[Advaita-l] Gaudapada and Shankara hold the waking objects to be mithya

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms Sri Venkatraghavan prabhuji
Hare Krishna

There are so many questions in your mail that it is quite cumbersome to reply to each one individually.


  *   All those questions revolving around your observations with regard to  avidyA saMskAra, avidyAlesha but not strictly avidyA nor leftover avidyA ,  praarabdha karma,  upAdhi sambandha in the jnAni and as a result continuation of prateeti etc. which I could not reconcile it hence asked somany questions.  Its OK prabhuji let us leave it aside 😊


So, I will only respond in a general manner. I would request that if you have questions after reading this email, and you would like me to respond, please keep them to one or two important ones. Please don't mistake me, but I'm responding in the middle of a lot of pressing tasks and I want to ensure that I am using my time effectively.


Ø     You know something prabhuji 😊 I am spending considerable official time at office to write these mails resulting in late stay at office to complete my regular pending office work 😊 As I do not want to carry this load to home or concentrate on these things on Saturday and Sundays would prefer to write during office time only…God only knows how far it will go.  Anyway, you can expect my full time participation like our Sri Subbu prabhuji after 2026 ( the year of my superannuation 😊

But before that, I will ask you three questions.


Ø     You are welcome to question me prabhuji, I am happy to share whatever little I know based on Sri SSS’s works and from mUla.  I donot want to quote Sri SSS here as most of the members have aversion to his perspective so let us keep it to mUla only.

Do you agree that the appearance of the world continues for the jnAni?


  *   Yes prabhuji, it will continue to appear.  And if I continue, for the jnAni jagat is sarvaM and brahma mayaM  as a result of his paripUrNa samyakjnAna / sarvAtmabhAva whereas for the ajnAni jagat is asarvaM/aparipurNaM/abrahmam due to his avidyA parichinna drushti or due to qualified knowledge about jagat.

Do you agree he has a body after jnAna?


  *   Yes, as an ajnAni I cannot see beyond the body, mind and intellect of the jnAni tend to see jnAni’s body, hence Sri Shankara bhagavatpAda is a jnAni,  ramaNa maharshi at Arunachala another jnAni, Sri chadrashekharendra Saraswati of Kanchi as yet another jnAni, HH Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati is one more jewel in brahmajnAni’s big list.  Infact there is list of brahma jnAni-s in shruti itself by their names.  So in the view of ajnAni the jnAni is definitely embodied.  But what about the jnAni’s realization about his own (individual) body??  If he thinks he is body (dehAtma buddhi) then is it not called avidyaka prabhuji??  So body of the jnAni after jnana should be understood as per the jnAni’s verdict.  1-1-4 bhAshya vAkya is relevant here and in light of that we have to contextually understand jnAni’s sva-hrudaya pratyaya jnana, continuation of his organs / indriya-s etc. even after Samyak jnana (the fourth adhyAya in sUtra where shankara talks about jnAni’s individuality and his identification with his own hrudaya/mana) .


Do you agree that a jnAni is completely free of any bandha after jnAna?


Ø     Yes he is avidyA vinirmukta, he does not have even an iota of avidyA.  It is because of the simple fact both vidyA and avidyA cannot take the same place at same time in the buddhi of brahma jnAni.  Moreover, if the socalled jnAni having even tip of the hair avidyA his jnana is not paripUrNa.  jnAni is no more an individual jnAni he is brahman only, brahmavit brahmaiva bhavati, and this is not after the physical death of the jnAni.


To me, the answer is yes to all three questions. I don't know what is/are your answer(s) but would like to know –


  *   I hope I made my stand clear for your three questions.

how you respond will inform me what you believe, because without understanding your position, I don't know if what I am stating is blindingly obvious or really necessary to make myself clear.


Ø     It is not mere my individual concocted version prabhuji nor it is my blind belief with some prejudices in mind nor it is a forced belief just because someone saying all this and compelling me to accept.


  *   After hearing from you about my observations I can take up your subsequent questions to share my thoughts prabhuji.  Because as you suggested let us make this simple and straight. And I hope by this time you can infer my answer to continuation of the world for the jnAni etc.


Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar