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

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Subbuji,
In my second email to Sadaji sent earlier today, I had shared some
additional sections from the JMV that address this topic.

Swami Vidyaranya holds that videhamukti (ie. the cessation of future
bodies) happens at the time of jnAna itself and refutes the need for a
charamasAkshAtkAra (ie AV2).

In his view, the contemporaneity of jnAna with such a videhamukti is what
was intended by the bhAShyakAra in his brahmasUtrabhAShya.

Kind regards,
Venkatraghavan


On Sat, 3 Feb 2024, 02:10 V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 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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