[Advaita-l] Binary nature of Jnana

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, Jul 16, 2022 at 8:15 PM Praveen R. Bhat via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste Raghavji,
>
> On Sat, Jul 16, 2022 at 5:58 PM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>
> > Did he refer to the possibility of shravaNa-manana done in an earlier
> life
> > spontaneously giving sadyomukti in another life? (Because in such a case
> > the sAdhaka like vAmadeva would not necessarily recollect all the
> shravaNa
> > words heard in the earlier life.)
> >
> The Mahamandaleshvara didn't talk about it in this context, but elsewhere.
> Here, he mentioned that manana is not smaraNa. Nonetheless, in Vamadeva's
> case, I suppose it is agreeable to both of us that only pratibandhanivRtti
> was pending, which can accomplished by garbhanivAsabhoga itself.
>

Dear Praveen ji,

Even in the event of the pratibandha nivritti happening due to the
experiencing of the garbhavasa bhoga, a vritti, akhandakara vritti, is
required to enable him to declare 'aham manurabhavam sUryashcha..'  This is
reasonable since, had that vritti arisen in the earlier birth, prior to
this garbhavasa, there would not have been this garbhavasa; the earlier
birth would have been the last one.  This adhikarana is to settle the doubt
'whether the fruit of sadhana, vidyA, occurs in that very birth where the
sadhana is executed or in any future birth.'

तत्फलं विद्या सिध्यन्ती
*किमिहैव जन्मनि सिध्यति, उत कदाचित् अमुत्रापीति चिन्त्यते* । किं तावत्प्रा
प्तम् ? इहैवेति । किं कारणम् ? श्रवणादिपूर्विका हि विद्या ; न च कश्चित्
अमुत्र मे विद्या जायतामित्यभिसन्धाय श्रवणादिषु प्रवर्तते ; समान एव तु जन्मनि
 विद्याजन्म अभिसन्धाय एतेषु प्रवर्तमानो दृश्यते ।     For this purvapaksha,
the siddhantin says:

ऐहिकं *विद्याजन्म* भवति, असति प्रस्तुतप्रतिबन्ध इति । एतदुक्तं भवति — यदा
प्रक्रान्तस्य विद्यासाधनस्य कश्चित्प्रतिबन्धो न क्रियते उपस्थितविपाकेन
कर्मान्तरेण, तदा इहैव विद्या उत्पद्यते ; यदा तु खलु तत्प्रतिबन्धः क्रियते
तदा अमुत्रेति । ..........। श्रवणादिद्वारेणापि *विद्या उत्पद्यमाना
प्रतिबन्धक्षयापेक्षयैव उत्पद्यते *।

From this it is clarified that the vidya has to 'arise', utpadyate, which
alone signifies the mukti phala characterized by no more birth.  So the
pratibandha kshaya has to result in the 'arising' of the vidya, the
brahma/atmaakaara vritti.  It is this vritti that is articulated by
Vamadeva in those words. Bhashyakara says: गर्भस्थ एव च वामदेवः *प्रतिपेदे*
ब्रह्मभावमिति...  so 'pratipatti' of brahma bhaava is required, which
arises only upon the pratibandha kshaya.  Whether this pratipatti arises
automatically upon the garbhavasa bhoga is over or whether it is triggered
by a smarana of the sadhana that he has completed in the earlier birth is
not stated.  I think the discussion in this thread considered this need for
or otherwise of the 'smarana'.  I feel that the utpatti of vidya does not
happen nirnimitta; the saakshaat nimitta, immediate cause, being the
smarana, not volitional though, and not of 'all' that was heard, but that
essence that was accomplished short of the vidyotpatti then, and thus,
without the need for any upadesha afresh, the vidya, arose. I think this is
reasonable given the vyavadhana, time gap, between the SMN completed in the
earlier birth and the point of arising, pratipatti, of the brahmakara
vritti.

In a different context, of vidyotpatti sans upadesha, in the case of
Prajapati, the bhashya says in the Brihadaranyaka 1.4.2:

अत्र चोदयन्ति — कुतः प्रजापतेरेकत्वदर्शनं जातम् ? को वास्मा उपदिदेश ?
अथानुपदिष्टमेव प्रादुरभूत् ; अस्मदादेरपि तथा प्रसङ्गः ।How did Prajapati
attain the ekatva darshanam, who taught him, or without being taught it
arose?

The reply is: नैष दोषः ; उत्कृष्टहेतूद्भवत्वाल्लोकवत् । यथा
पुण्यकर्मोद्भवैर्विविक्तैः कार्यकरणैः संयुक्ते जन्मनि सति
प्रज्ञामेधास्मृतिवैशारद्यं दृष्टम् , तथा
प्रजापतेर्धर्मज्ञानवैराग्यैश्वर्यविपरीतहेतुसर्वपाप्मदाहाद्विशुद्धैः
कार्यकरणैः संयुक्तमुत्कृष्टं जन्म ; तदुद्भवं चानुपदिष्टमेव
युक्तमेकत्वदर्शनं प्रजापतेः ।   Owing to his extraordinarily pure
antecedents he is endowed with extremely exalted body-mind complex
instrument. And due to this advantage vidya arose in him even untaught now.
Anandagiri Acharya explains:

प्रजापतेः सुप्तप्रतिबुद्धवत्प्रकृष्टादृष्टोत्थकार्यकरणवत्त्वात्पू
*र्वकल्पीयपदपदार्थवाक्यस्मरणवतः* स्मृतिविपरिवर्तिनो
वाक्याद्विचार्यमाणाददृष्टसहकृतात्तत्त्वज्ञानं स्यात्....

Opinions welcome.

warm regards
subbu

>
> gurupAdukAbhyAm,
> --Praveen R. Bhat
> /* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one know
> That, owing to which all this is known! [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */
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