texts japa, dhyAna, archana upAsana etc. since all the mumukshu-s are eligible for mOksha though shAstrAdhyayana is restricted to some varNa-s.  By the way, when we have special inclination towards particular school of thought and if we know the subject well it is not so difficult to interpret even some dvaita texts from Advaita perspective.  We could even find Advaita in devara nAma (devotional songs) composed by Sri puraNdara dAsaru, a stanch dvaitin 😊

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar