[Advaita-l] [advaitin] BHAKTI AND JNANA COMPARED

[sreenivasa murthy]

 Dear Sri Cohen,
To put it in one sentence 
           " Bhakti is Jnana  And Jnana is Bhakti 
            which is one's own true nature                         and
                which is HERE & NOW"Know  this TRUTH and say good-bye to all concepts and words.
With warm Pranams,Sreenivasa Murthy

    On Friday, 6 January, 2023 at 12:18:14 pm GMT, Michael Chandra Cohen via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:  
 
 On Bhakti from Sankara Sourcebook vol6, p105ff by AJ Alston:

*The topic of devotion (bhakti) has already come up for discussion earlier
at several places in the present work. Broadly speaking, Sankara was
capable of taking two different lines of interpretation where the term
‘devotion’ (bhakti) occurred in the texts on which he was commenting. If
the text considered devotion in isolation from knowledge — for instance if
it spoke of the path of devotion or ‘bhakti yoga’ — he made it a
preparatory and subordinate phase of the path leading to knowledge, or at
best one which would lead to union with the Lord in the ‘indirect’ manner,
after death. But his more typical course was to appropriate texts on
devotion to the Lord and identify them with the path of knowledge. In fact
he frequently refused to acknowledge any difference between devotion and
spiritual knowledge at all (Cp. Gita bhasya 13.10, sa (bhaktir) hi jnanam).
*

*Saccidanandendra Svamin argued that Sankara is justified in taking the
latter course both by the ancient texts and by the facts of the spiritual
path (Sac, Glta-Sastrartha-Viveka, 123-126). Knowledge and devotion, he
claims, are not two separate things, but one thing viewed under different
‘aspects’, as the power of the sun is one thing, though it may artificially
be viewed as two separate things, heat and light. But knowledge and
devotion are entirely inter-dependent. There cannot be knowledge of the
true nature of the Lord through mere reasoning without the spirit of
devotion. This is because the Lord is ‘the Self seated in the heart of all
creatures and the Self is that which is dearer than a son, dearer than
wealth, closer than anything else (Brhad. I.iv.8). And on the other side
there cannot be devotion without knowledge. Of the four kinds of devotee
mentioned in the Gita, the man of knowledge is the highest (Gita 7.18), as
devotion is spiritual sensibility and not mere blind application of the
will. When either knowledge or devotion are brought to their highest pitch
they transcend themselves: the knower becomes one with the known, the lover
one with the beloved ().*



*”Those who pursue action receive the fruits of action from Me, and those
who pursue knowledge receive the fruits of knowledge from Me. Hence even
those who serve Me through the Yoga of Devotion (bhakti yoga) pass through
stages to acquire spiritual knowledge and are eventually liberated through
My grace. If liberation comes to those who perform the Yoga of Devotion,
how much more certainly does it come to those who acquire a correct
intuitive knowledge of the nature of the Self in this very life. Gita
bhasya 15.l”*



*“How, then, can the Lord be seen? Through devotion (bhakti). But through
devotion to what? Devotion to nothing else. The phrase refers to that
devotion which never swerves from the Lord. Devotion-to-none-other is that
devotion whereby nothing other than Vasudeva is perceived by the senses or
any organ of cognition. Through such devotion, O Arjuna, can I be known in
this form —that is, in the form of the universe. I can be known from the
traditional texts (sastra), and not only known from the texts but directly
known in My true nature and can be ‘entered’ —that is, there can be
liberation. *

*And now the whole teaching of the Glta-Sastra is epitomized and summed up
and stated for the sake of man’s highest good. ‘O Son of Pandu, whoever
acts for My sake, has Me for his supreme goal, who is devoted to Me, free
from all attachment, and who lives without enmity for any creature, he
comes to Me’.... A servant works for his master’s sake, but he does not
think of his master as his supreme goal which he will attain to after
death.... ‘Devoted to Me’ means that he worships Me in every way with his
whole being and with all zeal. ‘Without attachment’ means without servile
love or affection for wealth, sons, friends, wife or relatives. ‘Without
enmity for any creature’ means without any feeling of enmity even for those
intent on inflicting grievous harm on him.  Gita bhasya 11.54 and 55.”*


*Hence it has now been proved that total cessation of transmigratory life
(samsara) ensues when there is devotion to knowledge derived from
renunciation of all action. Gita bhasya 18.67 (intro.)*

Katha Upanishat (2.23) says, " whom the Atman chooses, by him is He
obtained; to him He reveals Himself". "when he who is devoid of desire
motivated actions, through the grace of God, the supporter, sees the
ParamAtman's glory, then does he become freed from sorrow"- KU 2.20.



On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 11:34 PM 'Bhaskar YR' via advaitin <
advaitin at googlegroups.com> wrote:

> praNAms
>
> Hare Krishna
>
>
>
> I think the bhakti aspect has to be finely blended with both pravrutti and
> nivrutti mArga.  Bhakti is not an exclusive mArga to salvation.  Arta,
> arthi, jignAsu &  jnAni all adopt the bhakti mArga either in pravrutti or
> nivrutti mArga.  Even to get Advaita vAsana and to pursue jnana mArga
> IshwarAnugraha is must.  And to beget IshwarAnugraha Ishwara praNidAna /
> bhakti is required.  It is all interlinked and go hand in hand.  The last
> statement below by Sri Shivananda highlighted this culmination of  bhakti
> and jnana in the real vedAnta :
>
>
>
> // quote //
>
> To decry Jnana altogether as some sectarian devotees do, is the height of
> folly. To deny Bhakti and Ishwara as some dry Vedantins do, is nothing but
> sheer foolishness. A happy combination of head and heart is true perfection.
>
> //unquote//
>
>
>
> Sri SSS somewhere writes : bhagavatpAda was not mere dry logician he was a
> saint par excellence.  Ishwara sharaNAgati, Ishwara bhakti its significance
> and importance have been abundantly shown by all mahatma-s, sages and
> saints in Advaita jnana mArga sampradaya.  So there is no question of
> Advaita sans bhakti in shankara’s Advaita sampradaya.  In sUtra bhAshya
> bhagavatpAda says : avidyAvasthayAM kAryakAraNasaMghAtAvivekadarshinO
> avidyA timirAndhasya sataH parasmAdAtmanaH karmAdhyakshAt
> sarvabhUtAdhivAsAt sAkshiNaH chetayituH IshwarAt tadanujnayA kartrutva
> bhOktrutva lakshaNasya saMsArasya siddhiH, *tadanugraha hetukenaiva cha
> vijnAnena mOksha siddhiH bhavituM arhati*.
>
>
>
> Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
>
> *Bhaskar YR*
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* advaitin at googlegroups.com <advaitin at googlegroups.com> *On Behalf
> Of *V Subrahmanian
> *Sent:* Friday, January 6, 2023 9:16 AM
> *To:* A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>; Advaitin <advaitin at googlegroups.com>
> *Subject:* [advaitin] BHAKTI AND JNANA COMPARED
>
>
>
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> Sri Swami Sivananda...🌹🌹🌹
>
>
>
> BHAKTI AND JNANA COMPARED
>
>
>
> 1. Jnana is like swimming across a river. Bhakti is like crossing a river
> by boat.
>
> 2. The Jnani gets knowledge by means of self-reliance and assertion. The
> Bhakta gets Darshan of God through self-surrender.
>
> 3. The Jnani asserts and expands. The Bhakta surrenders and dedicates
> himself to the Lord. He contracts himself.
>
>        Let us assume that there is a rupee coin in the body of a small
> circle. It begins to contract and ultimately merges itself into the centre.
> This is Bhakti. If this coin so expands that it occupies the whole body of
> the circle and the circumference too, it is Jnana.
>
> 4. A Bhakta wants to eat sugar-candy. A Jnani wants to become sugar-candy.
>
> 5. A Bhakta is like a kitten that cries for help. A Jnani is like a baby
> monkey that clings boldly to its mother.
>
> 6. A Bhakta attains progressive liberation. A Jnani gets immediate
> liberation.
>
> 7. A Jnani exhibits powers through will and strong resolve. A Bhakta
> receives all the divine gifts through self-surrender and the consequent
> descent of Divine Grace.
>
>      In the Gita Lord Krishna clearly points out that Bhakti and Jnana are
> not incompatible like oil and water.
>
>      He says: "The man who is full of faith obtaineth wisdom".
>
>      "To these, ever harmonious, worshipping in love, I give
> discrimination, by which they come unto Me".
>
>      "By devotion he knoweth Me in essence, who and what I am; having thus
> known Me in essence, he forthwith entereth into the Supreme".
>
>      To decry Jnana altogether as some sectarian devotees do, is the
> height of folly. To deny Bhakti and Ishwara as some dry Vedantins do, is
> nothing but sheer foolishness. A happy combination of head and heart is
> true perfection.
>
>
>
>  - Sri Swami Sivananda (Science of Yoga, Volume 3, Second Edition July
> 1982 pp 216 - 217)
>
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