Consciousness in the State of Moksha

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Sri:

Srimathe rAmAnujAya namaha

 

Dear Members,

 

This topic was discussed sometime back(well about a year back) in the bhakti

list. Sorry for raking up this issue now, but I do have some fresh inputs. I

would like to read the opinions of other bhaktas in this matter as well.

 

The essential point being discussed was, if the jIvAtman maintains it's

consciousness(that is, remembers it's histroy as a mortal) in the state of

moksha. Here is the data I have to add. Please let me know your inputs regarding

the same.

 

I quote directly from Ramanuja on the Upanishads by S S Raghavachar. This is

Ramanujar's bhAshyam on the Katha Upanishad.

 

"The third boon asked by Nachiketa is not enlightenment according to Ramanuja,

as to whether or not there is survival of man's personality after death.

Ramanuja reviews the story of Nachiketas upto this point and shows the absurdity

of taking Nachiketas as being uncertain on the question. It is really a prayer

for knowledge about the destiny of a finite sould in the state of final

liberation. The word 'Pretre' (Occurs in I.20), may mean one who is dead and

therefore refer to a partial and transitory seperation from the body; but it can

also mean one winning complete and final emancipation from embodiment m as it

does in the discourse of Yajnavalkya to Maitreyi(Brihadaaranyanaka Upanishad

II.4). Really, the preplexity here concerns not 'immortality' but 'life

eternal'. Hence, Yama's answer constitutes a complete philosophy, comprising the

knowledge of man and God and of man's attainment of God."

 

I reckon that the jiivatma would be in the complete state of moksha in

Vaikuntam. Then the very question of remembrance of karma of the past is

irrelevant. However, considering that Swami Desikan expresses in the parama

paada sopanam that the jiivatma would be able to remember and enjoy ghosthi

along with sadaacharya, would mean that the jiivatma would still remember a bit

of it's past, which ultimately means that the jiivatma is still a pretre

according to one reckoning.

 

On the other hand following Yajnavalkya, the very question of remembrance of

past karma puts the ideas in parama paada sopanam to a question. The question

being when the jiivatma does still remember it's past during moksha is a pretre

according to katha upanishad. Somehow Swami Desikan's exposition on the parama

paada sopanam does not reasonably fit into the framework of Yajnavalkya and

indeed the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad. This is where I would like to read the

comments of other bhaktas on this matter.

 

Regards,

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,

 

Malolan Cadambi

 

 

 

 

 

 

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