[Advaita-l] [advaitin] What is Samadhi?

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste V Subramanian ji.

I have not seen this in PrasthAnatrayI bhAshya. My understanding in this
aspect is based on avidyA-nivritti-nirUpaNa of Advaita Siddhi.

न च जीवन्मुक्तिप्रयोजकवृत्त्यपेक्षया परममुक्तिप्रयोजकवृत्तौ
आनन्दाभिव्यक्तिगतविशेषाभावे चरमक्षणेन चरमश्वासेन वा उपलक्षित आत्मा
मुक्तिरिति किं न स्यादिति वाच्यम् ;
प्रारब्धकर्मप्रयुक्तविक्षेपविक्षेपाभ्यामभिव्यक्तिविशेषस्याङ्गीकारात् ।

By this, Advaita SiddhikAra accepts two vrittis -- one which is prayojaka
of jIvanmukti and the other which is prayojaka of Paramamukti -- i.e.
videha-mukti. While the former is coupled with
prArabdha-karma-prayukta-viskhepa, the latter is not.

The absence of prArabdha-rUpa-pratibandhaka ensures that the AV2 i.e.
parama-mukti-prayojaka-vritti leads to videha-mukti.

Regards.

On Fri, 2 Feb, 2024, 11:39 pm V Subrahmanian, <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Fri, Feb 2, 2024 at 10:11 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> Namaste Venkatraghavan ji
>>
>> Many thanks for sharing the write-up. Very beautifully presented.
>>
>> My understanding of akhanDAkArA-vritti is as under:-
>>
>> There are two AV:-
>>
>> 1. prArabdha-rUpa-pratibandhaka-vishishTa-akhanDAkArA-vritti (AV1) -- this
>> is the general connotation of akhanDAkArA-vritti.
>>
>> Chaitanya-reflected-in-AV1 removes two out of three shakti of avidyA,
>> namely shakti-which-causes-the-illusion-of-reality-in-world and
>> shakti-which-enables-artha-kriyA-kAritva-in-world. However,
>> chaitanya-reflected-in-AV1 is incapable of removing the third shakti of
>> avidyA, which is also known as avidyA-lesha and is
>>
>> shakti-which-gives-birth-to-objects-which-are-cable-of-appearing-as-pratyaksha.
>>
>>
>> 2. prArabdha-rUpa-pratibandhaka-rahita-akhanDAkArA-vritti (AV2) is called
>> charma-vritti. It is also akhanDAkArA-vritti. However, since there is no
>> pratibandhaka in the form of prArabdha, the chaitanya-reflected-in-AV2
>> removes even the third shakti i.e. avidyA-lesha.
>>
>> As per my understanding, akhanDAkArA-vritti does not have non-self as its
>> vishaya. Shuddha Atman cannot be vishaya of vritti being avishaya. The
>> fact
>> of not having non-self as vishaya is itself termed as having Atman as the
>> vishaya of akhanDAkArA-vritti. In simple terms, a mind without any trace
>> of
>> any thought of world is akhanDAkArA-vritti. Basically thoughtless mind.
>>
>> This is what is generally understood as samAdhi or nirvikalpaka samAdhi.
>>
>> Now, without akhanDAkArA-vritti, avidyA cannot be removed. AV1 removes the
>> first two AkArAs of avidyA whereas AV2 removes even third.
>>
>> AV1 this leads to jIvanmukti whereas AV2 leads to videhamukti.
>>
>
> Dear Sudhanshu ji,
>
> Has the Bhashyakara Shankara accepted or specified the requirement of  the
> AV2 that you mention above as leading to videhamukti? In other words, is
> there a requirement in Shankara's prasthana traya bhashyas for the AV2 to
> destroy the 'avidya lesha' which Shankara has termed 'samskara' in the BSB
> that sustains the post-aparokshajnana life of the Jnani?
>
> regards
> subbu
>
>>
>> Thus, it appears to me that samAdhi in the form of akhanDAkArA-vritti is a
>> necessary condition for jIvanmukti.
>>
>> As I understand from your write-up, even after AV1 removing two AkArAs of
>> avidyA, since prArabdha-rUpa-pratibandhaka remains, it will not
>> immediately
>> lead to jIvanmukti but manonAsha and vasanakshaya will be required and
>> samAdhi will be needed for that.
>>
>> This appears to be perfectly acceptable.
>>
>> However, since tattva-jnAna also required akhanDAkArA-vritti which is not
>> possible without samAdhi, I think even tattva-jnAna would necessarily
>> require samAdhi.
>>
>> Regards.
>> Sudhanshu Shekhar.
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